Somali

=Welcome to the Somali Resource Page!=

=Please take advantage of the quick, color-coded index for ease in navigation of this page: Background Information on Somalia, The Somali Language , Phonology , Morphology , Word Order. =

= Also look for **bold text** as it offers particularly important insights for teachers of Somali students. =


 * [[image:http://www.mapsofworld.com/images/world-countries-flags/somalia-flag.gif width="118" height="68" align="left"]]Somalia **



// **Background Information on Somalia** // __**Languages:**__ Somali (official), Arabic, Italian, English __**Dialects:**__ **Three** main dialects, **each of which is difficult for speakers of the other two to understand.** The dialects include Af-Maymay, spoken between the Shebelle and Juba rivers; Af-Benaadir, spoken on the coast from Mogadishu south; and standard Somali, spoken everywhere else. **(Keep this in mind when trying to pair Somali students in hopes of making a connection of a common L1 for them!)** __**Area:**__ 637,657 sq km (246,200 sq mi) - slightly smaller than Texas __**Population:**__ (2011 estimate, no census exists); 9.9 million (of which an estimated 2 million in Somaliland) __**Capital:**__ Mogadishu __**Religion:**__ 99.9% Muslim __**Education:**__ Literacy—total population that can read and write, 37.8%: male 49.7%; female 25.8%. **__Government Type:__** Transitional government, known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) __**Climate:**__ Principally desert; December to February-northeast monsoon, moderate temperatures in north, and very hot in the south; May to October-southwest monsoon, torrid in the north, and hot in the south; irregular rainfall; hot and humid periods (tangambili) between monsoons

media type="youtube" key="SLzKZ1vXTds" height="315" width="560" *This is a video that might offer insight into life in Somalia. ([] )

**__Holidays:__**

Islamic holidays fall at different times of year according to the Islamic calendar. Holidays are celebrated with feasting and storytelling, visiting graves, giving to the poor, parades, plays, and ceremonies.
 * Ramadan (the month of fasting);
 * Id al-Fitr (the Little Feast); the First of Muharram (when an angel is said to shake the tree of life and death);
 * Maulid an-Nabi (the birth of the prophet Muhammad);
 * Id al-Adha (commemorating the story of Abraham and his son Ishmael).


 * *Keep in mind that though a student may be Somali, he/she may have lived at a Kenyan refugee camp due to the drought, famine, and civil war currently occurring in Somalia. ** It is important to know this information as refugee camps may not have provided adequate education. Also, students may have experienced death in the family, separation from certain family members, or any number of traumatic situations when fleeing their home country to enter a Kenyan refugee camp, which could reflect themselves in their writing or behavior later on. **We highly suggest you watch the documentary //Rain in a Dry Land// to get an inside look at what a Somali student may be going through during their transition to the U.S. as well as his/her prior experience in a refugee camp.**

//** The Somali Language **// **__Language and Literacy:__** Somalis speak Somali. Many people also speak Arabic, and educated Somalis usually speak either English or Italian as well. Swahili may also be spoken in coastal areas near Kenya. **Somali has adopted many Arabic words**, both modern phrases to deal with modern institutions, such as government and finance, and older Arabic terms to discuss international trade and religion. Somali had no written form until 1972, when a Somali script, based on the Roman alphabet, was adopted. Until that time, English and Italian served as the languages of government and education. In 1972, Somali officials were required to learn the Somali script and a countrywide literacy campaign was launched. Great progress was made in the development of national literacy, particularly in the rural areas, where previous literacy campaigns had failed. In 1972, government figures indicated a literacy rate of 55%, in contrast to a 5% rate before the adoption of the national script. Even if the government estimate is exaggerated - a 1990 UN estimate put the national literacy rate at 24% - Somali progress in literacy has clearly been significant.

__**The Somali Alphabet:**__

**__Greetings:__** Somalis greet each other with handshakes, but **shaking hands with the opposite sex is not acceptable**.

Examples of verbal greetings:


 * Assalam Alaikum (Peace be upon you)
 * Nabad miyaa (Is their peace)
 * Subah wanaagsan (Good morning)
 * Galab wanaagsan (Good afternoon)
 * Habeeb wanaagsan (Good night)

*The following is a video exhibiting the pronunciation of these greetings.

media type="youtube" key="PQ4itxQOZOo" height="315" width="420" ([])

**__Communication:__** Somalis use hand and arm gestures to dramatize speech. Many ideas are expressed through specific hand gestures: Somali people may speak to each other at a louder volume than is generally considered appropriate in the U.S. Therefore, what is most likely a friendly conversation between Somali speakers, may appear to be an argument to observers. Somali people do not often express appreciation verbally. Because saving face is culturally important, Somalis may be more indirect than what is considered typical in the U.S. Due to Somalis' respect for strength and pride, boasting is generally acceptable within the culture. (It would not be considered as socially inappropriate as it is in the U.S.)
 * A swift twist of the open hand means "nothing" or "no".
 * Snapping fingers may mean "long ago" or and "so on"
 * A thumb under the chin indicates "fullness".
 * It is considered impolite to point the sole of one's foot or shoe at another person.
 * It is considered impolite to use the index finger to call somebody; that gesture is used for calling dogs.
 * **The Western "thumbs up" gesture is considered obscene.**

Somali has a rich tradition of proverbs, passed on from previous generations and embellished by individual speakers. Proverbs play a very important role in everyday speech. Also, **because Somalis have an oral tradition in their culture, many Somali students are adept at learning through this medium. Therefore, teachers should capitalize on this strength and use discussions as an instructional strategy.** Somalis find English impoverished in its lack of appreciation for and inclusion of Proverbs. Some will go to great effort to learn English sayings and use them far too frequently; others may translate literally from the Somali and hope for the best. Here are some examples:
 * __The Importance of Proverbs:__ **

//Aqoon la'aani waa iftiin la'aan.// Being without knowledge is to be without light.

//Ilko wada jir bey wax ku gooyaan.// Unity is power. (literally, "Together the teeth can cut.")

//Intaadan falin ka fiirso.// Look before you leap. (literally, "Think before you do.")

//Nabar doogi ma haro.// An old wound will not go away.

__**Somali Folktales in Bilingual Texts:**__ Somali writers have written some traditional stories (and some new ones) in children's books. When teaching a large group of Somali students, it may be beneficial to purchase these books for the classroom (available at [] ). Here are some of the folktales:



__**S**____** ample Somali Text:**__ Aadanaha dhammaantiis wuxuu dhashaa isagoo xor ah kana siman xagga sharafta iyo xuquuqada Waxaa Alle (Ilaah) siiyay aqoon iyo wacyi, waana in qof la arkaa qofka kale ula dhaqmaa si walaaltinimo ah. Translation: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

//(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)//

__**Useful Vocabulary for Teachers:**__ The following video highlights Somali classroom vocabulary and phrases that may be helpful to teachers of newcomer Somali students.

media type="youtube" key="soMQdpSyBWw" height="315" width="420" ([] )

//** Phonology **//
 * Somali uses all but three letters //(p, v,// and //z)// of the English alphabet.
 * Of the thirty-three sounds, fifteen //(b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, s, sh, t, w,// and //y)// are very much like their English counterparts.
 * Somali has seven consonants //(c, dh, kh, q, r, x// and //'// [glottal stop]) that do not match anything in English. **The English sounds most likely to present difficulties for Somalis are those represented by the letters //c, q, r,// and //x,// since these letters are pronounced quite differently in Somali.**
 * Tone occurs in Somali, but it is not as complex as in Chinese, in which every word has a special tone pattern. In Somali, tone rarely marks a difference in word meaning. This aspect of Somali is not likely to create a problem for Somalis learning English.
 * In Somali, the consonants //b, d, dh, g, l, m, n,// and //r// can be doubled to indicate a sound which is pronounced with much more force than its single counterpart. Thus, Somalis often pronounce the doubled consonants in English words such as "bigger" or "middle" with more strength than they would be pronounced by a native speaker of English.
 * Somali nouns are more highly inflected than are nouns in English. In English, nouns are inflected only for number that is, they have different forms for singular and plural. In Somali, not only does each noun have number, with eight kinds of plural forms, a noun is also inflected for gender (masculine or feminine) and case (nominative, genitive, absolutive, and vocative).
 * In Somali, differences in gender, number, or case are marked by grammatical tone:
 * ínan ||  || 'boy' ||   || inán ||   || 'girl' ||   || [gender] ||
 * Vowels always have fixed value in Somali; **each letter has one sound, and each sound has one letter.** This may cause frustration when trying to learn the many sounds each English vowel makes.
 * The following chart displays Somali vowels and their corresponding sounds. This may be useful if a student consistently mispronounces vowel sounds in certain words. Typically, Somalis will pronounce English words the way they would pronounce them in Somali. Thus, //boat// might be pronounced "bow-at" with two syllables, and the word //may// might be pronounced "my."

[but drawn a little bit longer] || [but drawn a little bit longer] ||
 * //a// ||  || tart ||   || //aa// ||   || father ||
 * //ay// ||  || high, pie ||   || //ey// ||   || say ||
 * //e// ||  || way [but shorter] ||   || //ee// ||   || payday ||
 * //i// ||  || in, wit ||   || //i// //i// ||   || see ||
 * //o// ||  || boat ||   || //oo// ||   || sew
 * //u// ||  || coo ||   || //uu// ||   || noon

//** Morphology (difficult to find information on this topic) **// __**Possessives:**__ Instead of the apostrophe-s possessive (as in ex. Peter's desk), a Somali may drop the apostrophe-//s// possessive and say "Peter desk" with an emphasis on the first syllable of "Peter". __**Adjectives:**__ Somali adjectives often occur with a short form of the verb //to be// suffixed to them. For example, //yar// 'small' becomes //yaraa// 'he was small'. As a result, **Somali speakers of English tend to add //aa// to adjectives.** Thus, instead of saying "small", they might say something that sounds like "small-ah". Also, most adjectives are formed by adding -an or -san to a noun (ex. gaab "shortness", gaaban "short"). As such, **you may find Somali students trying to create adjectives from English nouns they have learned.**

**__Prepositions:__** English prepositions can cause great difficulty for Somalis. **Whereas English has a great variety of prepositions, Somali has only four, and they come before the verb rather than before the noun**. **__Verbs:__** Verbs usually come **last** in Somali sentences. Because of this, Somali speakers of English may put the verb at the end of a sentence. **__Subject:__** Somali students learning the English language **systematically omit the subject in a sentence** (like many native Spanish speakers do), so: "walked to school yesterday" instead of "I walked to school yesterday" is grammatically correct in Somali. __**Passive Voice:**__ Somali lacks a passive voice. **Instead of the passive voice, Somali uses the indefinite pronoun //la// 'someone'**, as in //Goormaa la dhisey?// "When was it built?" (literally, "When someone built?"). Therefore, learning the passive voice can be a major challenge for Somali students of English. __**Articles** :__ Somali and English are quite different when it comes to //the// and //a.// The definite article in Somali has gender suffixes; like French, the Somali definite article has a masculine and feminine form. Somalis can have difficulty mastering **the English indefinite article //(a/an)// because their own language has no equivalent**. In Somali, the concept of indefiniteness is expressed by the noun alone.
 * //Word Order (difficult to find information on this topic)// **

//**Resources**// __**Background Information:**__
 * []
 * []

__** The Somali Language: **__
 * []
 * http://www.somaliculture.net/customs/index.html
 * [|http://www.everyculture.com/Sa-Th/Somalia.html#b#ixzz1qAtd7Iak]
 * Damp, A. (2011) //The Somali Culture and Resources binder//. at []

__**Phonology, Morphology, and Word Order**__:
 * [] ( Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL))
 * []
 * [|http://www.multicsd.org/doku.php?id=somalia_somali#language]
 * []
 * [] ( UCLA Language Material Project)
 * []

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=Brigit, Elizabeth, Erin, Raquel, and Sandra=