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TRANSLATION FROM SIMPLE ENGLISH: "Somalia languages: Italian"

The Italian language had once been an official language of Somalia from 1960 to 1969 and then again from 2004 to 2012. The use of this European language goes as far back as the colonial period of Somalia in the late 1890s, when was the only official language for more than half a century until after the end of WW2

Overview

Italian is a legacy of the Italian colonial period of Somalia when it was part of the Italian Empire. Italian was the mother tongue of the Italian settlers of Somalia.

Although it was the primary language since colonial rule, Italian continued to be used among the country's ruling elite even after 1960 independence when it continued to remain as an official language. It is estimated that more than 200000 native Somalis were fluent speaking Italian when independence was declared in 1960.

After a military coup in 1969, all foreign entities were nationalized by Siad Barre (who spoke fluently Italian), including Mogadishu's principal university, which was renamed 'Jaamacadda Ummadda Soomaliyeed' (Somali National University). This marked the initial decline of the use of Italian in Somalia.

However, Italian is still widely spoken by the elderly, the educated, and by the governmental officials of Somalia. Prior to the Somali civil war, Mogadishu still had an Italian-language school, but was later destroyed by the conflict.

Italian was later declared an official language again by Transitional Federal Government along with English. But, in 2012, they were later removed by the establishments of the Provisional Constitution by the Federal Government of Somalia leaving Somali and Arabic as the only official languages.

Language characteristics

While phonology and intonation are affected by Somali and Arabic, it is mostly identical to the standard European form. The Italian used in Somalia contains many loanwords of Arabic origin, mostly Islamic terms.

The Somali language also contains a few Italian loanwords that were retained from the colonial period. The most widely used is ciao, meaning goodbye. As part of a broader governmental effort to ensure and safeguard the primacy of the Somali language, the post-independence period in Somalia saw a push toward replacement of such foreign loanwords with their Somali equivalents or neologisms. Alongside English, Italian was declared a second language of Somalia by the Transitional Federal Government in the Transitional Federal Charter adopted in 2004.