Creator of Somali Latin Alphabet: Muse Haji Ismail Galal

He's not a legend and honestly it pisses me off that we don't have an actual Somali alphabet like the Ethiopians. The Latin alphabet is just a reminder that we were colonized and it makes me feel as though our language is inferior because it was never written like the Ethiopians.
 

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We should have adapted Osmaniya instead of the latin and honored Kenadiid's legacy.



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HalimoEnthusiast
The latin script is the best option. It's easier to learn other languages like English if you already use a latin script. The litteracy rate in Somalia todaywould be even worse if somalis used osmaniya or arabic

I remember few months back one of your people claiming one of their scholars was behind the creation of the Somali language? Was it a lie or just disputed?
 

Som

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I remember few months back one of your people claiming one of their scholars was behind the creation of the Somali language? Was it a lie or just disputed?
I'm Marexaan. If you mean Marexaan then Shire Jama Ahmed was one of us and he contributed a lot on creating the Somali latin script. On the other hand Galaal was Isaaq.
The somali script was developed through team work by many somali scholars of different clans so it belongs to all of us as somalis.
 

Calaf

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It's really great to see Galal finally getting credit for something he worked on for years, but what happened to Shire Jama Achmed?
Shire Jama also had a major contribution to the creation of the language, he was one of the factors into bringing like combination letters (kh, dh and sh)
 
It's really great to see Galal finally getting credit for something he worked on for years, but what happened to Shire Jama Achmed?

It'll be quite easy to debunk this twitter user, I'll make a separate thread. He seems to be propagating misinformation by conflating a few different things.

The creator of the Somali Latin script that was chosen by a wide ranging committee in 1972 that Galal was a part of is Shire Jama Ahmed. They also worked alongside Andrzejewski in different capacities. Galal was his student and Shire was a contemporary of his.

Here is just a sneak peak of the contents in that thread. This is from a book written by Galal's own teacher Andrzejewski in which he asserts that the final version developed by Shire Jama Ahmed is the Somali latin script used today.

Screen Shot 2021-01-02 at 2.51.28 AM.png


A SURVEY OF CUSHITIC LITERATURES, 1940-1975
B. W. Andrzejewski
 
It'll be quite easy to debunk this twitter user, I'll make a separate thread. He seems to be propagating misinformation by conflating a few different things.

The creator of the Somali Latin script that was chosen by a wide ranging committee in 1972 that Galal was a part of is Shire Jama Ahmed. They also worked alongside Andrzejewski in different capacities. Galal was his student and Shire was a contemporary of his.

Here is just a sneak peak of the contents in that thread. This is from a book written by Galal's own teacher Andrzejewski in which he asserts that the final version developed by Shire Jama Ahmed is the Somali latin script used today.

View attachment 162970

A SURVEY OF CUSHITIC LITERATURES, 1940-1975
B. W. Andrzejewski

Galal used an apostrophe for ain and a slash through an H for an aspirated h. Shire used "c" and "x".
For years only Shire got credit, I have always thought because of the Mareexaan connection to Barre.
 
I don't support tht man since he didn't want somali ppl to have their own script he only wanted European script
This is why more and more I am starting to
Distance myself being somali and not associatinate with somali culturetelly and languagelly and as ppl
 
Galal used an apostrophe for ain and a slash through an H for an aspirated h. Shire used "c" and "x".
For years only Shire got credit, I have always thought because of the Mareexaan connection to Barre.

Kacaan daroodization of history is nothing new. The alphabet, the Somalia flag( italian colonial concept), the dervish, the Ahmed gurey and Habesha wars. The Information age is doing the real history justice
 
Galal used an apostrophe for ain and a slash through an H for an aspirated h. Shire used "c" and "x".
For years only Shire got credit, I have always thought because of the Mareexaan connection to Barre.

Well when it comes to giving out credit it's important to distinguish what the praise is directed at. There must an understanding that other contributions are important and necessary however misinformation should never be accepted. Also among scholars Shire was mainly given the credit for having his version of the script used officially, however other scholars received their dues as well.

Shire was also the first President of the Somali National Academy of Culture and also founded the first Somali literary magazine.

ShireJamafirst.jpg



Your passive aggressive assertion that his clan connection is the reason why only he gets credit is nefarious in my view. It's a dubious claim, and might even be motivated by your mentor 'MAH' not receiving as much praise, but it's quite clear why that is.

Nonetheless I'll prove your suspicions wrong here and add the rest of this to the final thread I'll create.

This was a report from the UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science, Cultural Organization) recommendation to the Somali linguistic commission in 1966 well before any Mareexaan connection. Lo and Behold, they recommended Shire's latin script in 1966

And the main distinction (most important) in this report is that Galaal's version is mentioned as "Orthography 4" while Shire's version is mentioned as "Orthography 7"

Screen Shot 2021-01-02 at 4.10.10 PM.png


It comes at no surprise that in the mid 60's Galaal himself was a proponent of using Shire's script and in 1972 was apart of the same committee that went on to accept it. This came from Hussein Tanzania, a renowned scholar in his own right.
image.jpg





This is a succinct outline detailing the standardization process of the Somali script.

And what this shows is that Shire wrote a book and issued six journals in 65-67. You were in the country around this time if I'm not mistaken under the mentorship of another scholar.

Screen Shot 2021-01-02 at 3.46.33 PM.png

(Corpus driven lexicography opens new horizons for Somali Morgan Nilsson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

This all came about several years after independence and it is important to note that Shire Jama Ahmed headed the language commission in 1960 which proves that he was definitely one of the pioneers of language in Somalia and has many other Somali scholars that have been inspired by his work.

Screen Shot 2021-01-02 at 2.38.38 AM.png
 
It'll be quite easy to debunk this twitter user, I'll make a separate thread. He seems to be propagating misinformation by conflating a few different things.

The creator of the Somali Latin script that was chosen by a wide ranging committee in 1972 that Galal was a part of is Shire Jama Ahmed. They also worked alongside Andrzejewski in different capacities. Galal was his student and Shire was a contemporary of his.

Here is just a sneak peak of the contents in that thread. This is from a book written by Galal's own teacher Andrzejewski in which he asserts that the final version developed by Shire Jama Ahmed is the Somali latin script used today.

View attachment 162970

A SURVEY OF CUSHITIC LITERATURES, 1940-1975
B. W. Andrzejewski
Well when it comes to giving out credit it's important to distinguish what the praise is directed at. There must an understanding that other contributions are important and necessary however misinformation should never be accepted. Also among scholars Shire was mainly given the credit for having his version of the script used officially, however other scholars received their dues as well.

Shire was also the first President of the Somali National Academy of Culture and also founded the first Somali literary magazine.

ShireJamafirst.jpg



Your passive aggressive assertion that his clan connection is the reason why only he gets credit is nefarious in my view. It's a dubious claim, and might even be motivated by your mentor 'MAH' not receiving as much praise, but it's quite clear why that is.

Nonetheless I'll prove your suspicions wrong here and add the rest of this to the final thread I'll create.

This was a report from the UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science, Cultural Organization) recommendation to the Somali linguistic commission in 1966 well before any Mareexaan connection. Lo and Behold, they recommended Shire's latin script in 1966

And the main distinction (most important) in this report is that Galaal's version is mentioned as "Orthography 4" while Shire's version is mentioned as "Orthography 7"

View attachment 163012


It comes at no surprise that in the mid 60's Galaal himself was a proponent of using Shire's script and in 1972 was apart of the same committee that went on to accept it. This came from Hussein Tanzania, a renowned scholar in his own right.
View attachment 163017




This is a succinct outline detailing the standardization process of the Somali script.

And what this shows is that Shire wrote a book and issued six journals in 65-67. You were in the country around this time if I'm not mistaken under the mentorship of another scholar.

View attachment 163009
(Corpus driven lexicography opens new horizons for Somali Morgan Nilsson, University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

This all came about several years after independence and it is important to note that Shire Jama Ahmed headed the language commission in 1960 which proves that he was definitely one of the pioneers of language in Somalia and has many other Somali scholars that have been inspired by his work.

View attachment 163019

Shire Jama Ahmed published his magazines in 66-67.

Shire did not bring anything new. He simply copied What Galaal created. The development of Galaal's script is clearly documented in the Twitter thread:

Galaal script 1953 (The Somaliland Journal):
Galaal introduced the double-vowel system.
EqPw47mXMAE1FsK.png


Galaal Script 1956 (Hikmad Smaali):
EqQECqXXUAADMid.png


Galaal script 1963 (A Somali Poetic Combat)
Galaal introduced the "C" and "Dh" letters.
EqQIA_dXcAMbLOH.png


There is a single letter "X" that is not found in the Galaal script. Everything else is identical to Galaal's script, and published YEARS before Shire.

No Somali scholar comes close to Muse Galaal in terms of contribution to the Somali script we use today. There are certain things you should not FKD over, just be grateful a great scholar like Galaal poured +20 years of his life to create something all Somalis benefit from today.
 

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