# The Digil languages: Tunni, Dabarre, Garre and Jiiddu

> Tunni, Dabarre, Garre and Jiiddu: the Digil speech forms of southern Somalia, where they are spoken, their branches and how they differ.

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

## The most varied group

The Italian linguist Marcello Lamberti, who surveyed southern Somali speech in 1981, called the [Digil](/en/society/digil/) dialects the most heterogeneous of all the Somali dialect groups ([Landinfo 2011, p. 14](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). He found that all who spoke them belonged to the Digil clan family. Diinsoor, [Qoryooley](/en/regions/qoryooley/), [Jilib](/en/regions/middle-juba/) and Bur Hakaba districts form the heartland of the Digil dialects; in Diinsoor, Maay speakers were the minority at the time ([Landinfo 2011, p. 13](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)).

Many linguists now treat these varieties as languages of their own. The linguist Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi wrote that Maay and the related Digil forms "constitute separate Cushitic languages" ([Culture and Customs of Somalia, 2001](https://archive.org/details/culturecustomsof00diri)). Glottolog lists [Dabarre](/en/society/dabarre/) and [Jiiddu](/en/society/jiiddu/) as separate languages ([Glottolog, Dabarre](https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/daba1260); [Glottolog, Jiiddu](https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/jiid1238)).

## Tunni

[Tunni](/en/society/tunni/) is spoken in the Diinsoor, Baraawe and Jilib districts. Of the Digil forms it is the one most influenced by Maay. It has two branches, **Af-Tunni Defaraat** and **Af-Tunni Torre** ([Landinfo 2011, p. 15](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). Lamberti noted that Tunni speakers herded cattle, sheep and goats but not camels. Compared with Somali, Tunni turns short "e" into "i" and the throat sound **x** into a glottal stop ([Tunni language, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunni_language)). The religious leader [Sheikh Uways al-Barawi](/en/people/uways-al-barawi/) was born among the Tunni in Baraawe in 1847 ([Tosco 2010, Somali writings](https://doi.org/10.18716/ojs/aaeo/2010_3542)).

## Dabarre

Dabarre is spoken mainly in the Diinsoor and Qansax Dheere districts and along the [Juba](/en/economy/farming-and-harvests/); Lamberti linked its presence in Middle Juba to moves in the 1970s and 1980s ([Landinfo 2011, p. 15](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). It has two forms: Af-Dabarre of the Dabarre, and **Af-Iroole** (Oroole) of the Iroole, who are closely tied to the Dabarre. Landinfo notes that some writers count the Dabarre as Rahanweyn and others as Digil. Wikipedia, citing Ethnologue, gives about 34,000 speakers ([Dabarre language, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabarre_language)).

## Garre

[Garre](/en/society/garre/) in Somalia is spoken in the Baydhabo, Diinsoor, Bur Hakaba and Qoryooley districts and is itself very varied. Speakers name two forms, **Tuuf** and **Quranow** ([Landinfo 2011, p. 15](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). See the full page on [the Garre language](/en/society/garre-language/).

## Jiiddu

Jiiddu is spoken in the Qoryooley, Diinsoor and Jilib districts. Lamberti found it unique within the Digil group and among all Somali dialects ([Landinfo 2011, p. 15](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). He also judged it the most distinct dialect and the one least influenced by others ([Landinfo 2011, p. 8](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)).

Christopher Ehret and Mohamed Nuuh Ali, writing in 1984, went further and grouped Jiiddu with the Bayso language of Ethiopia rather than with Somali ([Somali languages, Wikipedia, citing Tosco 1994](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_languages)). Wikipedia, citing Ethnologue, puts Jiiddu speakers at about 34,000 in [Lower Shabelle](/en/infrastructure/k50-airstrip/), Bay and Middle Juba, and records an English-Jiddu-Somali mini-dictionary by the native speaker Salim Ibro (1998) ([Jiiddu language, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiiddu_language)). Michael Neterer wrote a 2021 thesis on seventy years of Jiiddu language development, 1951 to 2021, at Dallas International University ([Jiiddu language, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiiddu_language)).

## Read more

- [Somali dialects](/en/society/somali-dialects/)
- [Af-Maay](/en/society/maay-language/)
- [The Rahanweyn](/en/society/rahanweyn/)

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