It later expanded to include all 12 forms in 1979. Somali was thereafter established as the main language of academic instruction in forms 1 through 4, following preparatory work by the government-appointed Somali Language Committee. Somali has been an official national language since January 1973, when the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) declared it the Somali Democratic Republic's primary language of administration and education. Official status Ĭonstitutionally, Somali and Arabic are the two official languages of Somalia. įollowing the start of the Somali Civil War in the early 1990s, the Somali-speaking diaspora increased in size, with newer Somali speech communities forming in parts of the Middle East, North America and Europe. The language is spoken by an estimated 95% of the country's inhabitants, and also by a majority of the population in Djibouti. Īs of 2019, there were approximately 21.8 million speakers of Somali, spread in Greater Somalia of which around 7.8 million resided in Somalia.
Somali is the most widely spoken Cushitic language in the region followed by Oromo and Afar. It is also spoken as an adoptive language by a few ethnic minority groups and individuals in Somali majority regions. The Somali language is spoken in Somali inhabited areas of Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Yemen and by members of the Somali diaspora. Somali is the best-documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies of the language dating back to the late 19th century.
Somali is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, specifically, Lowland East Cushitic in addition to Afar and Saho. Main articles: Afroasiatic languages and Cushitic languages
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