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<article lang="en"><title>Somali writings</title><articleinfo><authorblurb><para role="Author"><ulink url="mailto:mauro.tosco@unito.it"><phrase role="Hyperlink">Mauro Tosco</phrase></ulink> (University of Turin)</para></authorblurb><abstract lang="fr"><para role="AbstractFR">L’article propose un aperçu sur les différentes écritures employées pour le Somali avant l’introduction en 1972 de l’alphabet latin. Avant une présentation sur le rôle de l’Islam et la littérature somalie en arabe, l’article discute les orthographes basés sur un’élaboration de l’écriture arabe, pour se concentrer ensuite sur les alphabets « autochtones », et en particulier sur l’Osmania. L’article se concentre sur le climat culturel qui en conditionna la naissance et la (relative) diffusion, mais aussi, plus tard, sa décadence et abandon. Le développement de l’alphabet Osmania et ses caractéristiques sont également détaillés. La dernière section présente brièvement deux autres orthographes «autochtones», l’écriture Gadabuursi et l’alphabet Keddaria.</para></abstract><abstract lang="de"><para role="AbstractDE">Der Artikel berichtet über die verschiedenen Schriften, in denen Somali vor der Einführung der lateinischen Schrift im Jahre 1972 geschrieben wurde. </para></abstract><authorgroup><author><firstname>Mauro</firstname><surname>Tosco</surname></author></authorgroup><biblioid class="uri">urn:nbn:de:0009-10-27237</biblioid><keywordset><keyword>Somali</keyword><keyword>Somali writings</keyword><keyword>writings</keyword><keyword>Arabic script</keyword></keywordset><subjectset scheme="bk"><subject>Somali</subject></subjectset><legalnotice><title>Licence</title><para>Any party may pass on this Work by electronic means and make it available for download under the terms and conditions of the Digital Peer Publishing Licence. The text of the licence may be accessed and retrieved via Internet at http://www.dipp.nrw.de/lizenzen/dppl/dppl/DPPL_v2_en_06-2004.html</para></legalnotice><volumenum>2010</volumenum><issuenum>1</issuenum><biblioset relation="journal"><issn>ISSN:1860-7462</issn><title>Afrikanistik Online</title></biblioset></articleinfo><section><title>Introduction</title><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><1></para><para>Islam reached what we now call the Somali coast very early. Consequently, exposure to the Arabic and writing must be equally ancient in the area. Actually, as stressed by Zaborski (1967:125), contact with the Arabian peninsula and its inhabitants must have been going on since times immemorial and well predated Islam.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><2></para><para>To Arab (or Arabic-writing) geographers from the 10th century (cf. Esser and Esser 1982) we owe also the first descriptions of the East African coast (cf. Esser and Esser 1982). Equally to ‘the beginnings of the 10th century’ (<phrase role="Text-I">i primordii del 900 d.Cr.)</phrase> Cerulli (1926:20) ascribes the foundation of Mogadishu by Arab refugees from al-Aḥsā (on the Persian Gulf), and the development in the following centuries of a mixed Arab-Somali population. Cerulli himself (1927) reports evidence pointing to a much earlier date (the middle of the 2nd century A.H.<footnote><para> A.H. = Anno Hegirae, i.e. Islamic Year</para></footnote> – the second half of the 8th century) for the documented arrival of Arab individuals or groups in what was to become Mogadishu.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><3></para><para>A striking fact is that such an early (and continued) presence and contact did not result in any tradition of writing down the local language. Perhaps the very geographical proximity with the Arab world and the close and frequent contacts with Arabs made the independent development of an Arabic-based script inconvenient.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><4></para><para>I think nevertheless that the real reason lies in the sociology of the Somali population, mainly semi-nomadic and living in the interior, no doubt accounts for this lack of any “<phrase role="Text-I">ajami</phrase> of Somalia”. Written Somali – in any form – is a much more recent development, dating as far as we know not earlier than the end of the 19th century. This article deals therefore with a comparatively short history. Yet, such a rich and inspiring history!</para></section><section><title>Somali in Arabic script</title><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><5></para><para>Arabic Somali literature is very rich, encompassing for the most part religious literature; in the 20th century political, journalistic, and scientific publications have been added (including proposals to use the Arabic script to write down Somali, as detailed further below).<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> Gori (2003) provides an interesting classification of written productions in Arabic from Somalia.</para></footnote> </para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><6></para><para>By 'Arabic Somali literature‘ is meant here written material produced by Somali using the Arabic language. It is not the aim of this work to present or discuss it here, or, even less, to give an aesthetic appreciation of it. This must rather be done under the heading of Arabic (and, beyond, Islamic) literature. The interested reader is referred to many works by the late Andrzejewski (e.g., Andrzejewski 1983, and Andrzejewski and Lewis 1998), and the recent book in Italian by Gori (2003).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><7></para><para>The following notes are limited to a brief discussion of the main problems faced when writing Somali in the Arabic script, and a few of the solutions proposed or actually put into practice.</para><para>In the case of Somali, the problems lie, as is so often the case with the Arabic script, in the rendering of five vocalic qualities, both short and long, yielding a number of 10 vocalic phonemes.<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> Actually, each Somali vowel has both a closed and an open variant, yielding in North-Central Somali 20 distinct vocalic phonemes. This opposition, of limited functional load, is not marked in Osmania (nor in other Somali scripts), nor in the Latin modern orthography.</para></footnote></para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><8></para><para>Further, Somali needs a sign for the postalveolar /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ/</phrase> and for the voiced velar plosive /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase><phrase role="Text-I">/</phrase> – both missing in Arabic. The proposals and uses differ mainly in their treatment of these points.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><9></para><para>Little is known on the unplanned use of Arabic mixed with Somali in Arabic script. In his article on the so-called Gadabuursi script, Lewis (1958:135-138) discusses the phenomenon, called “<emphasis>wadaad’s</emphasis> writing” or “<emphasis>wadaad’s</emphasis> Arabic” (a <emphasis>wadaad</emphasis> being a learned religious man with some knowledge of Arabic). Such a writing generally consists of broken Arabic with Somali words, and is (or was) used in business, private correspondence, the writing of petitions, and the like. The following specimen is reproduced here from Lewis:</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="488.6pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para role="Normale"><phrase role="Text-B">Table 1: Arabic with Somali words (“wadaad’s script”) (Lewis 1958:138)</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para role="Normale"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="199px" depth="361px" fileref="dippArticle-1.png" format="PNG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><10></para><para>Nothing being known of earlier adaptations of the Arabic script to Somali, any account of Somali language written consistently using the Arabic script starts as late as the end of the 19th century, with Sheekh Awees.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><11></para><para>Sheekh Aweys (or Awees) Maxamed Baraawii<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> Somali nouns are written consistently in the modern Latin orthography.</para></footnote> (Arabic: <emphasis>Šayḫ Uways b. Muḥammad al</emphasis>-<emphasis>Barâwî</emphasis>)<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> These short biographical notes are taken from the much richer account by Gori (2003: 31-32).</para></footnote> was an important religious leader of the Qâdiriyya brotherhood. He was born in 1847 in the Southern town of Brava among the Tunni clan; after having studied in Baghdad, he came back to Brava in 1880. Until his death he lived in different locations in Southern Somalia and promoted the Qâdiriyya brotherhood all over East Africa. He was killed, together with all his disciples except one, on April 19, 1909 by the rival clan of the Jidle.</para><para>Sheekh Awees is linguistically different from all other sources, as he writes in a mixture of Southern Somali dialects, a fact which is reflected in his writing choices, which are studied in detail by Cerulli (1964).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><12></para><para>Two manuscripts are discussed by Cerulli: one is a song of political polemic character (against the “Mad Mullah” Maxamed Cabdille Xasan and his guerrilla war against the British). The second is a manuscript of religious poetry.</para><para>In the first, in order to write /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>/ Sheekh Awees uses the Arabic sign for <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">k</phrase>> with three dots above. I do not know how Sheekh Awees devised this solution, if by himself or via a knowledge with non-Arab Arabic scripts: this particular combination of <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">k</phrase>> and three dots is (or was) used in order to write a velar nasal (IPA /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ŋ</phrase>/) in the Arabic-based alphabets of Turkish (Ottoman), Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uyghur. The value /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>/ seems restricted to Sheekh Awees.</para><para>This is also the only graphic innovation introduced in respect to the alphabet as used in Arabic. In a single case, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>/ is written with the same Arab sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">k</phrase>/ but with a line above (as in Persian, Urdu, Kurdish, and other languages). In still other cases, for unknown reasons, it is transcribed with the Aabic sign for a uvular fricative, usually transcribed <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ġ</phrase>> and employed for the transcription of intervocalic /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">q</phrase>/.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><13></para><para>The Arabic sign ‘<emphasis>jîm’</emphasis> (variously realized in the Arabic dialects as affricate /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʤ</phrase>/ - mainly in bedouin dialects – or as fricative /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʒ</phrase>/ - mainly in urban dialects – and as occlusive /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>/ in Cairo and Aden) is used for marking in Somali the affricate /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʤ</phrase>/ (also realized as voiceless /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʧ</phrase>/). The postalveolar plosive /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase>/ (<<phrase role="DoulosSIL">dh</phrase>> in the modern Roman orthography) is written with the sign for the “emphatic” (pharyngealized) Arabic phoneme usually transliterated <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ṭ</phrase>> in the Orientalist tradition. In one case (reported herebelow in Table 3), it is instead written with the sign for pharyngealized <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ḍ</phrase>>.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><14></para><para>(Southern) Somali /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɣ</phrase>/ is written with the corresponding Arabic sign usually transcribed <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ġ</phrase>>. </para><para>Another Southern Somali pronunciation is found in the transcription of intervocalic /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">b</phrase>/ – often realised fricative (/<phrase role="DoulosSIL">β</phrase>/) – with the Arabic sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">w</phrase>/. Arabic words retain their Arabic writing even when they contain phonemens unknown in Somali.</para><para>/<phrase role="DoulosSIL">e</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">o</phrase>/ are written as /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ay</phrase>/, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">aw</phrase>/; vowel length remains unmarked, although often a short Somali vowel is written long – possibly, as Cerulli remarks, when it bears stress.</para><para role="Normale">As in the modern Latin orthography, many clitics are written together with the word they cliticize to.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><15></para><para>The excerpt of the song in Table 2 (from Cerulli 1964:118) shows a few peculiarities of his writing of Somali, and not a few irregularities.</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="522.8pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 2: A page of Sheekh’Awees Somali poetry in Arabic script </phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="630px" depth="928px" fileref="dippArticle-2.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><16></para><para>A few words are typically Southern: e.g., in line 2 and 3, <emphasis>intoo</emphasis> for 'where' (instead, e.g., of Standard Somali <emphasis>xaggee</emphasis>).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><17></para><para>In line 3 again, the word <emphasis>dab</emphasis> 'fire' is written by Sheekh Awees with <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">w</phrase>>, reflecting, as noted above, a Southern pronunciation with /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">β</phrase>/.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><18></para><para>In line 16, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase>/ is not written – as expected – with the Arabic sign for the pharyngealized <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ṭ</phrase>> but exceptionally with the sign for pharyngealized <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ḍ</phrase>>: <emphasis>dhalashii</emphasis> "the offspring".</para><para>/<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>/ is marked very irregularly:</para><informaltable frame="none"><tgroup cols="2"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="31.9pt" colnum="1" /><colspec colname="col2" colwidth="456.8pt" colnum="2" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>-</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>with the Arabic sign for <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ġ</phrase>> in line 2 (<emphasis>dagaalkii</emphasis> 'the fight'); </para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>-</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>with <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">k</phrase>> with a line above (as, in line 3, <emphasis>gadaal</emphasis> 'behind, back');</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>-</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>with <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">k</phrase>> and three dots above (as, in line 9, <emphasis>Galadii</emphasis> 'the Galadi' and <emphasis>gubeen</emphasis> 'they burned'. </para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><19></para><para>As to what concerns vowels, inconsistencies (or mistakes) are seen in the unexpected lengthening of Somali short vowels, e.g., in line 3 <emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">bunduuq</phrase> </emphasis>for <emphasis>bunduq</emphasis> ‘gun’, and in line 9 <emphasis>guubeen</emphasis> for <emphasis>gubeen</emphasis> 'they burned', as well as, in line 16, <emphasis>dhalaashii</emphasis> for <emphasis>dhalashii</emphasis> 'the offspring'.</para><para>Arabic words are retained in their original form, as, in line 6, <phrase role="DoulosSIL"><emphasis>ṯumma</emphasis> <emphasis>ba‘di</emphasis></phrase> 'and after that'.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><20></para><para>A different system is used by Sheekh Awees in his religious poetry, apparently predating the political song discussed above: here /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>/ is either transcribed <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ġ</phrase>> or simply <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">k</phrase>>, with no special diacritics. Quite strangely, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase>/ is often not transcribed with the Arabic sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase>/ but with the sign for the interdental (<<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ḏ</phrase>>).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><21></para><para>Other proposals for writing Somali using the Arabic script were advanced in the 20th century. Lewis (1958) and Cerulli (1964:138-151) discuss at length the project by Sheekh Maxamed Cabdi Makaahiil, who in A.H. 1354 (1935-36) published in Bombay (Mumbay) a book under the title <emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">Inšâ’</phrase> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">al-makâtibât</phrase> </emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">al</phrase><emphasis>-‘</emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL"><emphasis>asriyya fî ‘</emphasis>l-<emphasis>luġa al-ṣûmâliyya</emphasis></phrase> (‘The institution of modern correspondence in the Somali language’; cf. also Gori (2003:14). Cerulli (1964:140-148) further reproduces, transribes, and translates letters and proverbs published by the author in his orthography.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><22></para><para>The main originality of Sheekh Maxamed Cabdi Makaahiil’s proposal lies in the writing of postalveolar /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase>/ with the Arabic sign for <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase>> with three dots above. As for the writing of /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>/, he proposes to use the sign for <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">k</phrase>> with a line above. </para><para>Somali /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase>/ is not transcribed with the corresponding Arabic sign, but with the sign for the pharyngealized voiceless (<<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ṭ</phrase>>).</para><para>In order to write /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">e</phrase>/ the author proposes to use both the signs used in Arabic for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">a</phrase>/ (Arabic <emphasis>fatḥa</emphasis>) and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">i</phrase>/ (<emphasis>kasra</emphasis>), while for noting /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">o</phrase>/ he proposes to use the Arabic sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">u</phrase>/ (<emphasis>ḍamma</emphasis>) but inverted.</para><para>Showing great spirit of independence and innovation, the author transcribes the Arabic loans according to their Somali pronunciation.</para><para>Finally, neither Sheekh Awees nor Sheekh Maxamed Cabdi Makaahiil mark in any way the gemination of a consonant.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><23></para><para>In 1954, Muuse Xaaji Ismaaciil Galaal, better known for his collection of Somali lore (<emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">Xikmad</phrase> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">Soomaali</phrase></emphasis>) (Galaal 1956) published with linguistic notes by Andrzejewski, put forward the most advanced and coherent proposal to write down Somali in the Arabic script (Galaal 1954). As summarized by Lewis (1958), Muuse followed Sheekh Maxamed in using the sign for <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase>> with three dots above in order to represent the postalveolar /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ/</phrase>; he departed instead from all his predecessors in marking /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>/ with the <emphasis>jîm</emphasis> sign (usually reserved for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʤ</phrase>/) with three dots below.</para><para>His most revolutionary step was nevertheless the invention of seven completely new signs in order to mark the vowels (all the short ones, as well as /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ee</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">oo</phrase>/).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><24></para><para>Labahn (1982) further mentions a proposal by Ibrahin Hashi Mahamud (Ibraahiim Xaashi Maxamud). From Labahn’s (1982: 296-297) comparative table (reproduced here further below as Table 17), Ibraahiim’s proposal involved the use of the Arabic sign <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ṭ</phrase>> for postalveolar /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase>/, of <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ġ</phrase>> for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>/, and a combination of the Arabic signs for the long vowels and the sign for the glottal stop (<emphasis>hamza</emphasis>) in order to mark all the vowels of Somali.</para><para>Table 3 lists the correspondences between Arabic signs, the present-day Latin signs and the phonemes of Somali.</para><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 3: Main regular correspondences for Somali in Arabic script</phrase></para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="4"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="56.5pt" colnum="1" /><colspec colname="col2" colwidth="217.8pt" colnum="2" /><colspec colname="col3" colwidth="128.4pt" colnum="3" /><colspec colname="col4" colwidth="34.4pt" colnum="4" /><thead><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Sub-heading"><emphasis role="bold" lang="en-US">Arabic</emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Sub-heading"><emphasis role="bold" lang="en-US">source</emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Sub-heading"><emphasis role="bold" lang="en-US">Latin</emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Sub-heading"><emphasis role="bold" lang="en-US">IPA</emphasis></para></entry></row></thead><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">ڭ </para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">Sheekh Awees</para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase></emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase></emphasis></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">ج</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">Sheekh Awees</para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">j</phrase></emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʤ</phrase></emphasis></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">ط</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">Sheekh Awees</para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">dh</phrase></emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase></emphasis></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">غ</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">Sheekh Awees</para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">— (allophone of /<emphasis>q</emphasis>/)</para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɣ</phrase></emphasis></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">ٯ</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">Sheekh Awees</para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">— (allophone of /<emphasis>b</emphasis>/)</para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">β</phrase></emphasis></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">ذ</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">Sheekh Awees (earlier work)</para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase></emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase></emphasis></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">ڎ</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">Sheekh Maxamed Cabdi Makaahiil, Muuse Xaaji Ismaacill Galaad</para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">dh</phrase></emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase></emphasis></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">گ</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">Sheekh Maxamed Cabdi Makaahiil</para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase></emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase></emphasis></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">چ</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">Muuse Xaaji Ismaacill Galaad</para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase></emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col4" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><emphasis lang="en-US"><phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase></emphasis></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable></section><section><title>The Osmania<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> I choose to use this – maybe Italianizing, but certainly widespread - transcription. Other denominations include "Osmanya" (thus Michael Everson; see below) and "Osmanìa" (the latter in Italian publications predating the Second World War, where a larger use of stress marks was common).</para></footnote> alphabet</title><section><title>History</title><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><25></para><para>The best source for the early history of the script is probably Maino (1953:23-26).<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> Maino was a great supporter of the Osmania script, as evidenced in Maino (1953:35-37). On the other hand, on page 38-39 of the same work, Maino also admits the costs and technical difficulties of its implementation.</para></footnote> Maino (1951) and Ricci (1959) provide interesting informations on later developments and its political fortunes. The following notes are mostly derived from these works.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><26></para><para>The indigenous Osmania writing is the invention of a single man: Cusmaan Yuusuf Keenadiid, who devised it around 1920-1922.</para><para>Cusmaan Yuusuf had been born in Hobyo around the turn of the 20th century (thus Maino 1951:108: <emphasis>circa cinquant’anni fa</emphasis>, "approximately fifty years ago"). He was, as Cerulli (1932) informs us, a Majarteen of the Cusmaan Maxmuud clan, Bah Yaquub subclan. Most of all, he was the member of a very prominent family: Cusmaan (or Cismaan, both being accepted Somali renderings of the Arab name ‘Uṯmân) Yuusuf was a younger brother of the Sultan of Hobyo, ‘Alî Yûsuf (Cali Yuusuf in the modern Somali orthography) Keenadiid.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><27></para><para>His father, Yuusuf Cali, had conquered Hobyo (traditionally belonging to the Habargidir clan) and established a separate Majarteen Sultanate, receiving the nickname Keenadiid ("the one who refuses restraints") for his fierce character. In order to gain Italian support against his rivals, Yuusuf Cali accepted the Italian protectorate in December 1988. Although the Sultanate was finally annexed by the Italians on July 10, 1925, the Keenadiid family and, in general, the Majarteen continued to be very prominent in administration and politics.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><28></para><para>It is apparent that, enjoying no political power, Cusmaan soon became the “intellectual” in his clan: he learned Arabic in Hobyo and in Mogadishu, and he also had some knowldege of Italian (<emphasis>ha qualche nozione dell’italiano</emphasis>; Cerulli 1932:177). In Arabic he wrote also all the correspondence of his family. On the other hand, it must be emphasized that Cusmaan had no knowledge of the Ethiopic script, nor this played any role in the elaboration and development of the Osmania script.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><29></para><para>Cusmaan Yuusuf devised his script in the period between 1920 and 1922. The local Italian Commissioner was probably among the first to hear about Cusmaan’s script. He was soon followed by Marcello Orano, who went to Hobyo as 'Resident‚ and had Cusmaan as his private teacher of Somali. Orano later published a Somali grammar in Italian in 1931. Soon afterwards, in 1932, Enrico Cerulli got in contact with Cusmaan’s nephew, Yaasiin, and obtained from him the material for his 1932 article (Cerulli 1932).</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="492.4pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Foto 1: Cusmaan Yuusuf (left) with his nephew Yaasiin (date and place unknown; from Maino 1953:24)</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para role="Normale"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="1216px" depth="879px" fileref="dippArticle-3.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><30></para><para>A few people among Cusmaan’s friends and relatives started soon to use the newly-devised script for private correspondence, but in general the new script did not meet with much impact until the end of the Second World War. Ricci (1959:110-111) summarizes well the local and clanic nature of the script, as well as its flourishing after the war:</para><para role="Quotation-Indent">… la scrittura osmania conservò a lungo il carattere di un fatto strettamente etnico, gentilizio anzi, legato all’ambiente in cui si formò. La sua deprovincializzazione avvenne in concomitanza con l’affermazione dell’idea di unità nazionale, allorchè il movimento che questa idea sosteneva la riconobbe formalmente come il mezzo grafico di espressione della lingua somala.</para><para role="Quotation-Indent">"… the Osmania script retained for a long time the characteristics of a strictly ethnic – even clanic – phenomenon, and it was closely linked to the milieu in which it developed. It lost its provincialism with the rise of the idea of national unity, and when the movement which expressed it recognized it as the graphic means of expression of the Somali language."</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><31></para><para>Inadvertedly, Cerulli confirms the clanic nature of the script in the final remarks of his 1932 short article, when he writes:</para><para role="Quotation-Indent">È da augurare, per molte ragioni, che questo tentativo dei Migiurtini di dare un alfabeto al Somalo riesca (Cerulli 1959 [1932]:179)</para><para role="Quotation-Indent">"It is to be wished, for several reasons, that this Majarteen attempt at providing an alphabet for the Somali language be successful."</para><para>The Osmania was therefore for Cerulli a ‘Majarteen alphabet’ – and this opinion was certainly shared by many Somali.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><32></para><para>The end of the Second World War and of the Italian colonial rule marked the greatest opportunity for Cusmaan’s alphabet. In 1945 the Italian colonial power had crumbled, Somalia was under British occupation, and talks about independence were rampant. From an early <emphasis>Somali Youth Club </emphasis>founded in Mogadishu on May 15, 1943, a real national party was born in 1945: the <emphasis>Somali Youth League</emphasis>. The <emphasis>League</emphasis> espoused in article 5(d) of its statute the cause of the Somali language as the future language of the country, <emphasis>and</emphasis> of a Somali script – the Osmania. The League started disseminating Osmania in Mogadishu, and Cusmaan’s nephew Yaasiin (the single most fervent propagandist of the script) was invited to teach there already in 1945 (Maino 1951:109). Other schools were opened by the League in the major towns of Somalia and abroad (in Addis Ababa, in Kenya, Zanzibar, Yemen). It is unknown how many people got in touch with the script; many of them were young people, and very often women (Ricci 1959:110); it is in this time that the script came to be called <emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">far soomaali</phrase></emphasis><emphasis> </emphasis>('Somali script'), or, in its articulated form, <emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">farta</phrase> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">soomaalida</phrase></emphasis>, a denomination which replaced the earlier designation of Osmania (or, in Arabic,<emphasis> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">al-kitâba al-‘uṯmâniyya</phrase></emphasis> ‘the ‘<emphasis>uṯmâniyya</emphasis> script’).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><33></para><para>Such a political support for Osmania met fierce resistance: both the idea of Somali (rather than Arabic) as the future language of the country, and, most of all, the adoption of an indigenous script were not widely popular. Ten years later the Somali Youth league decided to expunge from its statute the article which called for Osmania as the script of Somali, and even declared Arabic the official language of Somalia.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><34></para><para>Support for Osmania continued through the activities of the <emphasis>Somali Language and Literature Society</emphasis>, established among others by Cusmaan’s nephew Yaasiin on Octobre 5, 1949. The <emphasis>Society</emphasis> was originally a branch of the <emphasis>League</emphasis> but became independent and continued propagating the Osmania alphabet well after the <emphasis>League</emphasis> has ceased its political support. In 1957 the <emphasis>Society</emphasis> started publishing <emphasis>Sahan</emphasis> 'Explorer', a three-pages journal in Osmania under the direction of Xirsi Magan. All these notes are due to Ricci (1959), and I was unable to trace any information on the activities concerning Osmania after the independence of Somali (July 1st, 1960). Ricci informs us that in 1957 the Italian-language daily <emphasis>Corriere della Somalia</emphasis> published a whole page in Somali in Latin alphabet, under the initiative, others, of Prof. Bruno Panza.<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> Much later, Panza wrote the first pedagogical grammar of Somali in the Latin alphabet for foreigners (Panza 1974). I had the honour of meeting him in Mogadishu shortly before his death in 1986.</para></footnote> As Ricci informs us, the experiment was brought to an end by the fierce opposition which it met.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><35></para><para>Discussions on the language of the country and its script continued. The Somali linguistic paradox consisted in a largely linguistically homogeneous country, the existence of an old poetic koiné (based upon the Central varieties of Central-Northern Somali), and – at the same time – the absence of even a single foreigner written medium, not to mention a written form of Somali: English was used in the Northern parts of the country (formerly the British Somaliland), Italian in the rest, and Arabic was known and, most of all, respected everywhere.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><36></para><para>As is well-known, the military coup d’état on October 21, 1969 put an end to the long discussions on the 'official' Somali writing. Already in 1961, a Somali Language Commission had been established in order to study the matter; Labahn (1982:137) not less than 18 writing systems (between indigenous, Arabic-based, and Latin-based) were proposed.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><37></para><para>In 1966, a Unesco commission made up by linguists Bogumil Andzejewski, Stefan Strelcyn and Joseph Tubiana produced a report in which the use of a Latin script was advocated (Andzejewski, Strelcyn and Tubiana 1966). Even in this recommendation, however, the most ingenious solutions of the Latin Somali alphabet – namely, the writing of the pharyngeals /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ħ</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʕ</phrase>/ as, respectively, <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">x</phrase>> and <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">c</phrase>> – were still absent. A few Latin-based orthographies are presented in the final comparative table by Labahn (1982:296-297; cf. Table 17 below). They vary in the proposed representation of the pharyngeals /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʕ</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ħ</phrase>/, the postalveolar /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ/</phrase>, and the long vowels.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><38></para><para role="Quotation-Indent">The Latin Somali alphabet was officialized on the occasion of the third anniversary of the "revolution" (as the coup d’état had been restyled), and became effective on January 1st, 1973. Labahn (1982:172-173) reproduces here the whole passage of Siyaad Barre’s speech in which the orthography of Somali was proclaimed. Suffice here to quote from Labahn the very first lines of the English translation:</para><para role="Quotation-Indent">"I also want to impress on the Somali people today that a unanimous decision has been reached to write the Somali script [...]. A modified Latin script has been chosen for economic reasons as well as convenience. The resources of this nation cannot shoulder the burden of innovating a new alphabet (for matters of printing etc.) and there is also the inconvenience of having to wait for a long time before we realize this goal. [...] Most of the world uses the Latin alphabet. [...] If we use a totally new script, it would have become an isolated one.”</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><39></para><para>The rest of the story has been told many times (Labahn 1982 being probably the most accurate account): the rapid spread of the new script (a spread facilitated by the offhand treatment of any opposition by the military government), the growing wealth of publications in it, the terminological enrichment of Somali (cf. in particular Caney 1984).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><40></para><para>There is a distinct flavor of benign autocracy in much talk on language policies, and the Somali experience is no exception and has too often been told in apologetic terms: a good example here is Laitin (1977, and even more 1992). About Siyaad Barre’s régime in Somalia and its language policy, Laitin affirms that the Somali experience demonstrates ‘an association between language policies in which the lower strata’s voices can be officially heard in their own language and a government that is <emphasis>attentive to the needs</emphasis> of those strata’ (Laitin 1992:59; emphasis mine).<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> Laitin is a firm believer in state 'rationalization' (Weber’s 'iron cage', as Laitin remembers) applied to language. Laitin refers to this process as 'linguistic rationalization'. Given the derivation of 'rationalization' from 'rational', the term acquires an obvious positive connotation (certainly voluntary on the part of Weber, one of the greatest apologists of the modern state). As a part of this rationalization process, e.g., "writers <emphasis>would be asked</emphasis> to develop material in a language in everyday use" (Laitin 1992:155; emphasis mine) and citizens must be <emphasis>required</emphasis> to know the national language (Laitin 1992:158) and <emphasis>zoned</emphasis> according to their vernaculars (Laitin 1992:135; empahsis mine). Obviously, the "high linguistic barriers [which] separate the citizen from the state" (Laitin 1992:149) are for Laitin an obstacle to development.</para></footnote></para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><41></para><para>Nevertheless, Osmania had not passed away: as late as 1971 a whole book had been published in Osmania, with the title <emphasis>Afkeenna iyo fartiisa</emphasis> (“Our language and its script”). It is a primer consisting of 72 pages (the last one containing a picture of Cusmaan Yuusuf with the English caption: ‘Founder of Osmania Script / Osman Yusuf Keenadiid’).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><42></para><para>It has been recently rediscovered by Michael Everson, a linguist, typesetter and font designer (<ulink url="http://www.evertype.com/misc/bio.html"><phrase role="Hyperlink">http://www.evertype.com/misc/bio.html</phrase></ulink>, accessed 30.10.2009). In an undated interview ((<ulink url="http://www.evertype.com/misc/osmanya-interview.html"><phrase role="Hyperlink">http://www.evertype.com/misc/osmanya-interview.html</phrase></ulink>, accessed 30.10.2009), he explains how the book was sent to him by a relative of Cusmaan Yuusuf, Osman Abdihalim Osman (i.e., Cusmaan Cabdihaliim Cusmaan Yuusuf Keenadiid). On the basis of the book, Michael Everson has made proposals to encode Osmania to ISO and to the Unicode Technical Committee.<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> The book is now available on the web (<ulink url="http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/afkeenna-iyo-fartiisa.pdf">http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/afkeenna-iyo-fartiisa.pdf</ulink>, 30.10.2009).</para></footnote></para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><43></para><para>The coverpage is reproduced here in Table 4. It contains English notes by Michael Everson.<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> Everson’s tentative translation of the first word of the publisher’s name (the aforementioned <emphasis>Somali Language and Literature Society</emphasis>), at the bottom of the page, is a mistake: <emphasis>goosanka</emphasis> does not mean '(the) briefing' but '(the) society'.</para></footnote> Whatever the diffusion of this work, its publication date can only mean that the definitive decision on the introduction of the Latin alphabet went not as smooth as we may be led to think.</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="488.6pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 4: Coverpage of Afkeenna iyo Fartiisa (“Our language and its script”)</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="626px" depth="910px" fileref="dippArticle-4.png" format="PNG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable></section><section><title>The script</title><para>The Osmania is a left-to-right alphabet of 22 consonants and, in its developed form, 8 vocalic signs.<footnote><para role="Footnote Text1"> Unicode codes for Osmania may be found at: http://<ulink url="http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10480.pdf">www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10480.pdf</ulink>, 30.10.2009). The font is available at the price of US$ 19 at: <ulink url="http://www.xenotypetech.com/osxOsmanya.html">www.xenotypetech.com/osxOsmanya.html</ulink>, 30.10.2009). </para></footnote> Signs are written separate from each other. All the phonemic consonants of Northern Somali are represented (although the sign for the glottal stop is omitted word-initially – as it is in the present Latin orthography), and 8 of the 10 phonemic vowels of Somali have separate signs. Not represented in the alphabet (as well as in the present Latin orthography) are the tonal accent and the [±ATR] value of the vowels.</para><para>Cerulli (1932) puts forward the curious opinion that the author found inspiration in both the Arab and the Latin script in devising his alphabet – actually, the Latin inspiration is limited to the direction of writing (from left to right), while the influence of Arabic – equally limited – is obvious in:</para><informaltable frame="none"><tgroup cols="2"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="24.8pt" colnum="1" /><colspec colname="col2" colwidth="463.8pt" colnum="2" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>the order of the signs – which follows as close the possible the Semitic (and Arab) order. Signs for Arabic phonemes absent in Somali (interdentals, 'emphatics', etc.) are obviously absent in Osmania. The position of the postalveolar /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase>/ (<<phrase role="DoulosSIL">dh</phrase>>) is the same of Arabic <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ḍ</phrase>>;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>the absence of signs for capital letters;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>the absence of signs for long vowels (see below);</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>the use of the signs for the semivowels /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">w</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">y</phrase>/ in order to express long /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">uu</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ii</phrase>/, respectively (but see below).</para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para>Although aiming at phonological transparency, the script was characterized by few etymological or pseudoetymological choices which enhanced the morphological distinctiveness of morphemes and contrasted with their phonological realization. In particular, certain regular assimilations were not taken into account. Moreno (1955:292) recapitulates:</para><informaltable frame="none"><tgroup cols="2"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="31.9pt" colnum="1" /><colspec colname="col2" colwidth="456.8pt" colnum="2" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>the article and the other determiners, which are affixed to the noun, are written separate from it. Thus, in the first line of the last section of the text in Table 15, <emphasis>dalka</emphasis> 'the country' is written <<emphasis>dal</emphasis> <emphasis>ka</emphasis>>. From this choice a number of consequences arise:</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>the quality of the final vowel in a vowel-ending noun is preserved and its assimilation to the quality of a following affix is not considered. Thus, <emphasis>hooyada</emphasis> 'the mother', from <emphasis>hooyo</emphasis> 'mother' and the feminine article <emphasis>-ta</emphasis>, is written as <<emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">hooyo</phrase> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">da</phrase></emphasis>>;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>as the preceding example shows, the voicing of the article (there, <emphasis>-<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ta</phrase></emphasis> yielding <emphasis>-<phrase role="DoulosSIL">da</phrase></emphasis>) and other changes in the form of the determiner are instead marked in the orthography;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>one of the most peculiar assimilation rules of Somali causes a word-final /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">l</phrase>/ and an affix-initial /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">t</phrase>/ (the marker of the feminine gender and of certain verbal affixes) to combine yielding /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʃ</phrase>/. The solution of Osmania is, as usual, to preserve the identity of the noun and to mark the result of the assimilation on the affix. For example, the affixation of <emphasis>hal</emphasis> 'she-camel' and the article, yielding <emphasis>hasha</emphasis> (/<emphasis>haʃa</emphasis>/), is written <<emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">hal</phrase> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">sha</phrase></emphasis>>;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>the complete assimilation of the marker of the masculine gender -<phrase role="DoulosSIL">k</phrase>- after certain word-final phonemes is marked with an apostrophe (borrowed from the Latin script). Thus, <emphasis>dhinaca</emphasis> (/<emphasis>ɖinaʕa</emphasis>/) 'the side', from <emphasis>dhinac</emphasis> and <emphasis>ka</emphasis>, is written in Osmania <<emphasis>dhina‘’a</emphasis>>;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>equally unmarked is the assimilation of a final /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase>/ before an affix-initial /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">t</phrase>/, as common in verbal conjugation (especially but not only in the Reflexive-Middle, which is marked by the extension <emphasis>-<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ad</phrase>-</emphasis>): <<emphasis>qaadtay</emphasis>> stands for the morphological sequence /<emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">qaad</phrase>- + -<phrase role="DoulosSIL">tay</phrase></emphasis>/ 'you/she took'; its realization is /<emphasis>qa</emphasis>ː<emphasis>tæj</emphasis>/ and is written in the modern Latin orthography as <emphasis>qaatay</emphasis>.</para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><44></para><para>Italian scholars were the first to give notice of Cismaan Keenadiid’s script. Among them, Cerulli (1932 [1959]:178) published a short notice already in 1932, with the following Table 5.</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="488.6pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 5: An early version of the Osmania alphabet </phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para role="Normale"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="949px" depth="330px" fileref="dippArticle-5.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para>In Cerulli’s table the Latin correspondences are shown with the signs of the Orientalist tradition. The fourth sign should be transliterated with <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ǧ</phrase>> (the diacritic caron being invisible in my copy).</para><para>Equivalences using the modern Latin Somali alphabet are shown in Table 6:</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="492.4pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 6: The Osmania alphabet and the modern Latin Somali alphabet</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="642px" depth="223px" fileref="dippArticle-6.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><45></para><para>This earlier version of the Osmania script did not have special signs for the long vowels. Their writing is described by Cerulli (1932:178):V</para><informaltable frame="none"><tgroup cols="2"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="24.8pt" colnum="1" /><colspec colname="col2" colwidth="463.8pt" colnum="2" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>for long /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">e</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">o</phrase>/ the vocalic sign is repeated;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>alternatively, in order to write /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ee</phrase>/ the sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">e</phrase>/ is followed by the sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">y</phrase>/, and to write /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">oo</phrase>/ the sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">o</phrase>/ is followed by the sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">w</phrase>/.</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>for long /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">i</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">uu</phrase>/ the vocalic sign is followed by the sign for the semivowels /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">y</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">w</phrase>/, respectively;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>for long /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">a</phrase>/ the vocalic sign is followed by the sign for the glottal stop (<emphasis>’alif</emphasis> in Arabic).</para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><46></para><para>In this way, each long vowel is represented by a double sign. The influence of Arabic is evident in the use of the <emphasis>matres lectionis</emphasis> (<<phrase role="DoulosSIL">’</phrase>>, <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">w</phrase>>, <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">y</phrase>>) in order to express vowel length, as recapitulated by Cerulli (1932:178):</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="492.4pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 7: Marking of the long vowels in the early Osmania alphabet </phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="642px" depth="299px" fileref="dippArticle-7.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para role="Quotation-Indent">The Italian text means: ‘For <emphasis>bē</emphasis>, therefore, one can also write <<emphasis>bee</emphasis>>, and for <emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">bō</phrase> </emphasis>also <<emphasis>boo</emphasis>>’.</para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Normale" /><para>Later developments in Osmania writing seem to involve the following points:</para><informaltable frame="none"><tgroup cols="2"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="18.0pt" colnum="1" /><colspec colname="col2" colwidth="470.6pt" colnum="2" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>irregular use of 'taller' signs for capital letters;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>introduction of Western punctuation marks;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>appearance of a few ligatures (in hand-written texts);</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>decrease in the use of the sign for the glottal stop. This is not even represented in later alphabetic tables;</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>partially connected with the preceding point, three special signs are developed for marking three long vowels, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">aa</phrase>/, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ee</phrase>/, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">oo</phrase>/.</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>/<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ii</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">uu</phrase>/ come to be marked with the same signs for the semivowels /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">y</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">u</phrase>/.</para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><47></para><para>These developments seem to contradict each other in terms of graphic influence: the efforts at creating capital letters and the introduction of punctuation marks are obviously due to contact with modern European languages (most probably Italian); on the contrary, the use of the signs for the semivowels for marking the long vowels is in accordance with the Arabic (and Semitic) tradition. The "crise of the glottal stop" is simply a reflex of the limited phonological load and auditory quality of this phoneme: in Somali (as in many other Cushitic languages) any phonological word begins with a consonant (i.e., #VX is not an admissable word onset). An initial glottal stop is omitted in the modern Latin orthography, while a glottal stop is retained in the other positions (but optionlly word-finally). Thus, the orthographic string <phrase role="DoulosSIL">af</phrase> 'mouth; language' stands for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ʔaf</phrase>/ , alongside <phrase role="DoulosSIL">lo’</phrase> 'cattle' (/<phrase role="DoulosSIL">loʔ</phrase>/) and <emphasis>la’aan</emphasis> 'without; lacking' (/<emphasis>laʔaan</emphasis>/). In casual writing the sign for the glottal stop is often dropped altogether. Table 8 summarizes the marking of vowels along the history of Osmania:</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="3"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="70.1pt" colnum="1" /><colspec colname="col2" colwidth="168.8pt" colnum="2" /><colspec colname="col3" colwidth="169.2pt" colnum="3" /><thead><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" namest="col1" nameend="col3" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 8: Expression of the long vowels in Osmania</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Sub-heading"><emphasis role="bold" lang="en-US" /></para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Sub-heading"><emphasis role="bold" lang="en-US">early Osmania</emphasis></para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Sub-heading"><emphasis role="bold" lang="en-US">late Osmania</emphasis></para></entry></row></thead><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">/<emphasis>aa</emphasis>/</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>a’</emphasis>></para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>ā</emphasis>></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">/<emphasis>ee</emphasis>/</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>ey</emphasis>>, <<emphasis>ee</emphasis>></para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>ē</emphasis>></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">/<emphasis>ii</emphasis>/</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>iy</emphasis>></para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>y</emphasis>></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">/<emphasis>oo</emphasis>/</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>ow</emphasis>>, <<emphasis>oo</emphasis>></para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>ō</emphasis>></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body">/<emphasis>uu</emphasis>/</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>uw</emphasis>></para></entry><entry colname="col3" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="center"><para role="Body"><<emphasis>w</emphasis>></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><48></para><para>The main difference between earlier and later reproductions of the alphabet chart lies in the presence of a special sign for the glottal stop (the first sign): (Maino (1951), Lewis (1958), as well as the chart in <emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">Afkeenna</phrase> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">iyo</phrase> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">fartiisa</phrase></emphasis> (1971) omit the sign for the glottal stop altogether. Table 9 herebelow reproduces Maino (1951:116), reproduced also in Maino (1953:29) and Moreno (1955:291. As Moreno informs us, it was originally hand-written by the inventor’s son Yaasiin.</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="488.6pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 9: Later version of the Osmania alphabet and Osmania digits</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para role="Normale"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="490px" depth="888px" fileref="dippArticle-8.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><49></para><para>Special signs for the digits are here included. They too are originals; an obvious reflex of the Arabic digits, th signs for '<phrase role="DoulosSIL">7</phrase>' and '<phrase role="DoulosSIL">8</phrase>', which are specular to each other (the Arabic digits are <۷> and <۸>, respectively).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><49></para><para>As anticipated, this later version of Osmania does not include the glottal stop. The order of the signs follows that of the Arabic alphabet as close as possible, but the order of <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">dh</phrase>> and <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>> is reversed: for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase>/ (modern <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">dh</phrase>>) the position of the Arabic sign <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ḍ</phrase>> is used, and the sign for <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">g</phrase>> is inserted immediately before. The signs <w> and <y> are listed among those for the vowels.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><50></para><para>Lewis (1958) includes instead the signs for the semivowels after all the other consonants, and repeat the signs among the vowels. Again, no glottal stop is found. For unknown reasons, the last sign in the Arabic alphabet is shifted well before, after the signs (using the modern Somali signs) for <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">x</phrase>> and <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">kh</phrase>>. Either the author of the table wanted to put three acoustically similar phonemes (/<phrase role="DoulosSIL">h</phrase>/, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ħ</phrase>/, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">χ</phrase>/) alongside, or, maybe, he wanted to list together phonemes having similar English transcriptions: <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">h</phrase>>, <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ḥ</phrase>>, <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">kh</phrase>> (the latter, in the Orientalist tradition represented here by Cerulli and Maino, <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ḫ</phrase>>). Finally, shifting <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">h</phrase>> has the effect of letting the signs for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">w</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">y</phrase>/ directly precede the vocalic signs.</para><para>The alphabet charts in Lewis (1958:141) and the one in <emphasis><phrase role="DoulosSIL">Afkeenna</phrase> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">iyo</phrase> <phrase role="DoulosSIL">Fartiisa(p.21)</phrase></emphasis> are reproduced herebelow as Tables 10, 11, and 12.</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="488.6pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 10: The Osmania alphabet</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="572px" depth="718px" fileref="dippArticle-9.png" format="PNG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para /><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="488.6pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 11: Osmania numerals</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para role="Normale"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="573px" depth="252px" fileref="dippArticle-10.png" format="PNG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Normale" /><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="488.6pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 12: The Osmania alphabet</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para role="Normale"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="509px" depth="722px" fileref="dippArticle-11.png" format="PNG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Normale" /></section><section><title>Texts in Osmania</title><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><51></para><para>Literature on Osmania is very limited. Literature <emphasis>in</emphasis> Osmania is almost non-existant. Epistolar correspondence is provided in Latin transcription, with notes and an Italian translation, by Ricci (1959), but the originals are not included. A few texts are given by Maino (1951, 1953) and by Moreno (1955).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><52></para><para>Moreno (1955:290-297) presents the Osmania alphabet and a few texts, together with their transcription and an Italian translation. He reproduces the Osmania alphabet table and the texts of Maino (1951), together with another anonymous hand-written text. This material is reproduced here because, as Moreno remarks, it shows interesting scribal practices: first of all, ligatures between a few signs make their appearance.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><53></para><para>Moreover, in all these texts a few Western orthographic signs are used: </para><informaltable frame="none"><tgroup cols="2"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="24.8pt" colnum="1" /><colspec colname="col2" colwidth="463.8pt" colnum="2" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>direct speech is preceded in the previous sentence by colons and introduced and closed by <"_"> (as usual in handwritten Italian); </para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>each paragraph is ended by a period; </para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>a word-cut at the end of a line is marked by an equal sign (<=>) – again, as usual in handwritten Italian (cf. the second line from the end);</para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>•</para></entry><entry colname="col2" valign="top" rowsep="0" colsep="0" align="left"><para>a few ligatures appear; e.g., in the third line from the end in the text of Table 15., the signs for the string <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ba</phrase>> (4th word) and the string <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">qd</phrase>> (4th and 5th word) are written together.</para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 13: Osmania text: “A strange divorce” (from Maino 1953:68-69; also 1951:119-121)</phrase></para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="492.4pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="642px" depth="491px" fileref="dippArticle-12.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><54></para><para>The first line is (in modern Somali orthography): <phrase role="DoulosSIL"><emphasis>Aan</emphasis> <emphasis>hadalno</emphasis> <emphasis>waa</emphasis> <emphasis>aan</emphasis> <emphasis>helshinno</emphasis></phrase> 'let’s speak is (i.e, means) let’s reach an agreement'. The standard orthography would use here the assimilated form <emphasis>heshinno</emphasis> from the verb <emphasis>hel</emphasis>, which reproduces the pronunciation.</para><para>Maino (1951) published also a selection of Somali proverbs in Osmania, reproduced again by Moreno (1955).</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="488.6pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 14: Osmania text: Somali proverbs</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="412px" depth="630px" fileref="dippArticle-13.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 15: Osmania text: the Eskimos</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="541px" depth="900px" fileref="dippArticle-14.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><55></para><para>Moreno (1955:295-296) is the source of the text in Table 15, which is interesting (apart for the presence of ligatures) from the point of view of its content: it is a short text dealing, of all things, with the Eskimos and their land, possibly originating as a schooltext and written down in Osmania by an anonymous hand.</para></section></section><section><title>A note on the Gadabuursi and the Kaddaria scripts</title><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><56></para><para>The only informations on this writing are contained in an article by Lewis (1958). The script, Lewis informs us, was devised in about 1933 by Sheekh Cabdurraxmaan Sheekh Nuur, of the Gadabuursi clan. He was the qaadhi at Borama, near the Ethiopian border. And in Borama only and among ‘a small circle of the Sheikh’s associates’ was the script used; the author himself did not ‘regard his invention as a contribution to the problem of finding a national orthography for Somali’ (Lewis 1958:142).</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><57></para><para>This script too is written from left to right. It is aesthetically very elegant, although a few signs look too much alike: e.g., the sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">a</phrase>/-/<phrase role="DoulosSIL">aa</phrase>/ and the sign for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase>/ are easily confused. If Osmania resembles a little bit Armenian, the script by Sheekh Cabdurraxmaan is instead reminiscent of Georgian.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><58></para><para>As in late versions of Osmania, no sign for the glottal stop is present. But different from Osmania, the signs for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ii</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">uu</phrase>/ are distinct from those for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">y</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">w</phrase>/. Short /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">o</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">u</phrase>/ share a single sign. Vowel length is not distinguished for /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">a</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">aa</phrase>/ and /e/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ee</phrase>/.</para><para>The order of signs follows <emphasis>grosso modo</emphasis> the Arabic ordering, but with many exceptions. In Lewis’ table, reproduced herebelow, /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase>/ and /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase>/ are barely distinguishable, but from an analysis of the accompanying texts it becomes evident that the fourth sign stands for the postalveolar /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">ɖ</phrase>/, while the postalveolar /<phrase role="DoulosSIL">d</phrase>/ is inserted between <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">h</phrase>> and <<phrase role="DoulosSIL">r</phrase>>.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><59></para><para>Lewis (1958) reproduces, with transcription, translation and notes, various specimen of Somali poetry written in this script (two <emphasis>gabay</emphasis>, a <emphasis>geeraar</emphasis>, a <emphasis>qasiida</emphasis> in praise of the Prophet and two specimens of private correspondence).</para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="492.4pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 16: The Gadabuursi alphabet (Lewis 1958:142-143)</phrase></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="642px" depth="506px" fileref="dippArticle-15.png" format="PNG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="643px" depth="221px" fileref="dippArticle-16.png" format="PNG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><60></para><para>Still less is known to us about the Kaddaria script. It was devised by Sheekh Xuseen Axmed Kaddareh. Andzejewski, Strelcyn and Tubiana (1966:9) briefly discuss the Kaddaria script, noting that ‘[I]t is less widespread than Osmania and its history is even shorter’. The author also propose a number of possible modifications. Like the other indigenous Somali scripts, Kaddaria is written from left to right, but it is superior to both Osmania and Gadabuursi in having separate signs for all the vocalic phonemes. The inventor also proposed a cursive variety of his script for handwriting.</para><para>Labahn (1982:296-297) lists it among the Somali scripts; his table (originally from Hussein 1968:29-30) is reproduced herebelow as Table 17, Kaddaria is No. 9, Osmania No. 2, and Gadabuursi No. 8.</para></section><section><title>Conclusions</title><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><61></para><para>This is not the end of the story: Labahn (1982:137), mentions that among the 18 writing systems discussed by the Somali Language Commission "elf waren somalische Entwicklungen". Apart from Osmania, Kaddaria and the 'Gadabuursi' system, what were the other eight? We do not know.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><62></para><para>It is obvious that none of them ever became popular writing systems. Osmania was the only serious competitor. The economic costs involved in the introduction of special typographic signs were the first and most obvious reason of its final failure, but the ideological factors are at least as important: Osmania was widely perceived as a “clanic” thing. The heavy involvement of the Majarteen in the Italian colonial administration and in the first years after the independence certainly did not help.</para><para role="Paragraphnumbering"><63></para><para>Still, in a way, Osmania is not dead: interest in it continues, certainly spurred by the sad conditions of many young Somalis in the diaspora, and one easily finds in the web heated discussions about its value as a national symbol and even the necessity of revitalizing it. I daresay Osmania will last. And for a long, long time.</para><para><phrase role="Text-B">Table 17: Somali scripts (Labahn 1982: 296-297)</phrase></para><informaltable frame="all"><tgroup cols="1"><colspec colname="col1" colwidth="488.6pt" colnum="1" /><tbody><row><entry colname="col1" valign="top" rowsep="1" colsep="1" align="left"><para role="Normale"><inlinemediaobject><imageobject><imagedata width="429px" depth="920px" fileref="dippArticle-17.jpg" format="JPG" srccredit="embed" /></imageobject></inlinemediaobject></para></entry></row></tbody></tgroup></informaltable><para role="Normale" /><para><phrase role="Text-B">References</phrase></para><para role="References-Author">Andrzejewski, Bogumil W. 1983</para><para role="References"><emphasis>Islamic Literature of Somalia</emphasis>. African Studies Program. Bloomington: Indiana University</para><para role="References-Author">Andzrejewski, Bogumil W., Stefan Strelcyn and Joseph Tubiana 1966</para><para role="References"><emphasis>Somalia: the Writing of Somali</emphasis>. Paris: Unesco, <ulink url="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001580/158072eb.pdf"><phrase role="Hyperlink">http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001580/158072eb.pdf</phrase></ulink> (accessed 29.10.2009)</para><para role="References-Author">Andzejewski, Bogumil W. and Ian M. Lewis 1998</para><para role="References">'New Arabic documents from Somalia.' In: Ian M. Lewis (ed.). <emphasis>Saints and Somalis. Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society</emphasis>. Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press: pp.141-153</para><para role="References-Author">Caney, John Charles 1984</para><para role="References"><emphasis>The Modernisation of Somali Vocabulary, with particular reference to the period from 1972 to the present</emphasis>. 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Vol. II.</emphasis> Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato: 1959, pp.177-179]</para><para role="References-Author">Cerulli, Enrico 1964</para><para role="References">'Lingua somala in caratteri arabi.' In: <emphasis>Somalia. Scritti vari editi ed inediti. </emphasis>Vol. III. Roma: Ministero degli Affari Esteri: pp.115-151.</para><para role="References-Author">Esser, Monika and Otto Esser 1982</para><para role="References">'Bemerkungen zum Vorkommen des Kamels im östlichen Afrika im 14. Jahrhundert.' <emphasis>Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika </emphasis>4:225-238</para><para role="References-Author">Galaal, Muuse Ħ. I. 1954</para><para role="References">'Arabic script for Somali.' <emphasis>Islamic Quarterly</emphasis> 1/2:114-118 [quoted in Lewis 1958; unseen]</para><para role="References-Author">Galaal, Muuse Ħ. I. 1956</para><para role="References"><emphasis>Ħikmad Soomaali</emphasis>. Edited by B. W. Andrzejewski. London: Oxford University Press</para><para role="References-Author">Gori, Alessandro 2003</para><para role="References"><emphasis>Studi sulla letteratura agiografica somala in lingua araba.</emphasis> Quaderni di Semitistica, 24. Firenze: Università di Firenze, Dipartimento di Linguistica</para><para role="References-Author">Hussein M. Adam 1968</para><para role="References"><emphasis>A Nation in Search of a Script: The Problem of Establishing a National Orthography for Somali</emphasis>. M. A. Thesis. Makerere: University of East Africa [quoted in Labahn 1982; unseen]</para><para role="References-Author">Labahn, Thomas 1982</para><para role="References"><emphasis lang="de">Sprache und Staat: Sprachpolitik in Somalia</emphasis>. Hamburg: Helmut Buske</para><para role="References-Author">Laitin, David D. 1977</para><para role="References"><emphasis>Politics, Language, and Thought. The Somali Experience.</emphasis> Chicago: University of Chicago Press</para><para role="References-Author">Laitin, David D. 1992</para><para role="References"><emphasis>Language Repertoires and State Construction in Africa. </emphasis>Cambridge: Cambridge University Press</para><para role="References-Author">Lewis, Ian M. 1958</para><para role="References">'The Gadabuursi Somali script.' <emphasis>Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies</emphasis> 21:134-156</para><para role="References-Author">Maino, Mario 1951</para><para role="References">'L’alfabeto “osmanìa” in Somalia.' <emphasis>Rassegna di Studi Etiopici</emphasis> 10:108-121</para><para role="References-Author">Maino, Mario 1953</para><para role="References"><emphasis>La lingua somala strumento di insegnamento professionale</emphasis>. Alessandria: Ferrari, Occella & C.</para><para role="References-Author">Moreno, Martino Mario 1955</para><para role="References"><emphasis>La lingua somala.</emphasis> Roma: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato</para><para role="References-Author">Panza, Bruno 1974</para><para role="References">Af Soomaali: grammatica della lingua somala con piccolo vocabolario in appendice. Firenze: Le Monnier</para><para role="References-Author">Ricci, Lanfranco 1959</para><para role="References">'Corrispondenza epistolare in Osmania.' <emphasis>Rassegna di Studi Etiopici</emphasis> 14:108-150</para><para role="References-Author">Yaasiin Cismaan Keenadiid 1976</para><para role="References"><emphasis>Qaamuuska Af-Soomaaliga</emphasis>. Muqdisho: Wasaaradda Hiddaha iyo Taclinta Sare, Akademyaha Dhaqanqa</para><para role="References-Author">Yaasiin Cismaan [Cusmaan] Keenadiid 1984</para><para role="References"><emphasis>Ina Cabdille Xasan e la sua attività letterararia</emphasis>. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale</para><para role="References-Author">Zaborski, Andzej 1967</para><para role="References">'Arabic loan-words in Somali: preliminary survey.' <emphasis>Folia Orientalia</emphasis> 8:125-175</para><para role="Normale" /><para><phrase role="Text-B">Book in Osmania script:</phrase></para><para><emphasis>Afkeenna iyo fartiisa</emphasis> ("Our language and its writing"), Xamar (: Mogadishu): Industrie Grafiche della Somalia, <ulink url="http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/afkeenna-iyo-fartiisa.pdf"><phrase role="Hyperlink">http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/afkeenna-iyo-fartiisa.pdf</phrase></ulink> (accessed 30.10.2009) </para><para role="Normale" /></section></article>
