Somali phonology

Sounds and pronunciation of the Somali language

This article describes the phonology of the Somali language.

The syllable structure of Somali is (C)V(C). Root morphemes usually have a mono or di syllabic structure. Clusters of two consonants do not occur word initially or word finally, i. e., they only occur at syllable boundaries. The following consonants can be geminate: , , , , , , , and The following cannot be geminate: , and the fricatives. Two vowels cannot occur together at syllable boundaries. Epenthetic consonants, e. g. and , are therefore inserted.

The voiced stops (, , and ) are devoiced in word initial and word final position. Between two vowels they become fricatives. The voiceless stops and are realised as and in syllable final position. is realised as in syllable final position. Between vowels, is usually voiced to All vowels are nasalised before or after a nasal consonant.

When a vowel occurs in word initial position, a glottal stop is inserted before it.

Phonological changes occur at morpheme boundaries (sandhi) for specific grammatical morphemes. There may be assimilation or elision. One unusual change which can occur is to (compare Spanish mucho to Latin multus). Coalescence also occurs. This is a kind of external sandhi in which words join, undergoing phonological processes such as elision. In Somali it is sometimes obligatory and sometimes it is dependent on the speech style.

Roots have front back vowel harmony. There is also a process of vowel harmony in strings longer than a word, known as "harmonic groups".

Intonation (as opposed to tone, see above) does not carry grammatical information, although it may convey the speaker's attitude or emotion.