Northern Somali
Northern Somali is a dialect of the Somali language and forms the basis for Standard Somali. It is spoken by more than 70% of the entire Somali population. Its speech area stretches from Djibouti, Somaliland and the Somali Region of Ethiopia to the Northern Frontier District in Kenya. This widespread modern distribution is a result of a long series of southward population movements over the past ten centuries from the Gulf of Aden littoral.
Overview
Northern Somali is spoken by more than 70% of the entire Somali population. Its primary speech area stretches from Djibouti, Somaliland and to parts of the eastern and southwestern sections of Somalia. This widespread modern distribution is a result of a long series of southward population movements over the past ten centuries from the Gulf of Aden littoral.Northern Somali is subdivided into three dialects: Northern Somali proper, the Darod group or Jabarti, and the Lower Juba group. Northern Somali has frequently been used by famous Somali poets as well as the political elite, and thus has the most prestige out of the Somali dialects. Due to being wide spread, it forms the basis for Standard Somali. Most of the classical Somali poetry is recited and composed in the Northern Somali dialect. The Harari language contain many loanwords from Northern Somali. The dialect of the Isaaq clan-family arguably has the highest prestige out of any other Somali dialect.