# The Garre language (Af-Garre): from Qoryooley to Mandera

> Af-Garre explained: where it is spoken in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, its branches Tuuf and Quranow, its sounds, and who has studied it.

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

## Where it is spoken

Af-Garre is spoken by the [Garre](/en/society/garre/) in southern Somalia, Ethiopia and northern Kenya. The Italian linguist Marcello Lamberti, who surveyed southern Somali speech in 1981, recorded it in the Baydhabo, Diinsoor, Bur Hakaba and [Qoryooley](/en/regions/qoryooley/) districts ([Landinfo 2011, p. 15](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). He took samples from Bur Hakaba, Baydhabo, Yaaq Baraawe, Kanaana and Qoryooley ([Landinfo 2011, p. 4](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). The Historical Dictionary of Somalia by [Mohamed Haji Mukhtar](/en/people/mohamed-haji-mukhtar/) describes Garre as readily understood by [Digil](/en/society/digil/) speakers and close to [Af-Maay](/en/society/maay-language/) and Af-Boon ([Garre language, Wikipedia, citing Mukhtar 2003, p. 28](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garre_language)).

The linguist Mauro Tosco, who described the Tuuf variety of [Lower Shabelle](/en/infrastructure/k50-airstrip/) in 1989, distinguishes Garre Kofar (in Qoryooley) and Garre Libin (the western Garre of Ethiopia and Kenya) ([Garre language, Wikipedia, citing Tosco 1989](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garre_language)). The Garre of Mandera and around Doolow on the upper [Juba](/en/economy/farming-and-harvests/) speak mostly a Borana Oromo dialect, as I. M. Lewis noted in 1955 ([Garre language, Wikipedia, citing Lewis 1955, p. 27](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garre_language)). Lamberti also recorded an "Af-Garre" among the Oromo-speaking groups of [Gedo](/en/regions/gedo/) and Lower Juba ([Landinfo 2011, p. 9](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)).

## How many speak it

Wikipedia, citing Ethnologue, gives about 50,000 speakers in Somalia in 1992, 57,500 in 2006 and 86,000 in 2020 ([Garre language, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garre_language)). The same source puts all speakers in Kenya and Somalia at 685,600 in 2019, a figure that counts Kenyan Garre who speak an Oromo variety.

## Branches

Speakers themselves name two forms, **Tuuf** and **Quranow** ([Landinfo 2011, p. 15](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)). Lamberti found that Garre varies from place to place and listed five local forms: Bur Hakaba, Baydhabo, **Af-Aarma** and **Af-Reer Amiir** in Diinsoor, and Qoryooley. He thought Af-Aarma may be related to Orma, an Oromo group. The Garre of Bur Hakaba kept old verb prefixes that Baydhabo Garre has dropped, and Baydhabo Garre uses the plural ending -yaal where others use -te ([Landinfo 2011, p. 15](http://www.landinfo.no/asset/1800/1/1800_1.pdf)).

## Family

Linguists place Garre in the Sam or Eastern Omo-Tana branch of Lowland East Cushitic. Its nearest relative is Aweer (Boni) of the Kenyan coast, then Rendille ([Somali languages, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_languages)). Ehret and Ali (1984) grouped Garre and Aweer together inside the wider Somali family ([Somali languages, Wikipedia, citing Tosco 1994](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_languages)).

## Sounds

Tosco's description of Tuuf Garre gives 22 consonants ([Garre language, Wikipedia, citing Tosco 1989](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garre_language)). Garre has no throat sound **x**. At the end of a word, **b** and **d** become p and t, and **g** and **q** become a glottal stop, so duq ("elder") sounds like du'. In the Baydhabo area **b** between vowels often becomes **w**, as in hawar for habar ("woman"), the same change found in the local Maay.

## Read more

- [The Digil languages](/en/society/digil-languages/)
- [Somali dialects](/en/society/somali-dialects/)
- [Somalis in Kenya](/en/diaspora/kenya/)

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