Somali

E41110
Afroasiatic language Cushitic language language

Somali is a Cushitic language spoken primarily in Somalia and neighboring regions of the Horn of Africa, serving as a major lingua franca and national language for the Somali people.

Observed surface forms (3)

Surface form As subject As object
Af-Soomaali 0 1
Somali people 0 1
shilin Soomaali 0 1

Statements (52)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Afroasiatic language →
Cushitic language →
language →
basicWordOrder SOV →
glottocode soma1255 →
grammaticalFeature case marking on nouns →
gender system with masculine and feminine →
rich verbal morphology →
hasDialect Ashraf →
Banaadir →
surface form: Benaadir

Benadiri Somali →
Digil →
Maay →
Northern Somali →
Rahanweyn →
ISO639-1Code so →
ISO639-2Code som →
ISO639-3Code som →
languageFamily Cushitic →
lexicalInfluenceFrom Arabic →
English →
Italian →
linguaFrancaOf North Eastern Province of Kenya →
Somali Region of Ethiopia →
Somalia →
nativeName Somali self-linksurface differs →
surface form: Af-Soomaali
nativeSpeakersApprox 15 million →
officialStatus official language of Somalia →
official language of Somaliland →
phonologicalFeature consonant length contrast →
tonal accents or pitch accent →
vowel length contrast →
previousWritingSystem Arabic script →
Borama script →
Kaddare script →
Osmanya script →
primaryCountry Somalia →
primaryEthnicGroup Somali people →
recognizedMinorityLanguageIn Djibouti →
Ethiopia →
Kenya →
region Horn of Africa →
regulatingBody Somali Academy of Science and Arts →
scriptHistory Latin script officially adopted in 1972 →
standardBasedOn dialects of northern Somalia →
standardVariety Northern Somali →
subfamily Cushitic →
surface form: Lowland East Cushitic
totalSpeakersApprox 20 million →
usedIn Somali literature →
Somali media →
education in Somalia →
writingSystem Latin alphabet →

Referenced by (28)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Somalia → demonym → Somali →
this entity surface form: Somali people
Jubaland → hasEthnicGroup → Somali →
Islamic world → hasLanguage → Somali →
this entity surface form: shilin Soomaali
Afgooye → language → Somali →
Jowhar → languageSpoken → Somali →
Somalia → nationalLanguage → Somali →
Somali → nativeName → Somali self-linksurface differs →
this entity surface form: Af-Soomaali
Mogadishu → officialLanguage → Somali →
Somalia → officialLanguage → Somali →