J.W.C. Kirk's Somali Orthography-1905

[Grant]

https://archive.org/details/grammarofsomalil00kirkuoft

215 pages are available online.



I would have loved to have had this when I was there.

Includes some Midgan and Yibir in the back.

It's available for sale:

http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/su ... sTabAnchor

Paperback, 238 pages, $28.

[StormShadow]

He starts off insulting Somalis in the Introduction.

[Grant]

Insulting?

He says Somalis are outspoken rather than polite and that they are Muslim propagandists. Sounds right to me. What else did you see, Hilaac?

What I found much more interesting in the introduction were the differences he notes between Isaaq and Dhulbahante dialects, and the comparison to Galla. This is a major body of work with many historical implications. It seems to me that there are excellent good reasons it was re-published. I just wish it had been available to me when I needed it.

His misconceptions about the origins of the Somali people are also of interest. He fell hook, line and sinker for the Isaaq and Darood stories.

I consider this book a gem.

[X.Playa]

Thanks to google books the entire world's books ( those past copy rights) will be scanned , www.archive.org helped me greatly , books like Unknown Horn Of Africa by F.L.James 1884-1885 travel among the Somalis were priced at $900 dollars few years ago before google put it on the net for free. Now imagine if google scans all journals and put jstor out of business and all private collection of universities and the British National archive materials... just unbelievable indeed.