Dear Corpora colleague, are there any corpora in Somali? Are there any poetry available in Somali? May I ask you to be so kind as to tell me the rules of reading of the Somali language? Somali is spoken in Somali in Africa. I guess that in Somali two vowels like "aa" or "oo" mean long vowels, e.g. as in "Laanta Soomaaliga". Thus, "Soomaaliga" is read with a long "o" like in the English word "sort" or "born". Is that true? I guess that "x" in "Xirir" is read as "h" in the English word "head" but with more fricative sound? How is "h" is read in "Warsidaha"? Is that true that it sound more like English "h"? What other letter combinations are there in Somali? How is "kh" in "Taarikhda" read? Is it one sound or two sound? how is "W" read in "Warsidaha" ? How is "ng" read in "Ingiriisika"? How is "g" read in "Nagala"? Is it fricative like in Greek or occlusive like in English? I think that Somali is a Semitic or Hamitic language. Does it belong to the Semito-Hamitic language family which is now called Afroasiatic? In this case its sound should be similar to the Hebrew or Arabic? For example "X"? In 1964 I met a man from Somali who studied agriculture in Krasnodar Agricultural university. I learnt some words in Somali from him. At that time "X" in Somali sounded to me like "X" in Russian or Hebrew to me. I wonder if it is correct. Looking forward to hearing from you to my e-mail address yutamb@hotmail.com Yours sincerely Yuri Tambovtsev
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