1

Afkeenna iyo fartiisa

‘our language and its handwriting’

Buug koowaad ‘book one’

In this PDF file, I have annotated a

few pages with transliterations and
translations. Of interest to students
of writing systems are pages 21 and
66. Of interest to students of
phonology and morphology are
pages 62, 63, 64, and 65.

Alphabetical order is not given in

this book but it is: Ä, Å, Ç, É, Ñ, Ö, Ü,
á, à, â, ä, ã, å, ç, é, è, ê, ë, í, ì, î,
ï, ñ, ó, ò, ô, ö, õ, ú, (ù), û, (ü),
which I transliterate as ’, b, t, j, x, kh,
d, r, s, sh, dh, c, g, f, q, k, l, m, n, w,
h, y, a, e, i, o, u, aa, ee, (ii), oo, (uu).
The digits 0-9 are †, °, ¢, £, §, •, ¶,
ß, ®, ©. Punctuation used is
standard European (. , : ? “ ” –).

– Michael Everson
2001-06-06

Goosanka afka iyo suugaanta Soomaalida ‘briefing(?) Somali language and literature’
Xamar 1971
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Jaalle, ammaanduule Maxamed Siyaad Barre oo dadka guubaabinahaya

‘Chief of staff Maxamed Siyaad Barre speaking to the people’
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kalluun karsan ‘cooked fish’; kitaabka keen ‘bring the holy book’

sonkor ‘sugar’
kubbad ‘ball’

kalluun ‘fish’
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 21

alifka soomaalida ‘Somali alphabet’

furayaashii ‘vowels’

i (ii)

e ee

a aa

o oo

u (uu)

shibbanayaashii ‘consonants’
h k r

’ g l
d

x j m
f

c y n w

q s dh b

kh sh t
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 62

simidda furayaasha ‘vowels’

gaaggaab ‘short’; dheerdheer ‘long’
 63

adaygga xarfaha ‘gemination?’

b l

xabad falay

xabbad fallay

g n

xuuga keenay

xuugga keennay
 64

daah go’ madax sac tarraq

daaha goa madaxa saca tarraqa

daahu gou maduxu sucu tarraqu

daahii goy madixii sicii tarraqii

jookh tog xay miis shaash

jookha togga xayga miiska shaashkii

jookhu toggu xaygu miisku shaashka

jookhii toggii xaygii miiskii shaashku

wiil war wan dad qof

wiilka warka wanka dadka qofka

wiilku warku wanku dadku qofku

wiilkii warkii wankii dadkii qofkii

qaboow dab

qaboowga dabka

qaboowgu dabku

qaboowgii dabkii
 65

waraaq

waraaqda

waraaqdu

waraaqdii

daraawiish

daraawiishta

daraawiishtu

daraawiishtii

naf

nafta

naftu

naftii

caaw kab

caawda kabta

caawdu kabtu

caawdii kabtii
 66

lambarrada soomaalida ‘Somali numbers’

rug 0 shan 5

koow 1 lix 6

labo 2 toddoba 7

saddex 3 siddeed 8

afar 4 sagaal 9

toban 10 lixdan 60

labaatan 20 toddobaatan 70

soddon 30 siddeetan 80

afartan 40 sagaashan 90

konton 50 boqol 100

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