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Writing Systems Technical Resources

Osmanya

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ciismaniya.jpg#/media/File:Ciismaniya.jpg

Script details

See all script details: code, region, status and more
Code Osma
Script type alphabet
Region African
Status Historical
Direction LTR
Baseline bottom
Case no
White space unspecified
Complex behaviors
OpenType code osma
ISO 15924 Numeric Code / Key 260 (left-to-right alphabetic)

Explanation of script details

Script description

The Osmanya script (also known as far soomaali or cismaanya) was invented by Cismaan Yuusuf Keenadiid between 1920 and 1922.

Read the full description…It was used sporadically from 1922-1973 for writing the Somali language. It was particularly used from 1961-1969, when it was officially approved alongside the Latin script by the newly democratic government. However, following a military coup in 1969, an intense literacy campaign using only the Latin script saw a sharp decline in Osmanya usage. In 1973 a standardised Latin orthography was adopted as the official script of the Somali language. Osmanya remained in limited use, predominantly in private correspondence and bookkeeping, although it is now considered to be unused except by Somali historians and scholars.

Osmanya is an alphabet, read from left to right, comprising 22 consonant and 8 vowel characters. The phonemic inventory contains 10 vowels - 5 short and 5 long; these are represented in the orthography by using the consonant characters w and y to represent long [u:] and long [i:]. Consonant lengthening (gemination) is represented by writing the consonant twice. Decimal digits from 0-9 are also represented in the Osmanya script. Characters are sorted according to the Arabic order.

Languages that use this script

LanguageWriting System
Code		Writing System
Status		SLDR/CLDR
locale		Regional
variants
Somaliso-Osmaobsolete so-Osma-SO (Somalia)

Unicode status

In The Unicode Standard, Osmanya script implementation is discussed in Chapter 19:Africa.

Resources