SomaliNet Forums

IRONm@N wrote:I think it was one of the best decisions he made, if it wasn't the Latin script, Somalia would be behind the world like Ethiopia and other countries that can't read or write latin and have to download or buy expensive software to write their language on the computer.

What about China, India, Korea and many countries who write in non-Latin script?

Tolow kani, bar ama barana ma wax buu kasoo saari doona

The script was developed by the Somali linguist Shire Jama Ahmed specifically for the Somali language, and uses all letters of the English Latin alphabet except p, v and z.

However:

Ahmed argued that even though most people were in favor of using the Arabic script, it was more practical to use Latin primarily due to its simplicity, the fact that it lent itself well to writing Somali since it could cope with all of the sounds in the language, and the already widespread existence of machines and typewriters designed for its use.

He went against what most people were in favor for; the Arabic script.

I think it had more to do with outside forces influencing Shire and the kacaan government than the Latin script being suited or existing machines/typewriters. Shire and the government went against what most Somalis were in favor for; Arabic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_lan ... ing_system

shut up handikabyaahoow

God bless the lion of Africa.....Aah na mathaxwaynaxa ummaata somaliat melkaasta haajogtu....

I think the choices were the Gadabursi alphabet (which was basically Arabic with a few new letters to cope with the extra vowels in Somali), the Usmaanya alphabet (a completely new alphabet) and the Latin alphabet.

The Latin alphabet was the only one that did not require special new letters that would not exist outside of the Somali alphabet, as both the Gadabursi Script and Usmaanya both contained new letters.

Bamaarn wrote:

The script was developed by the Somali linguist Shire Jama Ahmed specifically for the Somali language, and uses all letters of the English Latin alphabet except p, v and z.

However:

Ahmed argued that even though most people were in favor of using the Arabic script, it was more practical to use Latin primarily due to its simplicity, the fact that it lent itself well to writing Somali since it could cope with all of the sounds in the language, and the already widespread existence of machines and typewriters designed for its use.

He went against what most people were in favor for; the Arabic script.

I think it had more to do with outside forces influencing Shire and the kacaan government than the Latin script being suited or existing machines/typewriters. Shire and the government went against what most Somalis were in favor for; Arabic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somali_lan ... ing_system

Most of people including him?

[youtube]zw1JbHHHXJg&feature[/youtube]

isee the subject had change from question to bring military power in siyad bari time

qoraxeey wrote:shut up handikabyaahoow

Ouch! That hurt.

James Dahl wrote:I think the choices were the Gadabursi alphabet (which was basically Arabic with a few new letters to cope with the extra vowels in Somali), the Usmaanya alphabet (a completely new alphabet) and the Latin alphabet.

The Latin alphabet was the only one that did not require special new letters that would not exist outside of the Somali alphabet, as both the Gadabursi Script and Usmaanya both contained new letters.

James, according to what you've read, did some Western countries pressure the kacaan government to adopt Latin? If it was up to most Somalis, they would have chosen Arabic, as the Wikipedia article highlights.

Read the link you posted. I read it and there is nothing suggesting that there was outside pressure. In fact it highlights that there were Somali scholars who independently developed scripts for their country, deliberate it then made a decision.

I edited this as I did not want to come across hostile.

I googled the subject is what I found:''

''All that, it may be argued, was in any case inherent in the model. But
the transplant, as it came about, suffered from another peculiarity which
did much t o make matters worse. There was no Somali script. Somali
scholars had made several attempts at producing one. Most of these had
tried t o use an Arabic script, true t o Somali's powerful Islamic loyalty.
They had failed because Somali's Cushitic vowels could not be made t o fit.
Another script had used invented signs, something after the manner of
the script of Amharic, but this was never widely adopted''

Bamaarn wrote:

qoraxeey wrote:shut up handikabyaahoow

Ouch! That hurt.

James Dahl wrote:I think the choices were the Gadabursi alphabet (which was basically Arabic with a few new letters to cope with the extra vowels in Somali), the Usmaanya alphabet (a completely new alphabet) and the Latin alphabet.

The Latin alphabet was the only one that did not require special new letters that would not exist outside of the Somali alphabet, as both the Gadabursi Script and Usmaanya both contained new letters.

James, according to what you've read, did some Western countries pressure the kacaan government to adopt Latin? If it was up to most Somalis, they would have chosen Arabic, as the Wikipedia article highlights.

Why would western governments care what script they adopted?
The foreign government that had the most influence over Somalia at the time was the USSR, and they don't use the Latin alphabet, they use Cyrillic.

I did an entire paper on this,most of you guys are full of ish and put everything on Siaad Bare.it was the gudiga qorida af-soomaliga who voted on latin script not the kacaan,so non of that printing arguments is valid. and the latin script and its phonetics we use today isn't invented by a mareexaan or even somali.its invented by some Polish guy,thats right a Polish guy. in fact go google some polish texts and u will be surprised at the similarity in terms of the use of double AA's and EE"s
p.s: it was said Siad favored

The polish guy Andrewiski aka macallin goosh just used latin letters to write a poem, but the Somali scholars notibly Shire Jama had invented the Somali script for the use of Somali language. After a long delibration this was adopted for two reasons: it suited best with YOUR cushitic language; there was such a need for literacy compaing so there was no time to waste.

I did not know Shire Jama's qabil until tonight

f-king Somalis waxba iskuma quuraan. Ilaahey idin cadaab. Waar cid kasta waa lagu faanaa xataa Ceydiid baan ku faanaa.

Caawaad noo keentey Andriwizki invented Somali language

James Dahl wrote:Why would western governments care what script they adopted?
The foreign government that had the most influence over Somalia at the time was the USSR, and they don't use the Latin alphabet, they use Cyrillic.

Italy had more influence (especially during the adoption of the script) over Somalia than the USSR. Italy always maintained a working relationship with the kacaan government. Bear in mind, Italy had a Communist and socialist parties whose members were part of the Italian government throughout the 70s, therefore, it never severed ties with Somalia. Italy as a former colonial master of Somalia would benefit from a Somalia adopting the Latin script. There were Italian boarding and other educational schools in Somalia. Almost all Western movies were in Italian language, and without Latin script or learning Italian, it would have been difficult to understand those movies. There were diverse Italian comic books (Topolino, Fotormanzo, Diabolik, Lancio, Intrepido, l'Eternauta, etc) that would have been difficult to read without the Latin script. Through the Latin script, Italy benefited from spreading its and other Western culture. So, as you can see, western governments cared about what script Somalia adopted.

samadoon-waaxid wrote:and the latin script and its phonetics we use today isn't invented by a mareexaan or even somali.its invented by some Polish guy,thats right a Polish guy. in fact go google some polish texts and u will be surprised at the similarity in terms of the use of double AA's and EE"s
p.s: it was said Siad favored

If that's true, it's an explosive revelation. All this time, we were made to believe it was a Somali citizen who devised the script.