Maay Maay (original) (raw)

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Somali dialect

Mai-Mai, commonly spelled Maay Maay (also known as Af-Maay, Af-Maymay, or simply Maay; the Mai-Mai spelling is rarely used but it is most often spoken) is a dialect of the Somali language. It is mainly spoken in Somalia and adjacent parts of Ethiopia and Kenya. In Somalia, it is spoken in South West state, Jubaland state, and Banadir.

Somali linguistic varieties are divided into three main groups: Northern, Benadir, and Maay. Northern Somali (or Northern-Central Somali) forms the basis for Standard Somali.[3]

Maay is principally spoken by the Digil and Mirifle (Rahanweyn) clans in the southern regions of Somalia.[3] Its speech area extends from the southwestern border with Ethiopia to a region close to the coastal strip between Mogadishu and Kismayo, including the city of Baidoa.[4] Maay is partially mutually comprehensible with Northern Somali,[5] with the degree of divergence comparable to that between Spanish and Portuguese.[6] Despite these linguistic differences, Somali speakers collectively view themselves as speaking a common language.[7] It is also not generally used in education or media. However, Maay speakers often use Standard Somali as a lingua franca,[4] which is learned via mass communications, internal migration and urbanization.[8]

Although past scholars have maintained the assumption that Maay is not mutually comprehensible with Northern Somali it was done so without it being tested for. A more recent study by Deqa Hassan tested the mutual intelligibility between Af-Maay and Af-Maxaa speakers (Northern Somali).

The study found that Af-Maay is partially mutually intelligible to Af-Maxaa (Northern Speakers) and that intelligibility increases with increased understanding of Standard Somali. Which implies understanding of standard Somali (Northern Somali) increases the chance of understanding Af-Maay. This accounts for the most significant linguistic factor that ties both language variations together. Therefore Af-Maay is categorized as a Type 5 dialect[_further explanation needed_] for the overlapping common cultural history it shares with Af Maxaa speakers which explains its somewhat mutual intelligibility.[9]

Consonants of Lower Jubba Maay[10]

| | Bilabial | Labio- dental | Dental | Alveolar | Palato- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------- | | Stop | voiceless | (p) | | t̪ | | | | k | ʔ | | voiced | b | | d̪ | | | | ɡ | | | | implosive | | | | ɗ | | ʄ | ɠ | | | | Affricate | | | | | dʒ | | | | | | Fricative | [β] | f | [ð] | s | ʃ | | [ɣ] | h | | | Nasal | m | | n̪ | | | ɲ | [ŋ] | | | | Rhotic | | | | r | | | | | | | Lateral | | | | l | | | | | | | Approximant | w | | | | | j | | | |

• A nasal consonant preceding a /n̪/ will always be realized as a [ŋ], e.g., aaŋ-ni 'we ate' from underlying /aam-ni/.[10]
• [ɣ] is an intervocalic allophone of /ɡ/.[10]

Vowels of Lower Jubba Maay[10]

| | Front | Central | Back | | | ------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Close | i iː | | u uː | | Mid | e eː | | o oː | | Open | | a aː | |

British ethnologist Virginia Luling who wrote extensively on Maay dialect and poetry

Maay Maay exhibits significant amounts of epenthesis, inserting central or high-central vowels to break up consonant clusters. Vowel length is contrastive; minimal pairs such as bur 'flour' and buur 'mountain' are attested.

Maay Maay is fairly agglutinative. It has complex verb forms, inflecting at least for tense/aspect and person/number of both subject and object. There is also a prefix indicating negation. In addition, verbs exhibit derivational morphology, including a causative and an applicative. Nominal morphology includes a definiteness suffix, whose form depends on the gender of the head noun, and possessive suffixes.

Maay Maay exhibits SVO and SOV word orders, apparently in fairly free variation. When the object is postverbal, the prefix maay appears on the verb. Within the noun phrase, the head noun is generally initial. Possessors, adjectives and some strong quantifiers follow the head noun. Numerals and the indefinite quantifier precede the head noun.

Maay has retained a rich oral tradition and evocative poetry that differs from the more well-known northern style. In southern Somalia, the poet and reciter would be one and the same. British ethnologist Virginia Luling noted during her visit to Afgooye that poetry was to be conceived and recited simultaneously with no prior preparation. The poets or Laashin relied on their wit and memory to construct poems and entertain the audience.[11]

Geledi Laashins during Luling's 1989 stay in Afgooye sang about the ever-present issue of land theft by the Somali government. The Sultan in these poems was asked to help the community and reminded of his legendary Gobroon forefathers of the centuries prior.[11]

The poem The law then was not this law was performed by the leading Laashins of Afgooye, Hiraabey, Muuse Cusmaan and Abukar Cali Goitow alongside a few others, addressed to the current leader Sultan Subuge. It evoked the memories of the mighty Geledi Sultanate of years prior and was a sharp contrast to their current situation.[11]

Here the richest selection of the poem

1. ^ a b Mai-Mai at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
2. ^ "Refworld | World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Somalia".
3. ^ a b Dalby, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of languages: the definitive reference to more than 400 languages. Columbia University Press. p. 571.
4. ^ a b Saeed (1999:4)
5. ^ Somali Dialects in the United States: How intelligible is Af-Maay to Speakers of Af-Maxaa? by Deqa Hassan (Minnesota State University - Mankato)
6. ^ Lewis, I. M. (1998-01-01). Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society. The Red Sea Press. p. 74. ISBN 9781569021033.
7. ^ Somali nationalism: international politics and the drive for unity in the Horn of Africa. Department of Linguistics and the African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles. 1963. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-674-59435-7.
8. ^ "Maay - A language of Somalia". Ethnologue. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
9. ^ Somali Dialects in the United States: How intelligible is Af-Maay to Speakers of Af-Maxaa? by Deqa Hassan (Minnesota State University - Mankato)[_full citation needed_]
10. ^ a b c d Paster, Mary (2006). "Aspects of Maay phonology and morphology" (PDF). Studies in African Linguistics. 35 (1): 73–120. doi:10.32473/sal.v35i1.107312.
11. ^ a b c d Luling, Virginia (1996). "'The Law Then Was Not This Law': Past and Present in Extemporized Verse at a Southern Somali Festival". African Languages and Cultures. Supplement. 3 (3): 213–228. JSTOR 586663.

• Saeed, John (1999). Somali. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ISBN 1-55619-224-X.
• Cultural Orientation Resource Center