# Ashraf Somali (Af-Ashraaf): the speech of Shingaani and Marka

> Af-Ashraaf (Ashraf Somali): where it is spoken in Mogadishu and Marka, its sounds and grammar, and the research on it since the 1980s.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/society/ashraf-somali/
Last checked: 2026-11-13
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who speaks it and where

Af-Ashraaf is spoken along parts of the southern Somali coast by members of the [Ashraaf](/en/society/asharaaf/), according to the Italian linguist Marcello Lamberti, whose 1981 survey is summarised by Landinfo ([Landinfo 2011, p. 12](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). Lamberti divides it into two branches:

1. **Af-Shingaani**, in the Shingaani district of Mogadishu.
2. **The [Lower Shabelle](/en/infrastructure/k50-airstrip/) branch**, in the Marka district, with the varieties **Af-Marka**, **Af-Gendershe** and **Af-Jilib**.

Roger Blench's 2006 reference list of Afroasiatic languages uses the same split into Shingaani and Lower Shabelle ([Ashraf Somali, Wikipedia, citing Blench 2006](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashraf_Somali)). Lamberti recorded the Af-Shingaani, Af-Merca and Af-Gendershe variants among his 52 dialect samples ([Landinfo 2011, p. 4](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)).

## How it differs from Maxaa-tiri

Lamberti found that Af-Ashraaf has kept many old forms despite strong influence from the [Benadir dialects](/en/society/benadiri-somali/) around it ([Landinfo 2011, p. 13](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). He gives these examples:

- a **t** between vowels that other dialects have lost: "I stand up" is an joogsati in Shingaani, against waan joogsaday in Maxaa-tiri;
- **sh** where other dialects have **y**: "she" is isha in Shingaani, against iyada; "I gave" is an siishi, against waan siiyey.

Of 67 dialect features Lamberti counted, Ashraf shares 14 with Northern Somali and another 14 with Benadir only ([Landinfo 2011, p. 16](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). The [Maay](/en/society/maay-language/) dialects, in turn, share more features with Benadir and Ashraf than with Northern Somali.

## A dialect or its own language?

Lamberti knew of only two small research projects on Af-Shingaani at the time of his work ([Landinfo 2011, p. 13](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). One was Roberto Ajello's 1984 study of focus in the Shingaani speech of the Ashraaf ([Ashraf Somali, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashraf_Somali)).

Newer work comes from the linguists Christopher R. Green and Evan Jones. In a 2019 paper they describe its verb and noun forms ([Green and Jones 2019, Language Science Press](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3367132)). In a 2016 talk they said Marka "may be similar in certain ways to both Northern Somali and Maay" but "boasts a number of unique properties, particularly in its morphology", which in their view merit treating it "as a language variety of its own" ([Ashraf Somali, Wikipedia, quoting Green and Jones 2016](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashraf_Somali)).

The linguist Mauro Tosco has made the general point that all the Somali varieties are "dialects" in social terms, because speakers accept [Northern-Central Somali](/en/society/northern-somali/) as a common medium, but that their status in strictly linguistic terms has not been tested ([Ashraf Somali, Wikipedia, quoting Tosco 2012](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashraf_Somali)).

## Read more

- [Somali dialects](/en/society/somali-dialects/)
- [The Ashraaf](/en/society/asharaaf/)
- [Lower Shabelle](/en/regions/lower-shabelle/)

---
I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.