Languages

Somali

Other Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan and Khoisan Languages

Citation Formats

General Reference

Language Atlas. "Somali." Accessed September 1, 2026. https://language.interactiveatlas.org/languages/somali.

APA Style

Language Atlas. (n.d.). Somali. Retrieved September 1, 2026, from https://language.interactiveatlas.org/languages/somali

BibTeX

@misc{languageatlas-somali,
  author = {Language Atlas},
  title = {Somali},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://language.interactiveatlas.org/languages/somali},
  note = {Accessed September 1, 2026}
}

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.

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Somali Language

Wikimedia FoundationLead section

Quote, 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.

View the Source

1. Wikipedia: Somali Language

Wikimedia FoundationInfobox, ISO 639-3

Quote, Infobox, ISO 639-3