The Macro-Somali or Somaloid languages, or (in the conception of

Bernd Heine Bernd Heine (born 25 May 1939) is a German linguist and specialist in African studies. From 1978 to 2004 Heine held the chair for African Studies at the University of Cologne, Germany, now being a Professor Emeritus. His main focal points in res ...

, who does not include

Baiso Baiso ( Reggiano: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Emilia in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about west of Bologna and about south of Reggio Emilia. Baiso borders the following municipalities: Carpineti, Ca ...

) Sam languages, are a branch of the

Lowland East Cushitic languages Lowland East Cushitic is a group of roughly two dozen diverse languages of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. Its largest representatives are Oromo and Somali. Classification Lowland East Cushitic classification from Tosco (2020:2 ...

. They are spoken in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

, eastern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, and northern

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. The most widely spoken member is Somali.Roger Blench, 2006
''The Afro-Asiatic Languages: Classification and Reference List''
(ms)

Languages

Heine, 1978

The primary division is between Rendille versus the remaining languages, for which Heine proposes the terms "Eastern Sam" or "Dad". In this proposal,

forms a Northern branch of Omo–Tana. * Somaloid ** Rendille ** Eastern Sam *** Boni (Aweer) *** Girirra *** Somali

Blench, 2006

Within Blench's proposal, the primary division of Macro-Somali is first between Baiso, Sam, and Somali. Then within Sam, the primary split is between Rendille and Aweer. Girirra is left unclassified within

Lowland East Cushitic Lowland East Cushitic is a group of roughly two dozen diverse languages of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. Its largest representatives are Oromo and Somali. Classification Lowland East Cushitic classification from Tosco (2020:2 ...

. * Macro-Somali ** Bayso ** Sam *** Aweer *** Rendille ** Somali *** Ashraaf **** Lower Shebelle **** Shingaani *** Benaadir **** Northern ***** Abgaal ***** Ajuraan ***** Gaaljacal **** Southern ***** Bimaal ***** Xamari *** Digil **** Dabarre ****

Garre The Garre (also Gurreh, Karre, or Binukaaf, Somali: ''Reer Garre'', Arabic: بنو كاف, romanized: ''Banī kāf'') are a prominent Somali clan that traces its lineage back to Samaale, who is believed to have originated from the Arabian P ...

****

Tunni The Tunni ( Somali: Tunni) are a Somali clan that make up part of the wider Digil-Rahanweyn branch. It is one of the major clans that inhabit the South West State of Somalia and can also be found in Jubbaland. Overview The Tunni clan are spli ...

*** Jiiddu *** Maay **** Buur Hakaba **** Northern **** Southern *** Midgaan? *** North-Central Somali **** Darood **** Lower Juba **** Northern ***

Yibir The Yibir, also referred to as the Yibbir, the Yebir, or the Yibro, are a caste of Somali people. They have traditionally been endogamous. Their hereditary occupations have been magic making, leather work, the dispensing of traditional medicine ...

Sound correspondences

The following

sound correspondence In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor and then extrapolating backwards t ...

s hold between Rendille, Aweer and Somali: The Eastern Sam or Dad group is characterized by the following four changes: * The

voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...

stops *t, *c, *k became

voiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to refe ...

*d, *j, *g when following a vowel. * Elsewhere, *c becomes a

fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in ...

*ʃ. * *z > *d. * *m > *n at the end of a word. In Boni, several

consonant cluster In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...

s simplify: * *mb, *nɗ, *ng > m, n, ŋ * *ns > s * *ng before *i > *ndʒ > *nʃ > ʃ

Notes

References

* East Cushitic languages {{AfroAsiatic-lang-stub