Somali alphabets

It has been the official writing script in Somalia since the Supreme Revolutionary Council formally introduced it in October 1972, and was disseminated through a nationwide rural literacy campaign.

[3] Writing systems developed locally in the twentieth century include the Osmanya, Borama and Kaddare scripts.

[7] Galal continued to lead Somali researchers throughout the 1960s in investigating alternative native systems of inscription suitable for use as official orthography.

[10] According to Bogumił Andrezewski, this usage was limited to Somali clerics and their associates, as sheikhs preferred to write in the liturgical Arabic language.

Various such historical manuscripts in Somali nonetheless exist, which mainly consist of Islamic poems (qasidas), recitations and chants.

The rest of the existing historical literature in Somali principally consists of translations of documents from Arabic.

A phonetically sophisticated alphabet, it was invented between 1920 and 1922 by Cismaan Yuusuf Keenadiid who hails from the Osman Mohamoud clan of the larger Majeerteen.