https://waajid.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/maay-alphabet-english-version/
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The most recent attempt to transcribe Maay was carried out by the late Mustapha Sheikh who used the first Latin-based transcription. However, the first organized and systematic attempt to institutionalize the Alif-Maay script was initiated by a group of young, well educated expatriate workers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1988. This group produced the first modern script in a small booklet entitled “Baroy Af-Somali Maay” (Learn Alif-Maay). They have also produced a collection of over 500 proverbs and substantial number of vocabularies.
In 1993, another young, and well educated group in Toronto, Canada, produced an improved version of the Jeddah Group and presented a paper entitled, “Alif-Maay” at the First International Conference of the Inter-riverine Studies Association held in Toronto in November, 1994.
More than a decade later, another group including members of the initial Toronto Group along with a number of intellectuals, community leaders, and traditional elders created a forum called Kulung Technical Committee. The purpose of this committee, like those that preceded it, is to come up with a more standardized Af-Maay Script. This group met several times in London, and Toronto, Canada. After long discussions, we, the Alif-Maay Group, working under the direction of Kulung Technical Committee, are convinced that this version of the script is as good it can be, and therefore comprehensive enough to be presented for comments by the Maay speaking peoples. Thus, we seek comments and suggestions, as well as any instruction that you may kindly give to improve on the current script"
The alphabet used for writing Maay language is the same as the international Roman alphabet, with letters chosen to represent the Maay phones (sound structure). It also uses digraphs i.e. a sequence of two letters to represent single sounds. The Maay alphabet has five primary vowels: a, e, i, o, u, and one semi-vowel ( Y ) and twenty four consonants.
(1.00) Consonants:
B P T J JH D TH R S SH DH G GH F Q K L M N NG W H Y Y’
(1.01) Vowels:
Maay has two major categories of vowels: short and long according to the position they occupy in the word in which they are located. Long vowels are spelled as double vowels. They are pronounced exactly like short vowels except that they are longer:
A E I O U
AA EE II OO UU
(1.02) Semi-vowel Y
Maay has one semi-vowel “Y” which has a distinct pronunciation that is different from the vowel sound produced by the vowel i and is used to represent the “ieh” sound occurring ( felt ) most often at the end of Maay words. Example:
teesy (fly) moory (animal enclosure) lamy (two) sedy (three)
Since the letter ‘Y’ is used both a consonant and vowel, because of its double role the following Shorongshoor rule has been put together to clarify when one can use ‘Y’ as a consonant and as a vowel:
(1.03) Shorongshoor
(b) If the letter ‘y’ is preceded by a vowel it is used as consonant and is pronounced as it is ‘y’.
Example: Bay (name of a region) Biyooley ( name of a city) siyeed (eight)
(P) On the other hand, if the letter ‘y’ is preceded by a consonant, then the letter ‘y’ is used like vowel and is pronounced as ‘ieh’.
Example: toory = knife misgy = sorghum Jyny = heaven shyny = bee
(1.04) Glottal stop (Shalreepy) (‘)
A vowel followed by different vowel or the same vowel which is not a long vowel is separated from the other vowel by an apostrophe(‘) ‘shalreepy’.
Example: ta’ady = betray ba’iid = deer su’aal = question
(1.05) Doubling
In the Maay alphabet, only letters ‘r’ and ‘l’ are doubled within some words.
Example :
RR arry (soil) irry (grey hair) marry ( the whole quran)
LL hillimy (dream) billaawy (diger) duullaang ( to invade)
(1.06) Pronunciation Guide
P
The letter ‘p’ is used when the sound of ‘b’is not stressed. Its sound is produced by the lips, it is some what similar to the letter ‘p’ in the English alphabet.
apaal = gratitude heped = chest Hapiipy = name of a female lipee = lion
Jh:
It is guttural and it has similar sound as ‘J’. It represent a special Maay sound structure,
jhab = fracture jheer = shyness jhiring =beard jhaapy = fire wood
Th:
It is pronounced as the article ‘the’ in the English language, it is used when the sound of ‘d’ is not stressed.
mathal = appointment etheb = politeness mathy = head mithow = black
Gh:
It sounds like the ” ghain ” of the Arabic alphabet, and it is used when the sound of ‘g’ is not stressed.
maghy = name aghaar = green meghyng = refuge lughy = legs
Ng:
It represent a special Maay sound structure, it is similar to the end sound of many English words (eg. morning, caring, helping)
angkaar = curse oong = thirst ming = house lang = man sang = nose
Y’
It represent a special Maay sound structure, the sound that the letter ‘y’’ represents is also found in the words signore, and agnello of the Italian language.
y’aay’uur = cat y’isaang = the youngest maay’y = ocean
(1.07) Pronunciation difference of (b, d, g) and (p, th, gh)
The letters b, d, and g are stressed when they are part of a word, but they are not doubled within a word. When they are not stressed, the letter p, th, gh and are used respectively in their place. Note how the following words are pronounced.
B P
barbaar = youth hupung = joint (organ) dabaal = fool heped = chest hilib = meet apaar = drought
D Th
derdaar = advice mathy = head sedy = three mathal = appointment bad = ocean naathy = anouncement
G Gh
legding = wrestling maghy = name/ noun shalgo = seperation saghaal = nine dheg = ear dheghaaly = deaf
(Youtube channel contains at-least 20+ alphabetical tutorials)
It contains fewer foreign loan words too unlike Maxaa Tiri (Italian, persian, Arabic and Hindi) though I do remember reading a report of Barre replacing said words with authentic somali words.
Thus the official alphabet of Maay-Maxaa tiri would be...
Consonants;
' (Glottal stop) B, P(Maay), T, J, X (Maay does not have this letter), KH (Maay does not have this letter), JH (Maay exclusive) D , TH (Maay exclusive) , R , S , SH , DH , C ( Maay does not have this letter) , G , GH (Maay exclusive similar to غ) ,F , Q , K , L M , N , NG (Maay exlusive), W, H , Y & Y’(Maay exclusive).
Vowels;
A, I, E, O, U, AA, II, EE, OO and UU
Maay Semi Vowel
Y'
"
The most recent attempt to transcribe Maay was carried out by the late Mustapha Sheikh who used the first Latin-based transcription. However, the first organized and systematic attempt to institutionalize the Alif-Maay script was initiated by a group of young, well educated expatriate workers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1988. This group produced the first modern script in a small booklet entitled “Baroy Af-Somali Maay” (Learn Alif-Maay). They have also produced a collection of over 500 proverbs and substantial number of vocabularies.
In 1993, another young, and well educated group in Toronto, Canada, produced an improved version of the Jeddah Group and presented a paper entitled, “Alif-Maay” at the First International Conference of the Inter-riverine Studies Association held in Toronto in November, 1994.
More than a decade later, another group including members of the initial Toronto Group along with a number of intellectuals, community leaders, and traditional elders created a forum called Kulung Technical Committee. The purpose of this committee, like those that preceded it, is to come up with a more standardized Af-Maay Script. This group met several times in London, and Toronto, Canada. After long discussions, we, the Alif-Maay Group, working under the direction of Kulung Technical Committee, are convinced that this version of the script is as good it can be, and therefore comprehensive enough to be presented for comments by the Maay speaking peoples. Thus, we seek comments and suggestions, as well as any instruction that you may kindly give to improve on the current script"
The alphabet used for writing Maay language is the same as the international Roman alphabet, with letters chosen to represent the Maay phones (sound structure). It also uses digraphs i.e. a sequence of two letters to represent single sounds. The Maay alphabet has five primary vowels: a, e, i, o, u, and one semi-vowel ( Y ) and twenty four consonants.
(1.00) Consonants:
B P T J JH D TH R S SH DH G GH F Q K L M N NG W H Y Y’
(1.01) Vowels:
Maay has two major categories of vowels: short and long according to the position they occupy in the word in which they are located. Long vowels are spelled as double vowels. They are pronounced exactly like short vowels except that they are longer:
A E I O U
AA EE II OO UU
(1.02) Semi-vowel Y
Maay has one semi-vowel “Y” which has a distinct pronunciation that is different from the vowel sound produced by the vowel i and is used to represent the “ieh” sound occurring ( felt ) most often at the end of Maay words. Example:
teesy (fly) moory (animal enclosure) lamy (two) sedy (three)
Since the letter ‘Y’ is used both a consonant and vowel, because of its double role the following Shorongshoor rule has been put together to clarify when one can use ‘Y’ as a consonant and as a vowel:
(1.03) Shorongshoor
(b) If the letter ‘y’ is preceded by a vowel it is used as consonant and is pronounced as it is ‘y’.
Example: Bay (name of a region) Biyooley ( name of a city) siyeed (eight)
(P) On the other hand, if the letter ‘y’ is preceded by a consonant, then the letter ‘y’ is used like vowel and is pronounced as ‘ieh’.
Example: toory = knife misgy = sorghum Jyny = heaven shyny = bee
(1.04) Glottal stop (Shalreepy) (‘)
A vowel followed by different vowel or the same vowel which is not a long vowel is separated from the other vowel by an apostrophe(‘) ‘shalreepy’.
Example: ta’ady = betray ba’iid = deer su’aal = question
(1.05) Doubling
In the Maay alphabet, only letters ‘r’ and ‘l’ are doubled within some words.
Example :
RR arry (soil) irry (grey hair) marry ( the whole quran)
LL hillimy (dream) billaawy (diger) duullaang ( to invade)
(1.06) Pronunciation Guide
P
The letter ‘p’ is used when the sound of ‘b’is not stressed. Its sound is produced by the lips, it is some what similar to the letter ‘p’ in the English alphabet.
apaal = gratitude heped = chest Hapiipy = name of a female lipee = lion
Jh:
It is guttural and it has similar sound as ‘J’. It represent a special Maay sound structure,
jhab = fracture jheer = shyness jhiring =beard jhaapy = fire wood
Th:
It is pronounced as the article ‘the’ in the English language, it is used when the sound of ‘d’ is not stressed.
mathal = appointment etheb = politeness mathy = head mithow = black
Gh:
It sounds like the ” ghain ” of the Arabic alphabet, and it is used when the sound of ‘g’ is not stressed.
maghy = name aghaar = green meghyng = refuge lughy = legs
Ng:
It represent a special Maay sound structure, it is similar to the end sound of many English words (eg. morning, caring, helping)
angkaar = curse oong = thirst ming = house lang = man sang = nose
Y’
It represent a special Maay sound structure, the sound that the letter ‘y’’ represents is also found in the words signore, and agnello of the Italian language.
y’aay’uur = cat y’isaang = the youngest maay’y = ocean
(1.07) Pronunciation difference of (b, d, g) and (p, th, gh)
The letters b, d, and g are stressed when they are part of a word, but they are not doubled within a word. When they are not stressed, the letter p, th, gh and are used respectively in their place. Note how the following words are pronounced.
B P
barbaar = youth hupung = joint (organ) dabaal = fool heped = chest hilib = meet apaar = drought
D Th
derdaar = advice mathy = head sedy = three mathal = appointment bad = ocean naathy = anouncement
G Gh
legding = wrestling maghy = name/ noun shalgo = seperation saghaal = nine dheg = ear dheghaaly = deaf
(Youtube channel contains at-least 20+ alphabetical tutorials)
It contains fewer foreign loan words too unlike Maxaa Tiri (Italian, persian, Arabic and Hindi) though I do remember reading a report of Barre replacing said words with authentic somali words.
Thus the official alphabet of Maay-Maxaa tiri would be...
Consonants;
' (Glottal stop) B, P(Maay), T, J, X (Maay does not have this letter), KH (Maay does not have this letter), JH (Maay exclusive) D , TH (Maay exclusive) , R , S , SH , DH , C ( Maay does not have this letter) , G , GH (Maay exclusive similar to غ) ,F , Q , K , L M , N , NG (Maay exlusive), W, H , Y & Y’(Maay exclusive).
Vowels;
A, I, E, O, U, AA, II, EE, OO and UU
Maay Semi Vowel
Y'
I can pick up a word or two in a convo but thats it.
to those who argue its af somali
