Osmanya

Osmanya, also known as the Osmanya script, is a writing system created for the Somali language by Osman Yusuf Kenadid in the 1920s. It was developed as a native alphabet to promote literacy and national identity, offering an alternative to the Arabic script that had long been in use and to later Latin-based proposals. Osmanya consists of characters for consonants and vowels and is written from left to right, with a distinctive, angular style.

The script gained traction in the 1930s and 1940s among scholars, educators, and print media in Italian Somaliland and parts of the Somali-speaking regions. It was used in schools and publications to teach reading and writing in Somali, contributing to a period of cultural and linguistic assertion.

Use of Osmanya declined after 1972, when the Somali government adopted a Latin-based alphabet for official use. Despite this, the script persisted in cultural and educational contexts and remains a symbolic part of Somali linguistic heritage. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Osmanya experienced renewed interest from researchers, language activists, and the Somali diaspora, who continue to publish materials and develop fonts for it.

Today Osmanya is recognized as one of the historic Somali writing systems, alongside the Latin and Arabic scripts. It has been encoded in the Unicode standard as a dedicated Osmanya block, enabling digital rendering and preservation. The script continues to inform discussions about literacy, language policy, and cultural identity in Somalia and among Somali-speaking communities worldwide.