Language and writing
Benadir Somali (Af-Reer Xamar): the coastal dialects of Mogadishu and the Benadir
Benadir Somali is the group of coastal dialects spoken from Hobyo to south of Marka, including Mogadishu. Lamberti divides it into five subgroups: Abgaal, Gaaljecel, Ajuuraan, Xamar (the speech of Xamar Weyne) and Biimaal. It shares 40 of 67 dialect features with Northern Somali.
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; Benadiri Somali, Wikipedia). 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 valley (Landinfo 2011, p. 5). 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):
- Abgaal, in Galgaduud and Middle Shabelle down to Mogadishu.
- Gaaljecel, in southern Hiiraan to the Jowhar district and northern Lower Shabelle; also in Saakow and Bu'aale in Middle Juba after moves between 1900 and 1980.
- Ajuuraan, in Hiiraan and in the Diinsoor, Saakow and Bu'aale districts, again after moves in the early 1900s.
- Xamar, in Xamar Weyne, the oldest quarter of Mogadishu.
- Biimaal, from Mogadishu to the south of the Afgooye and Qoryooley districts and in Marka and 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).
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 or Abgaal child who grew up among the Reer Xamar. He explained this by the general fact that children pick up dialects more easily than adults (Landinfo 2011, p. 12).
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). Of 67 dialect features he counted, Benadir shares 40 with Northern Somali (Landinfo 2011, p. 16). The coastal dialects have some sounds that Standard Somali lacks, and the linguist Giorgio Banti notes loanwords from Harari (Benadiri Somali, Wikipedia). 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).
Together with Northern Somali, Benadir belongs to the Maxaa-tiri half of the Somali dialects, as opposed to Maay (Landinfo 2011, p. 5).
Read more
Sources
- Landinfo 2011, p. 6 · landinfo.no
- Benadiri Somali, Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
- Papers from the Linguistics Workshop, Hargeysa Cultural Centre, 2018, pp. 91 to 92 · books.google.com
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