# Benadir Somali (Af-Reer Xamar): the coastal dialects of Mogadishu and the Benadir

> Benadir or Coastal Somali (Af-Reer Xamar): where it is spoken, its five subgroups, the Xamar dialect of old Mogadishu, and how it differs.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/society/benadiri-somali/
Last checked: 2026-11-13
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## Where it is spoken

Benadir Somali, also called Coastal Somali or Af-Reer Xamar ("the language of the people of Xamar"), is spoken on the Benadir coast from Hobyo to south of Marka, including Mogadishu, and in the land just inland ([Landinfo 2011, p. 6](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf); [Benadiri Somali, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benadiri_Somali)). Cerulli's 1919 grouping called this area the Hawiye group, covering the coast from Hobyo to about 150 km south of Mogadishu and the [Shabelle](/en/economy/farming-and-harvests/) valley ([Landinfo 2011, p. 5](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). Martino Moreno later renamed it the Benadir group.

## Five subgroups

Marcello Lamberti, who surveyed the dialects in 1981, divides Benadir into five subgroups ([Landinfo 2011, p. 12](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)):

1. **Abgaal**, in [Galgaduud](/en/regions/galgaduud/) and Middle Shabelle down to Mogadishu.
2. **[Gaaljecel](/en/society/gaaljecel/)**, in southern [Hiiraan](/en/regions/hiiraan/) to the Jowhar district and northern [Lower Shabelle](/en/infrastructure/k50-airstrip/); also in Saakow and [Bu'aale](/en/regions/middle-juba/) in Middle Juba after moves between 1900 and 1980.
3. **Ajuuraan**, in Hiiraan and in the Diinsoor, Saakow and Bu'aale districts, again after moves in the early 1900s.
4. **Xamar**, in Xamar Weyne, the oldest quarter of Mogadishu.
5. **Biimaal**, from Mogadishu to the south of the [Afgooye](/en/regions/lower-shabelle/) and [Qoryooley](/en/regions/qoryooley/) districts and in Marka and [Jamaame](/en/regions/jamaame/). It has a Lower Shabelle form and a Lower Juba form, which differ little.

Abgaal and Biimaal have the most speakers. Lamberti also describes a mixed Benadir form north and south of Mogadishu, built from Abgaal, Xamar and Biimaal, which has no native speakers and is used between speakers of different Benadir dialects ([Landinfo 2011, p. 12](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)).

## The Xamar dialect

Martin Orwin of SOAS told Landinfo in 2006 that the Xamar dialect of Xamar Weyne can be spoken fluently by people from other clans, for example a [Mareexaan](/en/society/mareexaan/) or Abgaal child who grew up among the [Reer Xamar](/en/society/minority-communities/). He explained this by the general fact that children pick up dialects more easily than adults ([Landinfo 2011, p. 12](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)).

## How it differs

Lamberti found that the Benadir dialects vary a great deal, even inside one dialect. In Af-Xamar, "we say" can be heard as waa niraahdaa, niraadaa or niraa. He also found more freedom in grammar than in Northern Somali ([Landinfo 2011, p. 12](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). Of 67 dialect features he counted, Benadir shares 40 with Northern Somali ([Landinfo 2011, p. 16](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). The coastal dialects have some sounds that [Standard Somali](/en/society/northern-somali/) lacks, and the linguist Giorgio Banti notes loanwords from Harari ([Benadiri Somali, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benadiri_Somali)). Papers from the 2015 linguistics workshop at the Hargeysa Cultural Centre describe it as a southern coastal dialect ([Papers from the Linguistics Workshop, Hargeysa Cultural Centre, 2018, pp. 91 to 92](https://books.google.com/books?id=jNl7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA91)).

Together with Northern Somali, Benadir belongs to the Maxaa-tiri half of the Somali dialects, as opposed to [Maay](/en/society/maay-language/) ([Landinfo 2011, p. 5](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)).

## Read more

- [Somali dialects](/en/society/somali-dialects/)
- [Ashraf Somali](/en/society/ashraf-somali/)
- [Mogadishu](/en/regions/mogadishu/)

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