University of Nairobi

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Linguistics and Languages

Course Code: CLL 502

Course Title: Phonology

Topic: Somali Phonology

Presented by: Abdiwali Ali Addow

Lecturer: Prof. Jane Oduor

Submission date: 15/05/2020

Somali phonology

Introduction

The Somali language is part of the Cushitic languages, belonging to the sub group of Afro-asiatic
family, although the Somali people in the different regions that the language is spoken have
different dialects, they understand each other. The Cushitic languages are many and the can be
divided into Highland East Cushitic and Lowland East Cushitic. The languages which come
under Highland East Cushitic are Burji, Hadiyya, Sidamo and Kambato which are spoken by
approximately two million people in southwestern Ethiopia, along the Rift Valley. The second
part of the Cushitic, Lowland East Cushitic include the Oromoid languages which is subdivided
into Oromo, Kansa and Gidole and The Somaloid languages which include Boni and Somali

The Somali language is spoken in many parts of the eastern Africa region; these regions include
Somalia, Djibouti, The Somali region of Ethiopia and north eastern province of Kenya. The
language was written orthographically in 1972 and the Somalis have chosen to use the Latin
alphabet, although some of the Somali scholars suggested to use the Arabic alphabet, but those
who were campaigning for the Latin alphabet won and the Somalis used the Latin alphabet for
their writing system.

Sound system

In the Somali language you find that it has many features that can also be found in other Cushitic
languages. For example, in the syllables you find its end is a vowel or a single consonant and
consonant clusters are not found in word initial or word final, and roots usually contain of one or
two syllables.

Somali vowel sounds

In the Somali language there are five vowels which are short and long vowels, they fall into two
groups which are advance tongue root and retracted tongue root. There are also five diphthongs
in the Somali which also show in short and long.
Short vowels

Those short vowels in the Somali language which are pronounced with the advanced tongue root
are:

[ i] [u]

[ e] [o]

[ᴂ]

i /i/ as in dhib / ɖib/ ‘ cause trouble’

u /u/ as as in gub /gub/ ‘burn’

e as in dheg /ɖeg/ ‘ear’

o /o/ as in fog / fog/ ‘far’

ᴂ / ᴂ/ as in rah /rᴂh/ ‘frog’

Those short vowels which are pronounced the tongue root being retracted are:

[ɪ] [Ʊ]

[ԑ ] [ɔ]

[ ᴧ, а ]

ɪ /ɪ/ as in dibi /dɪbɪ/ ‘an ox’

Ʊ /Ʊ/ as in dhul ɖƱl/ ‘land’

ԑ /ԑ/ as in dhex /ɖԑħ/ ‘center’

Ɔ /Ɔ/ as in tol /tɔl/ ‘sew’ or ‘relative’

ᴧ, а /ᴧ / as in in cali /ʔᴧli/ ‘a name’

Long vowels

The long vowels in the Somali language which are pronounced with advanced tongue root are:

[i:] [u:]

[e։] [ɔ։]

[ᴂ։]

i: /i:/ as in ciid /ʔi:d/ ‘sand’

u: /u:/ as in guur /gu:r/ ‘marriage’

e: /e:/ as in ceeb /ʔe:b/ ‘shame’

ɔ։ /ɔ։/ as in doox /dɔ։ħ/ ‘valley’

ᴂ։ /ᴂ։/ as in caano /ʔᴂ։nɔ/ ‘milk’

And those pronounced with the tongue root being retracted are:

[ɪ։] [Ʊ:]

[ԑ։ ] [o։]

[а:]

ɪ։ /ɪ։/ as in iid /ɪ։d/ ‘festival’

Ʊ: /Ʊ:/ as in cuud /ʔƱ:d/ ‘something to make the room smell good’

ԑ։ /ԑ։/ as in eed /ԑ։d/ ‘accuse’

o։ /o։/ as in oon /o։n/ ‘thirst’

а: /а:/ as in caado /ʔа:do/ ‘habit’

Short diphthongs

The Somali short diphthongs are: <ay>, <aw>, <ey>, <oy> and <ow>
 For example, <ay>/ai/ as in xayn/ ħain/ ‘group’

<aw>/au/ as in dhawr / ɖaur/ ‘keep’

<ey> /ei/ as in gacmey /gaʔmei/ ‘one handed’

<oy> /oɪ / as in oy /oɪ/ ‘cry’

<ow> /ou/ as in caliyow /ʔᴧlijou/ ‘oh,Ali’

Long diphthongs

The long diphthongs in the Somali are: <aay>, <aaw>, <eey>, <ooy> and <oow>

For example, aay /a:i/ as in caay /ʔa:i/ ‘insult’

aaw /a:u/ as in daaw /da:u/ ‘pain’

eey /e:i/ as in eey /e:i/ ‘dog’

ooy /o:ɪ/ as in dooy /do:ɪ/ ‘field’

oow /o:u/ as in oow /o:u/ ‘oh, yes’

Consonant sounds

Somali language has 22 consonant phonemes and its consonants can be found every place of
articulation on the IPA, though these distinctions are not all phonemic.

Labial Labio- Dental Alveola Post- Retrofle Palatal Vela Uvular Pharyn Glott
dental r alveolar x r geal al
Nasals m n
Stops b t d ɖ k q ʔ
g
Affricate dʒ
Fricative f s ʃ X ħ ʕ h
Approxim J w
ant
Trill r
Lateral l

Some of the sounds on this chart differ on the region the person pronouncing is, but the ones I
used are the ones used in the standard Somali that is used in books and government institutions.
For example, the voiced alveolar d, in some regions they pronounce as an alveolar sound and
some as dental sound, but the one in the standard Somali is the one that is pronounce with the tip
of the tongue and the upper front teeth.

Here I will give the examples of the Somali consonant sounds with their minimal pairs

The sound Example Minimal pair

/b/ been /bԑ:n/ (lie) xeen /ħԑ:n/(group)
/t/ tin /tin/ (hair) xin /ħin/ (discriminate)
/ dʒ/ jaad / dʒᴂ։d/ (miira)(kind) qaad/ /(qᴂ։d)(lift it)(miira)
/ħ/ xiis /ħi:s/ (miss) miis/mi:s/ (table)
/x/ khamiis /xami:s/ (thursday) khamiir/xami:r/ (kind of food)
/d/ daad /dᴂ։d/ (flood) baad/bᴂ։d/ (money taken by
force)
/r/ raar/rа:r/(dam) baar/bа:r/ (search)
/s/ saan /sᴂ։n/ (footstep) qaan /qᴂ։n/ (creditor)
/ʃ/ Shil / ʃ il/(accident) dil /dil/ (kill)
/ ɖ/ Dhaar / ɖа:r / (an oath) maar /mа:r/ (metal)
/ҁ/ Cab /ʔᴧb/ (drink) Cad //ʔᴧd / ( white)
/g/ Gar /gаr / (beard) bar /bᴧr / (scar)
/f/ Fan /fan/ (arts) xan /ħan/ (gossip)
/q/ Qarax /qaraħ/ (explosion) marax /maraħ/ (not tasteful)
/k/ Kar /kᴧr/ (piece of cloth) far /fᴧr / (finger)
/l/ Leer /lԑ։r / (wind) beer /bԑ:r / (farm)
/m/ Maal /mᴂ։l/ (fortune) gaal /gᴂ։l/ (infidel)
/n/ Naag /nᴂ։g/ (woman) caag /ʔᴂ:g/ (container)
/w/ Weel /wԑ։l/ (an utensil) meel /mԑ։l/ (place)
/h/ Habeey /habe:j/ (fix) qabeey /qabe:j/ (hide)
/j/ yeel / jԑ։l / ( allow) meel /mԑ։l/ (place)
/ʔ/ Lo’ /lɔʔ / (cow) Go’ /gɔʔ / (bed sheet)

Tone and stress

In Somali language the tonal system shares similarity with that of Oromo. “Somali has three
basic tones with two levels of pitch as shown the below chart:” (Mohamed, 2013 p.22)

Somali tone works at the grammatical, as opposed to at the lexical level, as it does in languages,
for example, Chinese. For example, the masculine-feminine differentiation is represented by tone
in words, for example, ínan 'boy' and inán 'girl.' Tone is firmly connected with stress: high tone
has strong stress, falling tone has weaker stress, and low tone has no stress. Stress commonly
falls on the last or on the penultimate vowel of a word.

Conclusion

Somali language is a language spoken by many people in Eastern Africa and around the globe as
many Somalis have immigrated to North America and Europe; they have taken their language to
those countries and taught their children who were born in those countries.

The Somali language has system which has similarity with some of the African language
especially the Cushitic ones. It has a system of five vowels which has short and long and also fall
into two groups which are +ATR and –ATR, it also has diphthongs which also have short and
long. The consonant sounds in the Somali language are 22 sounds which can be found in every
place of articulation on the IPA chart.

References

1) Andrzejewski, B. W. 1955. "The Problem of Vowel Representation in the Isaaq dialect of

Somali. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. vol. 17: 567-580.
2) Armstrong, Lileas E. 1934. "The phonetic structure of Somali." Mitteilung- en des
Seminars fur orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin 37:117-161.
3) Hyman, Larry M.: 1981, 'Tonal Accent in Somali,' Studies in African Linguistics 12, 169-
203.
4) Saeed, John Ibrahim (1999). Somali. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, B.V. ISBN 90-272-
3810-3.
5) Jama Shire (1976) “Naxwaha Soomaaliga” Mogadishu
6) Ahmed Mohamed (2013) AN OVERVIEW OF THE INTERFACE BETWEEN ASPECTS OF
SOMALIPHONOLOGY AND MORPHOLOGY: A RESOURCE GUIDE FOR ESL TEACHERS.
MA thesis at St. Cloud State University