Articles on Kapchits.Online

Lamberti's Maps of Somali Dialects and the Current Socio-Linguistic Situation in South Somalia

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

A study of Somali dialectology and its application to the language analysis of asylum seekers. The typescript bears no date; since it refers to an applicant who left Somalia in 2007, it cannot be earlier than that year — the dating given here is approximate.

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In 1981 Marcello Lamberti undertook a scale research work in Somalia which resulted in a series of pioneering publications on Somali dialects. In “The linguistic situation in the Somali Democratic Republic” (1984), “Map of Somali dialects in the Somali Democratic Republic” (1986) and “Die Somali-Dialekte” (1986) he drew, as justly mentioned by Andrzej Zaborski, “a clear picture of dialect differentiation and dialect spread of the Somali language.”

Men and Women in the Somali Narrative Folklore

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The paper for the Buranbur conference in San Diego — 3 March 2007.

I am going to remind you of some Somali proverbs about women, their role in the traditional society and their relationships with men. Each proverb carries a message of the Somali ancestors to the present generation of the Somalis. Some of them are very funny and I hope you will enjoy them.

According to the following proverb, men are desperate about women. They say: Naago ama u samir, ama ka samir — Either suffer from women or suffer without them. But men understand that they badly need them: Naag waa belaayo loo baahan yahay — Woman is a disaster one cannot do without.

On Some Peculiarities of the Somali Language, Proverbs and Folktales

Sat, 03 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The paper for the Buranbur conference in San Diego — 3 March 2007.

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Somali is a very rich language from the point of view of phonetics, syntax and vocabulary. In its “Northern variant” (maxaad tidhi) it is a tonal accent language. The main classes of words in Somali are nouns and verbs.

Some words with attributive meanings belong to the class of verbs: dheer — to be long, cad — to be white, etc. The majority of words with adverbial meaning belong to the class of nouns: hoos-ta — bottom, si-da — mode, mean.