Somalis devised their own scripts, especially Osmaniya, before Roman-script literacy

Evidence

This creation of a truly indigenous vehicle for the national language naturally appealed to the Somali national consciousness, although, from the start, it found opponents amongst conservative religious leaders who favoured Arabic. However, with its inventor’s position as a member of the princely family of the Majerteyn clan, it soon gained a restricted currency in parts of the Majerteyn region and amongst other members of the clan living elsewhere. Later events were to create circumstances in which this ingenious writing was to be championed by the leaders of modern Somali nationalism as a symbol of Somali achievement, associated with perhaps the most prized of all things in the Somali national heritage – the Somali language. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 317 (#expands, via linked claim)

These and other divergencies contained in the Republic’s dual colonial experience presented a wide range of intricate problems which would have to be solved before the new state could function with proper efficiency. These differences were further aggravated by linguistic barriers which, as well as entailing an Italian teaching tradition in southern schools and an English one in the north, affected all spheres of activity, private as well as public Since agreement had still not been reached on a national script for Somali, and since only a small section of the population was fully literate in Arabic, the two colonial languages continued to be used in the transaction of business. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 434 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

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 (#qualifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Siyad resolved the long-stalled Somali script question by choosing the roman alphabet; An indigenous Somali script bolstered national consciousness against Arabic; 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 (+2 more)

Related

• A 1920 script invention made Somali fully writable for the first time. (similarity 0.94)
• The Osmaniya script was later adopted as a nationalist symbol of Somali achievement. (similarity 0.93)
• Siyad resolved the long-stalled Somali script question by choosing the roman alphabet (similarity 0.93)
• An indigenous Somali script bolstered national consciousness against Arabic (similarity 0.92)
• Lack of a national Somali script forced continued use of colonial languages (similarity 0.88)
• Siyad resolved the script question that earlier governments had avoided (similarity 0.85)
• The League remained divided over which script should write Somali. (similarity 0.84)
• Early Roman-script Somali publications met hostile popular reaction and were withdrawn (similarity 0.82)
• Somalia still lacked a settled written script for its language in 1957 (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• The Osmaniya script was later adopted as a nationalist symbol of Somali achievement. #expands (0.70) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 317
• Lack of a national Somali script forced continued use of colonial languages #contradicts (0.60) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 434
• A 1920 script invention made Somali fully writable for the first time. #qualifies (0.55) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 317