jmgurey@gmail.com

0. Changes from Ver 1.0 to Ver 1.1

• Figure 7 Changed. The CAPS on state now should be SH, DH and KH (instead of Sh, Dh, and Kh). The shift state of these keys remains as version 1.0.

1. Introduction

Soomaali (Somali) is classified as a member of East Cushitic branch of Afro Asiatic family language. It is one of the major languages in Africa, and spoken by an estimated population of 15 to 25 million, living mainly in the horn of Africa (Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya). It is the official language of Somalia and Somaliland and recognized ‘mother tongue’ as second language in Djibouti. Somali is broadcast language and there are several regional and international radios services carrying the Somali.

Somali is a written language officially from 1972 when a lasting decision was taken by the then government in the long century debate of the choice of the official orthography for the written Somali. The three opposing ideas of the debate were 1) the use of native coding and scripts 2) the use of Latin scripts 3) the use Arabic script. The decision was the adaptation of Latin script, and along with the introduction of the official Somali alphabet, the Somali language became also the medium of instruction in the then Republic of Democratic Somalia.

The Somali alphabet is phonetically adaptation of Latin script, and it consists of 21 consonants, 10 vowels (5 short and their corresponding long vowel) and the apostrophe (’). The numbers are written with 0-9 digits.

Consonants: b, t, j, x, kh, d, r, s, sh, dh, c, g, f, q, k, l, m, n, w, h, y, ’

Short vowels: a, e, i, o, u

Long vowels: aa, ee, ii, oo, uu

Digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

The first part of ISO 693 identifies the Somali as ‘so’ while the second part (ISO 693-2) represents it as ‘som’. The locale language codes defined in the CLDR for Somali are so_DJ, so_ET, so_KE and so_SO. As of today, there is no custom keyboard layout of the Somali language, and people who write in Somali are mostly using USA international or European style keyboard for typewriting.

This is a first proposal of a custom keyboard of the Somali language.

2. Soomaali keyboard

The QWERTY-based key layout is the most convenient to input data in Somali language because it is widely used now to write it. Somali alphabet has three more consonants (sh, dh, kh) with respect to the Latin alphabet. In the same time three Latin consonants (p, v, z) are not present in the Somali alphabet. This proposal is based on customized USA International keyboard modifying 3 base key to make room for Kh, Sh, and Dh consonants, and adding other 5 additional CTRL Gr keys for the long vowels.

Figure 1 : USA International key layout

Figure 1 shows the standard QWERTY based USA International keyboard. The first three keys of our interest are therefore the positions of P, V and Z which are missing in the Somali alphabet. These key shown in Figure 2 will be placed with sh, dh and kh.

Figure 2 : basic keys to be substituted

Another changes proposed here are for the long vowels of the Somali alphabet. Soomaali language is well known for the long vowels, thus having a key for the double vowels become important for the speed of typing.

Figure 3 : Keys that will be modified

Figure 3 shows all keys that will be modified. The proposed soomaali keyboard therefore is shown here below.

Figure 4 : Proposed Somali key layout

Normal State:

In the normal state of the keyboard the p is substituted by sh, the z by kh and the v by dh. Figure 4 shows the normal state of the soomaali keyboard.

Figure 5 : Proposed soomaali key layout - Normal state

Shift state

In the shift state of the keyboard the P is substituted by S, the Z by Kh and the V by Dh. Figure 6 shows the shift state of the soomaali keyboard.

Figure 6 : Proposed soomaali key layout: shift state

CAPS on state

As per consequence, the CAPS state becomes like in Figure 7.

Figure 7 : Proposed Soomaali key layout - CAPS on

Making a room for long vowels and foreign characters (p, v, z)

Long vowels (aa, ee, ii, oo, uu) are set respectively as a ALT GR [+ shift] combination with their base keys. For example {ALT GR a} gives us aa and {SHIFT ALT GR a} gives us Aa. Ad the same time p, v, z will be redefined as {ALT GR p}, {ALT GR v} and {ALT GR z}. Finally combining these last keys with the SHIFT state, we will obtain P, V and Z.

Figure 8 : Proposed Soomaali key layout - ALT GR

Figure 9 : Proposed Soomaali key layout - SHIFT ALT GR

3. Installation: Soomaali keyboard DLL software

To install the DLL library for soomaali keyboard, download soomali-ver_1.0.zip file and extract from it the installation package soomaali.msi. Te zip archive is available from www.redsea-online.com/soomaali website. The actual msi uses only Windows Installer 1.0 features, and thus can be installed automatically on any Windows 2000 or later machine. Double click the downloaded file, and it will install the key layout DLL on your computer. If it is the first time you install, the following confirmation message will show up.

Figure 10 : Confirmation of Soomaali keyboard layout installation

After installation completed, click Close and exit. Please note that you have the administrative privilege to install the keyboard input system. If it not the first time, the following repair functionality message will show up.

Figure 11 : repairing or removing soomaali key layout

The repair functionality will remove the soomaali keyboard layout's information from the registry, and then rewrite it. It will also reinstall the keyboard layout DLL if it has been deleted or replaced.

If you choose to remove the keyboard layout definitely, the following message will confirm it. Otherwise the message in fig. will again show up.

Figure 12 : confirmation of removal of soomaali keyboard layout

4. Installing Soomaali Keyboard Layout on Windows XP/Windows Server 2003 [from the official Microsoft Documentation for installing keyboard layout]

In Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, a keyboard is known as an input language. To add an input language, you first start in the control panel [start -> Control Panel], where you can find the icon for Regional and Language Options ( Figure 13).

Figure 13 : The Regional and Language Options Icon in the Control Panel

Click the icon to launch the dialog. Then choose the Languages tab in the middle ( Figure 14).

Figure 14 : Language setting for the system

Select the language you want the keyboard to appear under and then select your custom keyboard layout, then click Details nbutton. You will be returned to the Text Services and Input Languages dialog, and you will be able to see your custom keyboard layout added to the tree See Figure 15.

Figure 15 : Text Services and Input Languages tab

Choose your standard language on your system [in my case EN English (United States)] and click on ‘keyboard”. Then click Add. See Figure 16

Figure 16 : Input language

Click on Keyboard checkout and choose from the keyboard layout/IME drop down ‘Soomaali (Af Soomaali) keyboard. See Figure 17.

Figure 17 : Add input language

Soomaali locale data and language settings are not yet included in the official Microsoft software releases. As soon as we will have that opportunity, we will be able to choose a full localized operative system user interface in Somali language, hence will choose input language as Somali.

Figure 18 : af-soomaali keyboard is installed on your instem

You will see again the 'tree' listing of your input languages, where each main node is a language/region pairing and each branch underneath is a specific input method. You will notice that Soomaali keyboard layout can be used with your selected input language.

See Laitin, David D. Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977.

ISO963 – international-standard language-code.

Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) Project of the unicode.org. It is the largest and most extensive standard repository of locale data.

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