Wadaad writing

As Wadaad font (Arabic كتابة وداد, DMG Kitabat Wadad ) or writing the Wadaad applications of the Arabic alphabet for the Somali language are called. This term was first " ungrammatikalisches Arabic, which contains some Somali words " as of religion men ( wadaads and sheiks ) for Kassiden, was used by merchants in a business context, for writing letters and petitions in over the centuries. In the 19th and 20th centuries, various adaptations of the Arabic script were developed to write pure Somali.

History

Sheikh Ahmed al- Yuusuf 'm Kawneyn (Aw Barkhadle ) led in the 13th century the Arabic alphabet with the Somali. He dealt with the phonology of Somali to develop its own nomenclature for the vowels of Arabic. This was first used to teach his students the Arabic script and reading the Quran, but they also allowed for writing ( to varying degrees ) with Somali words mixed Arabic. From the Somali population a small minority could very well read and write Arabic and produced especially Sufi literature in Arabic. A greater part had some reading and writing skills and used the mixture of Somali and Arabic, especially in the context of religion and trade.

A significant difference between Arabic and Somali, which complicates the use of the Arabic alphabet for the Somali language, is that the Somali is rich in vowels, which also are often meaningless distinctive, while the Arabian is more vocal- poor and vowels often also omits. In texts in Wadaad font short vowels are usually omitted, so they are very difficult to read if the word meaning is not clear by the context. The lack of grammar makes understanding also.

1887 published the captain of the Indian Army JS King two articles in Indian Antiquary, in which he proposed a blended with Hindustani Arabic script for the Somali. 1919 developed the Qadiriyyah -Sheikh al - Uways Barawi a more adapted to the Somali form of the Arabic script, which he used for Kassiden in Somali. 1938, however, published Abdi Sheikh Mahamad Makaahiil from northern Somali Isaaq clan his work, The Institution of modern correspondence in the Somali language in -written with standard Arabic Somali. Muuse Haaji Ismaaiil Galaal published in the 1950s, a radically altered version of the Arabic alphabet with new vowel signs. However, his version could not prevail at the wadaads because it deviates too much from the classical ( Qur'anic ) Arabic. Somali nationalists who sought to unify and Verschriftung their language, however, turned more specifically to the Somali developed writings as the Osmaniya script and later the Latin script. 1972 was officially introduced the Latin alphabet under Siad Barre.

Swell

• David D. Laitin: Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience, University of Chicago Press 1977, ISBN 978-0-226-46791-7, pp. 85-89, 91-96
• Ioan M. Lewis: The Gadabuursi Somali scripts, in: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies ( SOAS ) 21, 1958, pp. 134-156

• Arabic writing
• History ( Somalia)