Group of Lowland East Cushitic languages of East Africa
Not to be confused with Somali language or Languages of Somalia.
Somali
Geographic distribution
Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya
Native speakers
27 million[1]
Linguistic classification
Afro-Asiatic
Cushitic
Lowland East Cushitic
Macro-Somali
Somali
Proto-language
Proto-Somali
Glottolog
None east2653(East Omo–Tana (partial match))
The Somali languages form a group that are part of the Afro-Asiatic language family. They are spoken as a mother tongue by ethnic Somalis in Horn of Africa and the Somali diaspora. Even with linguistic differences, Somalis collectively view themselves as speaking dialects of a common language.[2]
Some neighboring populations and individuals have also adopted the languages. Somali is for instance used as a second language by Girirra.[3]
^"Somali languages". Ethnologue. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
^Somali nationalism: international politics and the drive for unity in the Horn of Africa. Department of Linguistics and the African Studies Center, University of California, Los Anglos. 1963. p. 24. ISBN 9780674818255.
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