Somalia's Italian language

The Italian language was an official language of Somalia from 1960 to 1969 and then again from 2004 to 2012. The use of this European language goes as far back as the colonial period of Somalia in the late 1890s, when it was the only official language in Italian Somalia for more than half a century until after the end of World War II (and later during the ONU Trusteeship period).

Overview

The use of Italian language in Somalia is one of the main legacies of the Italian colonial period in the Horn of Africa, when it was part of the Italian Empire. Of course, Italian was the mother tongue of the Italian settlers of Somalia.

Although it was The Primary language since colonial rule, Italian started to lose importance under British occupation in World War II. But it remained in use among the country's ruling elite even after independence in 1960, when it continued to be an official language. It is estimated that more than 200,000 native Somalis were fluent in Italian when independence was declared in 1960. Because the newly-created "Republic of Somalia" in 1960 also included the former British Somaliland, Italian was also an official language in the region of Berbera & Hargeisa for nearly 12 years.

In 1972, the government of Siad Barre adopted a Latin orthography as the official national alphabet, in preference to several other scripts that were then in use. Concurrently, the Italian-language daily newspaper Stella d'Ottobre was nationalized, renamed as Xiddigta Oktoobar ("The October Star"), and began publishing in Somali.

Italian was again declared an official language of the Republic of Somalia by the Transitional Federal Government along with English in 2004. But in 2012 these languages were later removed by the establishment of the Provisional Constitution by the Federal Government of Somalia, leaving Somali and Arabic as the only official languages.

One of the most famous native Somalis who spoke the Italian language fluently was the president Siad Barre, who studied in Florence, Italy for some years and later imposed the Latin script (used in the Italian language) on the Somalian language.

Currently the use of Italian in contemporary Somalia is greatly reduced in importance, but there still are a few Somalis with Italian roots and links, who maintain the use of the language in Mogadishu. One of them is Cristina Ali Farah, an Italian writer of Somali and Italian origin. Her main literary work is "Little Mother", a novel based in Somalia that is divided into chapters narrated in Italian by a wide range of interconnected Somali narrators and includes frequent refrains in Somali by popular poets like Cabdulqaadir Xirsi Siyaad and Maxamud Cabdullahi Ciise. Indeed Maxamuud Cabdullahi Ciise (who spoke Italian fluently and was the first Prime Minister of Somalia during the trusteeship period, serving from February 29, 1956, to July 1, 1960,) wrote (mostly in Somalian, but also partially in Italian) the dhamaantaa, the last poem of "Qabyo 1" (a theatrical piece published in 1998).

Loanwords

It is estimated that there are more than 200 loanwords in the Somali language that originate from the Italian language.

Among the best-known are ciao as a friendly salutation, dimuqraadi from Italian democratico (democratic), mikroskoob from microscopio (microscope), Jalaato from gelato (ice cream), baasto from pasta (pasta), bataate from patate (potato), bistoolad from pistol (pistol), fiyoore from fiore (flower) and injinyeer from ingegnere (engineer).

Furthermore, all the months in Somalian language have names borrowed from the Italian, like Febraayo from febbraio (February).

Bibliography

  • Hess, Robert L. Italian Colonialism in Somalia. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, 1966.
  • Ammon, Ulrich; Hellinger, Marlis (1992). Status Change of Languages. Walter de Gruyter.

See also

  • Italian Somalis
  • Cristina Ali Farah