Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T09:11:58.294Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Somali

From an Oral to a Written Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Abdalla Omar Mansur

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Before 1972 Somalia had no official writing system for its language. In spite of this, those who bred animals (camels, cattle, sheep, and goats) and who, owing to a lack of water in the country were forced to become nomads, had an authentic oral tradition that found its voice in a rich oral literature. This was well and truly oral in that it was composed, memorized, and passed on without having to resort to any type of writing or other means of communication or recording. Many of these genres are typical of any oral tradition: various dance or work songs, fairy stories and other tales, riddles, sayings, proverbs, and so on.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 46 , Issue 184 , December 1998 , pp. 91 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

Andrzejewski, B.W. The Literary Culture of the Somali People, in Loughran, K. S., Loughran, J. L., Somalia in Word and Image (Washington, Foundation for Cross Cultural Understanding, 1968), pp. 35–66.Google Scholar
Antinucci, F. and Axmed, F.C. “Idaajaa.” Poesia orale somala: storia di una nazione, Studi Somali 7 (Roma, Min. AA.EE. e Comitato Tecnico Linguistico per l'Università Nazionale Somala, 1986).Google Scholar
Letteratura, Banti G., in Puglielli, A. (a cura di), Aspetti dell'espressione artistica in Somalia (Roma, Università di Roma “La Sapienza“,1988), pp. 31–71.Google Scholar
Said, Sh. Samatar. Somali Verbal and Material Arts, in Loughran, K. S., Loughran, J. L., Somalia in Word and Image, (Washington, Foundation for Cross Cultural Understanding, 1986), pp. 35–66.Google Scholar