A 1920 script invention made Somali fully writable for the first time.

Evidence

This was the invention, about 1920, by ‘Isman Yusuf Kenadid, of a highly sophisticated and accurate alphabet and script for the Somali language. Although the Arabic script had long been in use in restricted circles as a medium for writing Somali, the differences between the two languages made this a makeshift expedient. And despite improvements introduced by Sheikh Uways and other early pioneers of writing Somali, Arabic still remained an imperfect vehicle for Somali. ‘Osmaniya, as the new script was soon named after its founder, overcame these disadvantages by completely abandoning the attempt to rely on the Arabic alphabet, adopting instead an entirely new set of letters. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 317

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Siyad resolved the long-stalled Somali script question by choosing the roman alphabet; Somalis devised their own scripts, especially Osmaniya, before Roman-script literacy; The Osmaniya script was later adopted as a nationalist symbol of Somali achievement. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 317 (+1 more)

Related

• Somalis devised their own scripts, especially Osmaniya, before Roman-script literacy (similarity 0.94)
• Siyad resolved the long-stalled Somali script question by choosing the roman alphabet (similarity 0.90)
• The Osmaniya script was later adopted as a nationalist symbol of Somali achievement. (similarity 0.89)
• An indigenous Somali script bolstered national consciousness against Arabic (similarity 0.87)
• Lack of a national Somali script forced continued use of colonial languages (similarity 0.82)
• Siyad resolved the script question that earlier governments had avoided (similarity 0.81)
• Somalia still lacked a settled written script for its language in 1957 (similarity 0.79)
• The League remained divided over which script should write Somali. (similarity 0.79)
• Early Roman-script Somali publications met hostile popular reaction and were withdrawn (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• The Osmaniya script was later adopted as a nationalist symbol of Somali achievement. #expands (0.75) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 317
• An indigenous Somali script bolstered national consciousness against Arabic #expands (0.70)