Standardized Dictionary

al-Mu'tamid المعتمد

عِشْ مَا شِئْتَ فَإِنَّكَ مَيِّتٌ
Why is there not a good standerdized Somali dictionary? I've looked through the internet and I did find some but they lack a lot of words, or the quality is simply mediocre. The Oxford dictionary for example has almost 200k words, and they did a decent job at trying to create a dictionary. It seems to me that it is time for a new variant for the Somali language.

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Apollo

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Written Somali is a phonetic. You write words as they are pronounced. There is less need for a spelling authority compared to English/French.
 
Big need for a standardized dictionary and a standardized method of writing. There are too many dialectical differences that make reading and writing Somali unnecessarily confusing but there hasn't been any attempt to really standardise Af-Soomaali.
 

Apollo

VIP
Big need for a standardized dictionary and a standardized method of writing. There are too many dialectical differences that make reading and writing Somali unnecessarily confusing but there hasn't been any attempt to really standardise Af-Soomaali.

There is no need to standardize it. It will happen naturally because Somalis are all in close proximity.

Languages like Arabic and English with vast distances are more in need of standardization.
 
Why is there not a good standerdized Somali dictionary? I've looked through the internet and I did find some but they lack a lot of words, or the quality is simply mediocre. The Oxford dictionary for example has almost 200k words, and they did a decent job at trying to create a dictionary. It seems to me that it is time for a new variant for the Somali language.

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The biggest problem is that Standard AfMaxaaTidhi is not spoken in SomaliaItaliana/Southern region of the former Somali Republic.

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As soon as a JSL and SomaliaItaliana reunite, the new SomaliRepublic should impose standard pronunciation on SomaliaItaliana.

Everyone will be speaking with distinction. No more confusing badhi/butt and bari/east. We will never have to worry about gogolXaaDH meeting getting confused with gogolXaaR/feces
 

Apollo

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The biggest problem is that Standard AfMaxaaTidhi is not spoken in SomaliaItaliana/Southern region of the former Somali Republic.

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As soon as a JSL and SomaliaItaliana reunite, the new SomaliRepublic should impose standard pronunciation on SomaliaItaliana.

Everyone will be speaking with distinction. No more confusing badhi/butt and bari/east

The frequent usage of DH by Woqooyi Galbeeds is aesthetically displeasing, I much prefer the usage of R.

Plus, Maxaa Tiri from Somalia contains fewer Arabic loanwords and is more Somali.
 

Apollo

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NFD and Somalia Italiana do not speak standard AfMaxaaTidhi. The other 3 somali regions speak standard AfMaxaaTidhi: JSL, Ogaadeeniya, and Djibouti. However Ogaadeniya is under Xabashistaan and Djibouti pursues the Francophone language policies.

People in Southern and far Eastern K5 speak like people from Somalia. They don't have the Woqooyi Galbeed accent.

Only the ones near Jigjiga and just south of Somaliland do.
 

Apollo

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The flapped d is conserved correctly in the north. Some southerners misuse the dh in words like ma jidho instead of ma jirto. Even though Im not into cushitic identity it appears the north has conserved certain classical features that have been lost by the South, probably because of the higher proportion of nonSomalia natives like Gosha, Barwaani, Jiidle, and others

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Somalia Somali sounds better and is more Somali, it will be the standard.

The Puntland-Mudug-Galgaduud version of Maxaa Tiri is the real Af-Somali, everything else is just corrupted.
 
The frequent usage of DH by Woqooyi Galbeeds is aesthetically displeasing, I much prefer the usage of R.

Plus, Maxaa Tiri from Somalia contains fewer Arabic loanwords and is more Somali.

The flapped d is conserved correctly in the north. Some southerners misuse the dh in words like ma jidho instead of ma jirto. Even though Im not into cushitic identity it appears the north has conserved certain classical features that have been lost by the South, probably because of the higher proportion of nonSomalia natives like Gosha, Barwaani, Jiidle, and others

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Only the ones near Jigjiga and just south of Somaliland do.

The bulk of the population is in that area


People in Southern and far Eastern K5 speak like people from Somalia. They don't have the Woqooyi Galbeed accent.

The next area with a large population is around the AfaanGadhle speaking area and I accept them as ethnic Somaali who speak an Oromo dialect


Somalia Somali sounds better and is more Somali, it will be the standard.

The Puntland-Mudug-Galgaduud version of Maxaa Tiri is the real Af-Somali, everything else is just corrupted.

Thats the standard you have to look upto if youre home dialect is AfXuuYiri nooh or that Jubaland combination of standadSomali, Maay Sawaaxili, Mudug/Galti, and other languages/dialects

The dialect of poetry and distinction is the standard Af Maxaa Tidhi




Axmed Islam from QabriDahar brings it to JL
 

Apollo

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The bulk of the population is in that area

Untrue, only slightly shifted towards there. It is a highly nomadic area, plus areas of the South K5, near the rivers, and also close to Mudug have population centers.

Thats the standard you have to look upto if youre home dialect is AfXuuYiri nooh or that Jubaland combination of standadSomali, Maay Sawaaxili, Mudug/Galti, and other languages/dialects

Fake news, there is no Swahili influence in any Somalia Somali dialects, except for potentially the Tuni. However, their speech is not even considered Somali, but a separate language.

As for foreign influences, besides Arabic, only Italian has affected it.
 

Periplus

Min Al-Nahr ila Al-Ba7r
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@Gadhwayne come on bro.

SL does not speak standard af-soomaali, as you can tell from the amount of Arabic loan words.

It’s practically Arab-creole, no joke. You can speak Hargeisa Somali with an Arab accent in MENA and they’ll understand you more than a Moroccan person.
 

Apollo

VIP
Gosha, Barwaani, Jiidle, and others

First one learned Somali last century.
Second one speak Swahili and learned Somali recently, no impact on the development of Southern Maxaa Tiri.
Last one completely lost their language and were a slave class segregated from others and had no impact on the language.

Grasping at straws here.
 

Apollo

VIP
It’s practically Arab-creole, no joke. You can speak Hargeisa Somali with an Arab accent in MENA and they’ll understand you more than a Moroccan person.

This is why I appreciate Southern Maxaa Tiri much more, it is more authentically Somali.
 
Untrue, only slightly shifted towards there. It is a highly nomadic area, plus areas of the South K5, near the rivers, and also close to Mudug have population centers.

The bulk of the Somalia population in Ethiopia is from just east of Jigjiga and west to Hararga

@Gadhwayne come on bro.

SL does not speak standard af-soomaali, as you can tell from the amount of Arabic loan words.

It’s practically Arab-creole, no joke. You can speak Hargeisa Somali with an Arab accent in MENA and they’ll understand you more than a Moroccan person.

Read the standard translation of the Qur'an. Look for words where northernOgaadeeniya/Hararga/Hawd/Djibouti/JSL pronounce with distinction. Words like yidhi, tidhi, cadho, cadhooday, hanqadh, etc


That was the standard recognized by even the government of Italian educated Barre's government, event hough Barre was form southern DDS and spoke AfMudug

First one learned Somali last century.
Second one speak Swahili and learned Somali recently, no impact on the development of Southern Maxaa Tiri.
Last one completely lost their language and were a slave class segregated from others and had no impact on the language.

Grasping at straws here.

It appears Southern dialects lost the distinctions conserved by the Standard Dialect of AfMaxaa Tidhi.

It appears foreigners tend to make the same mistakes as as Southerners when it comes to the flapped d which they mispronounce as a rolled R. I assumed Southerners learned it from the foreigners. Maybe I should not have blamed foreigner influence/badhax

It still stands though that the standard is based on the pronunciation of Hawd, Djibouti, Somaliland, Hararga/northernOgaadeniya. The dialect of distinction, poetry, and even official translation of Qur'an going back decades
 

reer

VIP
This is why I appreciate Southern Maxaa Tiri much more, it is more authentically Somali.
mudug not southern. the mudug-west galgaduud-qoraxay/doollo (central K5) af somali is the standard. the southern dialects are further away from standard somali than waqooyi.
 

Apollo

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mudug not southern. the mudug-west galgaduud-central K5 af somali is the standard. the southern dialects are further away from standard somali than waqooyi.

It is relatively close.

As a third language speaker of Af-Somali, to me they sound closer to each other compared to the monstrosity that is Woqooyi Galbeed Af-Somali.
 
@Gadhwayne come on bro.

SL does not speak standard af-soomaali, as you can tell from the amount of Arabic loan words.

It’s practically Arab-creole, no joke. You can speak Hargeisa Somali with an Arab accent in MENA and they’ll understand you more than a Moroccan person.
:mjlol:
 

Apollo

VIP
It still stands though that the standard is based on the pronunciation of Hawd, Djibouti, Somaliland, Hararga/northernOgaadeniya. The dialect of distinction, poetry, and even official translation of Qur'an going back decades

The Barre government didn't use that DH shit in writing and neither does the current government. The written standard is Mudug.
 

reer

VIP
It is relatively close.

As a third language speaker of Af-Somali, to me they sound closer to each other compared to the monstrosity that is Woqooyi Galbeed Af-Somali.
it depends on the type of waqooyi or konfur accent. which could be tied to clan. eg two clans can live 40km apart but have different accents.
 
The Barre government didn't use that DH shit in writing and neither does the current government.

The Barre government faced shortages in staff who spoke Standard AfMaxaaTidhi of distinction because distance and speaking Italian was a big hurdle but read the translation of the Qur'an going back decades

The written standard is Mudug.

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Greater Somaliland consists of 5 regions. You cant impose the standard dialect for Somalia Italiana region and NFD on the other 3 regions of GreaterSomaliland. I think it will be more practical for the Distinction/Standard dialect to become the standard for the other 2 regions, NFD/SomaliaItaliana. Once JSL and SFG reunite the Somali Republic, they should impose the Distinction/Standard dialect on Somaliaitaliana. In the name of integrating the reunified Somali Republic.

Once NFD is freed from Kikuuyustan, they will be glad to accept the Distinction/Northern dialect. They will be glad to be freed from Sawaaxilization
 

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