True Af-Maxaa and Af-Maay are mutually intelligible, what isnβt intelligible with either is the af-gaja-gaja diaspora kids speak.Cushitic is a very conservative branch. But the fact that we cannot understand other Somali languages besides Af Maxaa (not dialects) tells you that if we went 2500 years back, we would likely not understand them that well.
A competent Somali speaker could talk to a person 1000 years ago but changes do happen in all languages over time. I think a person 1000 years ago would employ a diversified nuanced vocabulary and symbolic language. Modernity has reduced this for all people from all over the world concerning the relationship of their speech traditions.
The better your af-maxaa is the better your Af-Maay becomes because Af-Maay is the more ancient version.
Even so it takes like 14 days to learn if you speak even basic Maxaa, where it breaks down is af-jiido and all of that
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