Shire Jama Ahmed (Shire Jaamac Axmed)

Who was he?

Shire Jama Ahmed was a Somali linguist and scholar. He developed the Latin-based script for the Somali language, which was adopted for nationwide use in 1972 (Castagno, Historical Dictionary of Somalia, 1975, "Shirreh Jama Ahmed"). It is the script on this page's Somali version, on phones and in schools today.

Early life and study

He was born in 1936 in the Dhuusamareeb area of Galgaduud. He grew up in Dhuusamareeb and Cabudwaaq (Wikipedia, Shire Jama Ahmed). He began Quranic school at about five and studied there until 1945 (same source).

His family then moved to Mogadishu. There he learned Arabic, English and Italian. From 1951 to 1954 he studied Arabic and Islamic law at a college run by graduates of Al-Azhar. He graduated from the Jamal Abdinasir Secondary School in Mogadishu, then earned a degree from Al-Azhar in Cairo. He later studied in the Soviet Union and graduated in 1967 (Wikipedia).

Work before 1972

He founded the magazine Iftiinka Aqoonta ("The Light of Knowledge"). He was the first president of the Somali National Academy of Culture (Wikipedia). He printed books of Somali poems, proverbs and stories in his Latin script on his own press, such as Gabayo, Maahmaah iyo Sheekooyin Yaryar (1965) (same source).

The script debate

For years Somalis could not agree how to write their language. Eighteen scripts came before the Somali Language Committee: eleven new inventions, four based on Arabic and three on Latin (Wikipedia). Other scholars backed other systems, among them Osman Yusuf Kenadid with Osmanya and Sheikh Abdirahman Sheikh Nur with the Borama script.

Shire's argument was practical. Printing presses and typewriters around the world, and already in Somalia, used Latin letters (same source). His alphabet uses no p, v or z. It uses letter pairs such as kh, dh and sh, and the letters c and x for two Somali sounds that English lacks (same source).

Adoption and the literacy campaign

The government that took power in October 1969 chose his script. It became official in 1972, and civil servants had six months to learn to write Somali (Wikipedia). In 1974 and 1975 young teachers and students went to the countryside to teach reading and writing (Wikipedia). Tanzania's President Julius Nyerere said, "The Somalis are practicing what we in Tanzania preach" (same source).

See the Somali language written in 1972.

In short

A linguist who designed the Latin-based Somali alphabet adopted in 1972.