Chapter II — The Deeds
A script, a campaign, a library.
01 — The Script
The modern Somali Latin alphabet
For more than a decade the debate raged over how the Somali language should be written. Arabic, Latin, Osmanya — in total 18 proposals were presented to the Somali Language Committee. Shire's solution was pragmatic: a modified Latin script, adapted to the language's phonology.
He excluded the letters p, v, z and introduced the digraphs kh, dh, sh — an elegant solution for sounds the Latin alphabet lacked. When the military government took power in 1969 his script was chosen, and in 1972 it became official.
“Latin, laa diin” — “Latin, no religion” — was the chant against him. Shire's reply: the world's printing presses are already Latin.
Far Soomaali
An alphabet, honed for the Somali ear.
Shire excluded p, v, z — letters absent from Somali — and introduced the digraphs kh, dh, sh for sounds unique to the language.
The modern Somali Latin alphabet — in use since 21 October 1972.
02 — The Literacy Campaign
Ol Olaha Waxbarashada Reer Miyiga
Between 1974 and 1975 tens of thousands of teachers and secondary-school students were sent out to the countryside to teach villages and nomadic groups to read and write. It was one of post-colonial Africa's largest education operations.
Tanzania's then president Julius Nyerere said that “the Somalis are practising what we in Tanzania preach.” Today Somali migrants around the world find it easier to learn new languages precisely because they write in the Latin alphabet.
03 — Institutions
More than a linguist — he built the framework around the language.
Somali National Academy of Culture
First president of the national cultural academy.
Iftiinka Aqoonta
Founder of Somalia's first national periodical, “The Light of Knowledge”.
View 1967 issue (PDF) ↗Somali Youth League
One of the principal organisers of the nationalist youth movement.
04 — Publications
Books, pamphlets and periodicals.
Each entry links to an external archive, library catalogue or web search where the publication can be located, viewed or — when available — downloaded.
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Gabayo, Maahmaah, iyo Sheekooyin Yaryar
“Poems, proverbs and short stories”