Language Atlas

How Languages Connect
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Language

Somali

Other Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan and Khoisan Languages

Somali is a Cushitic language belonging to the wider Afroasiatic language family, spoken primarily in Greater Somalia and the Somali diaspora as a mother tongue. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethiopia.

Facts
ISO 639-3 Code
som 1
Speaker Count
24,000,000 1
2019-2024 estimate.
Region
Horn of Africa 1
Classification
Official Status
Official Language 1
Somali
Filter Results1 entry
Connections

Written In

Latin Script, Scripts

Somali is standardly written in the Latin alphabet (official since 1972).

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Somali Language
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    Somali is a Cushitic language belonging to wider Afroasiatic language family. Somali is spoken primarily in Greater Somalia, and the Somali diaspora as a mother tongue. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethiopia. It serves as a national language in Djibouti, and is also a recognised minority language in Kenya. The language is officially written with the Somali Latin alphabet, although an Arabic alphabet and several indigenous scripts are used informally.
  • Infobox, ISO 639-3
    som
  • Infobox, Speakers
    24 million (2019-2024)
  • Infobox, Region
    Horn of Africa
  • Official status, Somali entity page
    It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethiopia.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.