Алфавит Османья: История Сомалийской письменности

Alphabet created in the 1920s for Somali

The Osmanya alphabet (Farta Cismaanya, 𐒍𐒖𐒇𐒂𐒖 𐒋𐒘𐒈𐒑𐒛𐒒𐒕𐒖), also known as Far Soomaali (𐒍𐒖𐒇 𐒘𐒝𐒈𐒑𐒛𐒘, "Somali writing") and, in Arabic, as al kitābah al ʿuthmānīyah (الكتابة العثمانية; "Osman writing"), is an alphabetic script created to transcribe the Somali language. It was invented by Osman Yusuf Kenadid, the son of Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid and brother of Sultan Ali Yusuf Kenadid of the Sultanate of Hobyo.

While Osmanya gained reasonably wide acceptance in Somalia and quickly produced a considerable body of literature, it proved difficult to spread among the population mainly due to stiff competition from the long established Arabic script as well as the emerging Somali Latin alphabet developed by a number of leading scholars of Somali, including Musa Haji Ismail Galal, B. W. Andrzejewski and Shire Jama Ahmed. As nationalist sentiments grew and since the Somali language had long lost its ancient script, the adoption of a universally recognized writing script for the Somali language became an important point of discussion. After independence, little progress was made on the issue, as opinion was divided over whether the Arabic or Latin scripts should be used instead. In October 1972, because of the Latin script's simplicity, its ability to cope with all of the sounds in the language, and the widespread existence of machines and typewriters designed for its use, President Mohamed Siad Barre required it for writing Somali instead of the Arabic or Osmanya scripts. Barre's administration subsequently launched a massive literacy campaign designed to ensure its sole adoption, which led to a sharp decline in use of Osmanya.

The direction of reading and writing in Osmanya is from left to right. Letter names are based on the names of letters in Arabic, and the long vowels uu and ii are represented by the letters waaw and yaa, respectively.