The Somali language: Af-Soomaali, Maay and the other languages of Somalia

A Cushitic language

Somali belongs to the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family. Its closest relatives are Aweer and Garre, then Rendille, spoken in Kenya and Ethiopia (Somali languages, Wikipedia, backup source). Oromo and Afar are more distant cousins in the same branch.

Counts of speakers differ by source and year. Wikipedia's language entry gives about 24 to 27 million first-language speakers worldwide (Wikipedia, backup). Somali is spoken in Somalia, Djibouti, the Somali Region of Ethiopia and North Eastern Kenya, and by a diaspora of millions.

Three main forms

Linguists group Somali into three main varieties (Wikipedia, citing Lamberti 1986):

• Northern Somali (Af-Maxaa or Maxaa-tiri). The basis of Standard Somali. It is used in schools, radio and government across most of the Somali lands.
• Benaadir. Spoken on the coast from Cadale to south of Marka, including Mogadishu. The urban form, Af-Reer Xamar, is known as softer-sounding (EUAA Country Focus 2025).
• Maay (Af-Maay). Spoken mainly by Digil and Mirifle communities in Bay, Bakool, Gedo and parts of Lower Shabelle and the Jubbas. Speakers of Maxaa often do not understand it easily (EUAA Country Focus 2025, citing Lamberti). The linguist Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi argues Maay is a separate language (Wikipedia, backup).

A 2011 study of Somali Americans tested how well Maxaa speakers understand Maay (Hassan Deqa, Somali Dialects in the United States, 2011).

What the law says

Article 5 of the Provisional Constitution names Somali as the official language, "Maay and Maxaa-tiri", with Arabic as "the second language" (Constitution of Somalia, 2012). A 2025 opinion piece in Dawan notes that Maay is still not taught in schools (Dawan Africa). In Baidoa, a Maay academy has launched its own Maay script and calls for Article 5 to be applied (National Academy of Maay Culture and Sciences).

Other languages spoken in Somalia

• Arabic: the language of faith and of much trade and schooling.
• Kibajuni: spoken by the Bajuni of the Kismayo coast and islands (EUAA).
• Chimiini (Bravanese): spoken in Barawa, related to Swahili (Wikipedia, backup).
• Zigula and Mushunguli: Bantu languages kept by some Somali Bantu farmers in Lower Jubba (EUAA).
• English and Italian: from colonial schooling. English now leads in universities and business.

A language of poets

Somali was a spoken language for most of its history. It carried law, news and history in verse. That is why poetry still holds such weight. See Somali poetry and how Somali came to be written.

Why it matters

One language links Somalis from Djibouti to Kismayo to Minneapolis. It is the strongest thread that already ties the whole nation together. Keeping both Maxaa and Maay alive keeps every child inside it.