Somali people speak several languages and dialects, Maay and Mahaa being the lingua franca of the majority. None of the Somali languages and dialects were written until 1972 due to disagreements based on technical, political, or religious concerns over whether these Somali languages should be written in an Arabic or a Latin-based alphabet.
In 1972, however, a Latin-based Af-Mahaa script was adopted, and Af-Mahaa became the only official national language of the country. The adoption of the Af-Maha as the only national language undermined the rich cultures, languages, and dialects of the Somali people and the nation.
In 1976 a group of concerned Somali intellectuals formed a literary association called Af-Yaal “The language keepers” whose main concern was the protection and revival of Maay culture and language.
By 1980, many of the members of Af Yaal were jailed, harassed, and killed by the military administration, while forcing others into exile. It was this later group, the exiled Af-Yaal that developed mostly new Maay scripts. Since 1994, one of those scripts Elif Maay, the Maay Alphabet, has been circulated among Somali academic circles, who found most suitable for Maay language.
Historical Background
In the 13th century, Aawow Barkadlé Yusuf (Sheek Yusuf Al Kawneen), a native saint from the Bakool region of Somalia remembered for his system rendering Arabic vowel sounds into Af-Maay vowel sounds, Elif lé Kordhowey, invented a system which made the writing and reading of the Qur’an much easier for students of the dugsi (Qur’anic Schools) similar to madrasa or kutaab schools in Islamic Arabia.
In the late 19th century, Aawow Sheikh Ibdillé Issak (1796-1869) made poetic and mnemonic translations from the Qur’an and the Hadith, but most of these translations were not written down until today.
Sheikh Uways Ibn Muhammad al-Barawi (1846-1907) used Arabic script, when he printed his Af Barawaani, Af Maay and Af Tunni qasa’id (poems). Sheikh Uweys was strategically astute and a gifted linguist. He realized that in order to promote Islam among the rural populations of Somalia, he needed to come up with a script for Af Maay, the lingua franca of Southern Somalia. Sheik Uways used Arabic script as the main vehicle upon which Islam and the Qadiriya Brotherhoold was spread throughout southern Arabia, Southeast Asia, Somalia, and East and Central Africa as far as Congo.
He also used Af Maay as a vehicle for anti-colonial resistance. One of the most important example was his famous Af Maay poem written in Arabic scrip announcing the killing of Captain Cecchi, the Italian General Consul in Zanzibar and 81 Italian soldiers in 1896 at Lafoole, 25Km Southwest of Mogadishu.
In the late 1940s, Mustaf Sheikh Hassan (1927-1983) devised a non-Arabic, non-Latin script for Af Maay and related dialects known as the Barkadliyya (the Blessed Script) named after Aawow Barkadly Yusuf.
During the trusteeship period (1950-1960), Latin based orthographies were examined by the Italian anthropologist Enrico Cerulli and linguists Martino Moreno and Mario Maino, however, when Italy brought the issue to the first Territorial Council (TC) in 1951, the TC unanimously adopted Arabic as the official language of the country.
Radio Mogadishu, however, conducted broadcasts in both Af Maay and Af Mahaa tiri until 1959 when the transitional government of the trust territory adopted a resolution limiting broadcasts only in Af-Mahaa. Thus, Somalia gained independence and unification in July 1, 1960 without a unified script for its languages.
Post-Independent Efforts
The first civilian administration (1960-1964) set up a national language commission in October, 1960 to “investigate the best way of writing Somali, considering all the aspects of the language[s], with special eye on the technical side, and submit a report to the government by March, 1961” with one script suitable for all Somali languages and dialects.
After thorough investigation, the commission found that the basic sounds of Somali languages and dialects were 44; thus, the future orthography should be represented accordingly.
The Commission clearly stipulated in its report that the Af-Maay and related dialects had two or more phonemes unknown to the Mahaa tiri dialect to be incorporated in the final script. It is important to bear in mind that the commission’s concern was to agree on a script or orthography (Far Somali) Somali Script suitable for all Somali languages and dialects, not (Af Somali) a single national language derived from one dialect.
The commission reviewed eighteen scripts, eleven locally devised in unique Somali forms; four based on Arabic characters, and three based on Latin characters. The Af-Maay script submitted by Mustaf Sheikh Hassan had 42 characters and was ranked the second of the eleven locally devised orthographies.
The Arabic based scripts though acceptable for religious purposes did not meet the major requirements sketched out for the adoption a Somali language script. The Latin-based scripts did satisfy most of these requirements, but as the Latin scripts were associated with colonialism and Christianity, their adoption was unlikely. The term: Laatiin waa laa Diin, “Latin is without Religion?” was the popular sentiment of the time.
Political and religious factors complicated the deliberations which led three significant members, including Yassin Isman and Ibrahim Hashi to resign in protest because their scripts Osmaniyya and Arabic respectively did not meet the agreed upon criteria. Another important member Mustaf Sheikh Hassan, a district commissioner and the only Af Maay speaker and an advocate of an Af Maay script, was transferred from Mogadishu to Bal’ad and could not contribute to the work of the commission. Nevertheless, the commission could not come to a consensus, and the government decreed that Arabic, English and Italian remain official languages.
During the second civilian administration (1964-1967), the government invited a committee of three foreign experts sponsored by UNESCO. The experts B. W. Andrzejewski, S. Strelcyn, and J. Tubiana arrived in March 1966 to Mogadishu, which was a city shaken with demonstrations hostile to the adoption of a Latin script. The UNESCO Committee reviewed existing scripts and interviewed most of their devisers. Although they could not come up with a specific recommendation, they were critical of local and Arabic scripts and had few objections to Latin based scripts.
In October 1969, the coup d’état led by Mohamed Siad Barre established a military regime, the Somali Revolutionary Council (SRC), which in 1971 appointed a new Guddiga Af-Somaaliga, the Somali Language Commission, with specific instructions to recommend a language without concern of script.
The choice of a script would be political, and, indeed, on 21 October 1972, on the third anniversary of the coup, a helicopter dropped multicolor leaflets in a new Latin script over the parade passing before the Tribune of leaders and dignitaries.
From that day on, that script became official, though few could read it. Af Maay speakers, and speakers of other Somali languages soon discovered that the script was only suitable for Af Mahaa tiri speakers, unfortunately all criticism was repressed in the name of cultural homogeneity and monolingualism. Thus, it was through the adoption of this script that one form of Somali, Af Mahaa tiri, became the only officially acceptable national language and it was called Afka Hooyo, “Mother Tongue”, very much offending those whose mothers did not speak it,
By 1974, a major literacy campaign was launched to teach Somalis how to read and write in the official form of Somali based on Af Mahaa tiri. The ensuing literacy drive involved a national mobilization. Schools and colleges all over the nation were closed and some 25,000, almost the entire primary and secondary student population of the country were sent to rural areas as teachers.
This act, as we pointed out earlier, unfortunately reduced the Somali rich culture into a single variant, thereby robbing Somali people of a rich culture derived from Af Maay. More important, the adoption of a single national language variant has become a major bone of contention and a cause of disenchantment and disunity under the military regime. It also contributed to the demise of the Somali state itself.
When the military regime was overthrown in January 1991, the assertion of homogeneity and single variant culture and language came under attack. The Inter-Riverine Studies Association (ISA) emerged in 1993, and, at its first congress, adopted a new, Latin-based script for Af Maay called Elif Maay.
There were 34 vowels and consonants in the adopted Maay alphabet. The consonants are called Shibly: B, P, T, J, JH, D, TH, R, S, SH, DH, G, GH, YC, F, Q, K, L, M, N, NG, W, H, and Y. The vowels are called Shagal: A, E, I, O, U, AA, EE, II, OO, UU, and an alternate semi vowel (Y) if preceded by a consonant, i.e., dugsy “school,” serby “rod.” Etc.
There are three consonants and one vowel that are exclusive to Af Maay Compared to Af Mahaa tiri script. They are: JH, jheer “shyness,” jhiring “fracture,” jhiir “name of a grazing land northeast of Baidoa.” NG, similar to the end sounds of the English word, “helping,” i.e., angkaar “curse,” engjeg “dry,” oong “thirst,” etc., and YC, like the Italian “signora,” i.e., ycaaycur “cat,” maanyi “ocean,”ycaayci “Tomato”. The exclusive vowel is Y, which functions like the English vowel “Y” i.e. baahy “hunger,” baady “lost,” etc.
Efforts to develop the Elif Maay had intensified with the launching of Demenedung, newsletter of the Inter-Riverine Studies Association, ISA in 1996, which was an academic journal, published quarterly displaying scientific studies on issues related to languages and cultures of the people inhabiting Southern Somalia. There were significant journals published in the country including Arlaadi (1992) which was published in Af Maay; Juba News.
The launch of the very popular REEGAY TIMES newspaper, which was founded in 2000 by a group of young volunteers, namely Abdifatah Mohamed Ibrahim Gesey (the editor), Abukar Albadri and Abdiyow Husseng Dhegaal oversaw the publication, content writing and design of Reegay Times.
During same period between 2000-2004 Albadri and the great poet Sahal Moalim Isse started the Maay only monthly newspaper called DOWKÉ.
The Elif Maay efforts were not limited to those mentioned above, and it is worth noting that the Maay Language speaking communities in Nother Europe also joined the ongoing efforts. The community led by Mr. Abdulqadir Abukar Dhalib founded a social platform called Somaliska -Maaymaaytalande Folk which managed to produce a newspaper called Hogol (2019) and opened a center for the development of the Maay language in Sweden.
Cultural Renaissance:
In 1991, the Fanaaniinta Arlaadi, an alliance of artists for the preservation of the Maay heritage, drama and poetry was founded in Baidoa. Some of its members have been active since 1959 when Radio Mogadishu dropped Af Maay programs in favor of Af Mahaa tiri.
Some members of Fannaaniinta Arladi served in the previous civilian and military regimes as educators, civil servants, or soldiers, and later started to revive the Maay litrary heritage. The music teacher Abdulkadir Ali Hassan (Baarudey) wrote the poem Ay Tiringney Magaageng, Islé tiirineng, “Let us save our name, and hold onto it proudly” to restore Maay pride. It was adopted as the signature tune of Radio Baidoa, the first broadcast voice of Af Maay, and the national anthem of the Arlaadi State founded in 1995.
The poet Issak Nuurow Eedang, also known as (Issak Abgaalow), wrote Mawqif Mujaahid, “The way of the warrior,” and Islé Goroneng, “Let us agree,” poems, which mobilized young men and women to defend their culture.
Poet Mohamud Haji Mohamed, known as (Tarash), a member of Horseed band, the Armed Forces National Band, wrote in 1978, the song Doobnimaadey, “Never too late,” a controversial and subtle play for which he was dismissed from the army and then imprisoned for four years. His plays were considered Ka’aandiid, “anti-revolutionary,’ but the public admired them and saw them as a source of relieve. The public especially liked his song Sabé Sabaabu, “Deceit”.
Abdullahi Abdirahman (Daash) wrote the popular plays Felek, “Astrology” (1975), and Sahan, “Exploration” (1978). Daash’s most politically provocative poems are Iské Diing, “Shame,” (1992), and Dhaar, “Vow” (1993). Radio Baidoa broadcasted Maay folk music, poetry, plays, and stories, thus, served as a catalyst for Maay cultural revival. Indeed, Radio Baidoa was the first ever to broadcast and produce programs exclusively in Af-Maay.
Since 1992, the Fanaaniinta Arlaadi has been producing a newsletter named, Arlaadi, “Homeland”, irregularly published in Baidoa. They also produced videos of songs and plays. Moreover, they revived the publication and study of Af Maay classical literature, Goby, “poetry,” Weerér or Bayting, “war songs,” Dheel, “dances,” Adar, (“oral Maay poetic genre dealing with animals, especially with camels”), Weglé, Nabé Amaang, and Dikri “religious poetry.” They revived Gekogeko stories (Folk tales), sometimes set to music, and Diiley” riddles”.
The Recognition of Af-Maay as Official Language:
The modified Latin script accommodated all Af-Mahaa speakers’ dialects by employing some letters to different sounds i.e. C, a voiced pharyngeal fricative comparable to the Arabic ayn () as in cimri “age”; X, a voiceless pharyngeal fricative H, corresponding to the Arabic ha (), as in xafiis “office” just to mention some.
It is arguable that the Guddiga Af Somaliga during Barre’s time could have accommodated the Af Maay sounds i.e. NG, similar to the end sounds of the English word “helping”, as in wang (milk), and JH, a glottal sound close to the English J, as in jheer (shyness), that both the Language Commission of 1960 and the UNESCO Committee of 1966 had pointed out in their respective reports. It is obvious therefore that the adoption of that script was political in general and for Af Maay speakers it was the last straw.
Af Maay speaking intellectuals and Af Yaal, since the mid-1970s started to engage in more systematic cultural revival and scholarship in reaction to the imposing of the Maxa tiri as the only national language of the county. The activities of these intellectuals and Af Yaal, were celebrated in Mustaf Sheikh’s poems such as Sheleedeya “sidelined” (1973), Sahal Ma’allin Isse’s series Huburow “beloved” (1974), and Mukhtar Mohamed Yarow’s Dooyow, “the Patroit”, (1976).
Not only the Af-Yaal group stood for the salvation of Af Maay, but also the academic intellectuals started focusing their studies on Af Maay. Example of such great work include: Dr. Mohamed Haji Mukhtar’s M.A. Thesis, Taarikh al-Isti’mar al-Itali fi al-Sumal Hatta 1908 (1973) and his Ph.D. dissertation, al-Sumal al-Italifi Fatrat al-Wisayah Hatta al-Istiqlal 1950-1960 (1983) as well as his major published works: “The Emergence and Role of Political Parties in the Inter-Riverine Region of Somalia from 1947-1960” (1989), “The Plight of Agro-Pastoral Society of Somalia” (1996), Historical Dictionary of Somalia (2003), and “Language Marginalization, Ethnic Nationalism and Cultural Crisis in Somalia” (2010). All Professor Mukhtar’s publications generated greater awareness about the plight of Af Maay speakers.
Substantive developments also occurred in Somali Studies after the collapse of the military regime. Scholarship of the period, though focusing on the causes of the collapse of the Somali state and possible solutions, emphasized the cultural space of Af Maay speaking people. Dr. Ali Jimale’s edited volume, The Invention of Somalia, (1995) demonstrated that the widely accepted history of Somalia was a political myth.
Catherine Bestmen and Lee Cassanelli’s The Struggle for Land in Southern Somalia: The War Behind the War, a collection of essays on the socio-economic causes of the civil war (1996) provide ample evidence on what went wrong in Somalia and how Af-Maay speaking people were culturally cleansed.
Further significant sociological studies include Dr. Virginia Luling’s Somali Sultanate: The Geledi City-State Over 150 Years, (2002), the late Dr. Bernhard Helander’s The Hubeer in the Land of Plenty: Land, Labor & Vulnerability Among a Southern Somali Clan (2000), and Dr. Mohamed Eno’s extensive scholarship including From Linguistic Imperialism to Language Domination (2016).
Another important development in the historiography of Somali studies since the collapse of the military regime is Dr. Abdi Mohamed Kusow’s scholarship that rejected the myth of homogeneity and single variant nation and proposed the existence of a more socially and culturally complex and diverse Somalia.
Moreover, what makes Dr. Abdi Mohamed Kusow’s academic studies more important is his articulation of the now well-accepted proposition that it was, in fact, the imposing of the undifferentiated social and cultural sameness that has led to the crisis of the nation state in Somalia. Dr. Kusow’s articles The Somali Civil War: A New Perspective, (1994), Peace and Stability in Somalia: Problems and Prospects (1995), the Somali Origin: Myth or Reality, (1995), his edited volume, Putting the Cart Before the Horse: Contested Nationalism and the crisis of Nation State (2004). His scholarship on the social fabric of Somalia have collectively contributed to an understanding of Somali society as one consisting of multiple, often contested social and cultural voices.
More specifically, the above scholarship has contributed to the possibility of new empirical understanding of a Somalia in which an official Somali language consisting of two primary dialects, Maay and Mahaa tiri, as the constitutional languages of the nation today.
Other linguistic studies have also exposed the myth of Somalia’s monolingualism, Marcello Lamberti’s Map of Somali Dialects in the Somali Democratic Republic (1986) and John Saeed’s Dialectical Variation in Somali. (1982) explore linguistic and dialectical variations in Somalia.
Implementation and Use of Maay Language Script:
After the successful long struggle for the identity of Maay language and culture, educators continue to consolidate, stabilize, implement and use Af Maay script. In 1998, Dr. Salim Alio Ibro contributed a Dictionary of the Jiddu language, English Jiddu Somali Mini-Dictionary and, in 2007, Dr. Mohamed H. Mukhtar and Dr. Omar M. Ahmed published the first English-Maay Dictionary exploring the roots of Af-Maay and its relationship to the other Somali languages and dialects. In this dictionary Dr. Mukhtar and Dr. Ahmed used (GN) for the ‘ayn sound ‘gna’ instead of (YC), which was later changed to (NY) 2019.
In 2004 and 2009, Fawzi Barrow and Abdalla Mohamed Kheer completed their M.A. Theses’ on comparative linguistics between Arabic and Af Maay. Barrow on Phonetics, Dirasah Taqabuliyyah Bayna al-Lughah al-Arabiyyah wa Lughat al-Maay al-Sumaliyyah ‘Ala al-Mustawa al-Sawti and Mohamed Kheer on Syntaxes Dirasah Taqabuliyyah Bayna al-Lughah al-Arabiyyah wa al-Lughah al-Maay al-Sumaliyyah ‘Ala al-Mustawa al-Sarfi respectively. Both Theses’ were submitted to Khartoum Institute of International Studies.
Over the past twenty years, diaspora social media has also contributed to the renaissance of Maay language and in general Maay speaking culture. Some of the most notable individuals in this aspect are Liban Mohamed Hussein, aka Liban MaiTV, who publicized Af Maay in North America, and created the first Maay speaking TV in America.
Arguably, the most important diaspora contribution to the renaissance of Af Maay resulted from the forced migration of Maay speaking Somali Bantu and resettlement in the United States. From 2003 to 2007 roughly 13,000 Somali Bantu refugees were settled in almost all regions of the United States. Today, Somali Bantu American communities are flourishing in both large and small cities, from Atlanta, Georgia to Lewiston, Maine. The Somali Bantu American community has elevated Af Maay by employing it as a form of official social media communication through news channels, commentary and editorial, music and films. One of the leading Maay speaking social media personalities is Osman Ali Burow, aka Mukey. He is the anchor of Somali Bantu Channel, a YouTube-based TV program that deals with political and social issues about Somali Bantu communities in Somalia and in the diaspora. Another team, Mukhtar Ali America and Mohamed Mukhtar Nudka, anchor the Somali Bantu TV, a Maay speaking news media that speaks to issues about Somali Bantu. There are also a number of artists, the most famous of whom, is the WadajirBoyz who have produced independent movies and comedy sketches. The most famous Maay speaking movie is titled Intaadan Guursan Wax Barro. Even though the film’s title is written in Mahaa tiri, the film speaks in Maay. Finally, a number of individuals and groups have also produced Af Maay songs in Hip Hop, the most important of whom is a young man by the name of Rahim Alpha. One of his most famous songs is Sheeké (tales).
In November 4, 2014, the Center for Peace Building Initiative CPBI and the Toronto based Reegay Community Services co-organized the 20th Anniversary of Elif Maay Fest, where distinguished non-Maay speaking scholars contributed papers confirming that Af Maay is a distinct language, indeed it predates Af Mahaa tiri.
The most notable of the scholars include Dr. Mohamed Nuh Ali, Professor of History at Carlton University, Canada; Dr. Lee V. Cassanelli, Professor of History & Director of African Studies Center at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA; Dr. Dahabo Farah, former President of (Somali Academy of Science, Art & Culture) and former Dean of Faculty of Languages at Somali National University; and Dr. Ahmed Osman Bacuudah, Bi-lingual Teacher and Professor at Bankgata Scole Boda, Norway.
A committee was established at the end of the conference for the standardization of Elif Maay. This committee, in collaboration with Center for Peace Building Initiative CPBI and Southwest Community in Sweden, called for a conference at Borås, Sweden in July 2018. The Borås Conference also set the tone for the creation of Official Elif Maay Committee (2019) for the standardization of Maay orthography. The Committee consists of five members: Dr. Mohamed Haji Mukhtar, Dr. Abdi Mohamed Kusow, Dr. Abdullahi Sheikh Manuur, Dr. Omar Moalim Ahmed and Abukar Sheikh Ahmed (Albadri) assisted by Secretariat Committee: Dr. Omar Abdulkadir Sh. Abdurahman, Aden Batar, and Sharif Mohamed Haji.
These developments have recently led to the rise of social consciousness among Maay speaking Somalis that included writing books, creation of social media spaces, and newsletters all written in Elif Maay script.
Professor Abdullahi Sheikh Mohamed has written a dictionary titled, Afyaalké Af Soomaaligé Maayké. (Mogadishu: Barre Printing Press, 2016); Ahmed A/Kadir Nur (Shiine), Silsiladdii Sahal Macalin Ciise. (Karachi: Farooq Kitab Ghar); Ali Haji Ali and colleagues have written a book tiled Elif Maay (Mogadishu: Somprint, Somalia, 2015).
At the political level, these social, and intellectual activities culminated in the Somali Peace and Reconciliation Conferences especially of the 2000 Arta, Djibouti, and of 2003 at Mbegathi, Kenya, where the nation accepted for the Somali language to be (Maay and Mahaa tiri). It is worth mentioning the role of Rewing Resistance Army (RRA), who actively participated and strongly advocated for the acknowledgement of Af Maay to be recognized as an official language of the Somali Republic. Thus, the Transitional Federal Charter of the Somali Republic states in Article 5: “The official language of the Somali Republic shall be Somali (Maay and Mahaa tiri)”.
Conclusion
The Somali national constitution guarantees the national language as (Maay and Mahaa tiri). Moreover, Islam, which is the religion of the country, encourages multilingualism as a bases for security. A Hadith from Prophet Mohamed PBUH says Man ta’allama lughata qawmin amina min makrihim, which means “He who learns other people’s language is safe from their mischief”.
Some cultures prize silence in given circumstances, as the old Finnish saying goes, Speaking is silver; to be silent is gold. Others do not put an explicit emphasis on the role of language. However, most cultures place a high value on speaking well, knowing how to speak well is considered a sign of wisdom and gives one a high social status.
Those in high places cultivate many forms of verbal and rhetorical art, especially language and self-reflection. Identification with one’s own native languages defines individual and group identity.
These efforts had been going on over the past twenty years, and the Elif Maay Committee had held many consultative meetings with different segments of the communities both in Somalia and in the diaspora in order to finalize, formalize, and standardize Elif Maay.
Therefore, there is in fact, a collective desire by the entire society to see a formalized, standardized, and finally implemented Elif Maay. It is in this spirit, that the Elif Maay Standardization Committee, with the full mandate formally declares the official Elif Maay script.