Linguistic Correlates of the Transition to Literacy in Somali: Language Adaptation in Six Press Registers (1994) Stemming from a thought-provoking essay written by Goody and Watt (1963), many studies over the last three decades have investigated the social and intellectual consequences resulting from the introduction of literacy in a society (e.g., Goody 1977, Ong 1982, Scribner and Cole 1981). Few studies, though, have actually investigated the linguistic consequences of literacy—that is, the linguistic changes that result from the introduction of written registers in a language. One such study is Reder’s (1981) analysis of spoken and written Vai (carried out as part of Scribner and Cole’s study). Since Vai has an indigeneous literacy that is transmitted apart from formal schooling, Reder could address the question of whether writing itself has any effect on the speech of literate adults. He found that there are systematic differences between speech and writing in Vai (e.g., certain medial consonants are deleted more frequently in speech, and indefinite noun phrases occur more frequently in writing), and that in their speech, literate adults use the forms associated with writing more frequently than nonliterate adults. A second study that directly addresses linguistic consequences of literacy is Kalmar’s (1985) description of Inuktitut (in Canada). He found evidence there that new linguistic forms are developing under the influence of written language; in particular, true subordinate forms (complement clauses and relative clauses) seem to be developing in the written language at present… The present chapter focuses on linguistic change of this type, represented here by shifts in the relative frequencies of co-occurring linguistic features across registers. We claim that the communicative-functional expansion associated with the introduction of written registers in a language will typically result in an expanded range of linguistic variability, reflecting new form/function associations.

1. Linguistic Correlates of the Transition to Literacy in Somali:
Language Adaptation in Six Press Registers
By Douglas Bibber & Mohamed Hared Presented by Ingkhasond V. ID 5512210086 CEN 7201
‫جمهور‬ ‫ية‬‫الصومال‬
Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya
Somali Republic
The African Arab country
Official language(s):
Somali, Arabic
Ethnic groups:
Somali 92.4%, Arab 2%,
Religion:
Islam 100%
Independence from:
Britain and Italy

2. Assumption – Approach
Assumption
The linguistic changes resulting from the introduction of written
register (variation of the use according to situation).
The communicative-functional expansion associated
with the introduction of written registers in a language will
result in an expanded range of linguistic variability, reflecting
new form or function associations
Approach
The issue was investigated through an analysis of linguistic change in
Somali written press registers over years in 3 periods including lexical,
morphological and syntactic features
The Multidimensional (MD) framework was used to analyze the variation of
linguistic features across communicative situations and none of these
dimensions defines an absolute dichotomy between spoken and written
registers.

3. no single dimension adequately describes the
relations among spoken and written registers;
each dimension reflects a different set of
communicative functions relating to purpose,
general topic,
degree of interactiveness,
personal involvement,
production circumstances,
and other physical mode characteristics
P. 3

4. An ideal setting for the study of the evaluation of written
language varieties relative to spoken varieties
Arabic, Italian, English were used for official purposeNo written tradition
 Mass literacy campaigns
Oct 1972
 The development,
standardization, spread
of a unified Romanized
Somali script
 All Students in last two
years of primary school
 All Students in first year
of secondary school
 Civil servants
 Military officers
15,000 literacy instructors

5. Why Somali is worth a case study
many official & professional varieties of writing
i.e., dictionaries, grammars, textbook, newspapers,
histories, biographies, storybooks, letters, and
government documents
1973
- A national newspaper
- Two periodical news mag.
- Folk stories
- Nonfictions pamphlets
1975
- Textbooks
- Long fiction
- Historical works
Social process involve in the introduction of mass
literacy to Somali Society (sociolinguistic system)
The overt language planning efforts to extend the
lexical stock of Somali for Math, Science, politic, etc.
The rapid spread of native-language literacy
- because the
timescales relevant to
Somali literacy
practices from
colonization and post-
colonial- nation
building.
- Somali is unusual in
that it has a very short
history of literacy (only
since 1973), but at
present it has a wide
range of written and
spoken registers,
including
governmental,
educational, and public
information uses.

6. Multidimensional (MD) Approach
Linguistic features:
11 grammatical &functional categories
-dependent & main clauses
-verbal & nominal features
-pronouns
-adjectival feature
-special lexical classes
-features reflecting lexical choice
-preverbal particles
-reduced & interactive features
-coordination
-focus construction
Texts :
9 Spoken registers i.e.,
conversation, family & formal
meeting, sermons, lectures, sport
broadcasts
7 Written registers i.e., press
reportage, analytical press, sport
review, academic essay, editorials,
textbooks, fiction, folk stories,
personal letters, memos, published
speeches **Put in computer**
Pascal
In MD approach, Linguistic co-occurrence is analyzed in terms of underlying
dimension of variation, with the assumption that MD will typically required to
sufficiently account for the range of linguistic variation among registers in a language
Dimension 1
Dimension 2
Dimension 3
Dimensions are continuous scales of variation identified quantitatively by a
factor analysis, and factor analysis is used to identify the groups of linguistic
feature associated with each dimension
Each dimension or factor consists of a group of linguistic features that co-occur
with a markedly high frequency in texts

7. -With the explicit assumption that Multipledimension
will typically required to sufficiently account for the
range of linguistic variation among registers in a
language
-Dimension are continuous scales of variation
identified quantitatively by a factor analysis
-Each dimension or factor consists of a group of
linguistic features that co-occur with a markedly high
frequency in texts
- Factor analysis is used to identify the groups of
linguistic feature associated with each dimension
P. 7

8. Multidimensional (MD) Approach : Interpretation
The interpretation of the factors
as functional dimension
is based on the assumption that
Co-occurrence reflects shared communicative functions
associated with
the situational contexts of texts

9. Analyze the distribution of 65 linguistic features across 279 texts from 26
spoken and written registers
Somali Dimension of Variation
3 dimensions derived from factor analysis :
Dimension 1: Structural Elaboration: Involvement VS. Exposition
Positive features Negative features
Yes/No questions
Contrast-clause
coordination (eh)
Dependent clauses
Relative clauses
WH clefts (wassa)
Common nouns
Derived adjectives
Stance adjectives
(neceb “hate”, jecel”like)
Contractions
1st and 2nd pron.
Dimension 2: Lexical Elaboration: On-line VS. Planned/integrated production
Positive features => No negative features
Lexical characteristics
once-occurring words
number of different words
Spoken register => are produced on-line (purpose / interactiveness)
=> show little lexical diversity / elaboration
Written register => extensive chance for careful word choice
=> show extreme or little lexical diversity
Dimension 3: Argumentative VS. Reported presentation of information
Positive features Negative features
Present tense
+Predicative adjectives
+possibility modals
+concession conj.
Press reportage
Folk stories
Sport reviews/broadcasts
Novels, serial stories
Spoken register => Family &
formal meeting
Written register => Analytical
press articles, academic essays
Past tense
+proper & agentive n.
+future modals
+speech act verbs

10. Consider the feature grouped on dimension 1:
Positive and negative features represent a set of co-occurring features
For example:
1. When there are frequent question and contrast-clauses coordination in a text,
there also tend to be high frequencies of stance adjective and contraction
2. when there are frequent total dependent clauses, relative clauses and WH clefts in a
text => There also tend to be high frequencies of common nouns and derived
adjectives
The positive and negative grouping of features appear independently
- When the positive feature are markedly frequent in a text, the
negative feature are relatively absent from that text , and vice versa.
dimension 2: The stronger features on this dimension are lexical
characteristics. Dimension 2 focus on lexical choice versus lexical forms
which are short or simple and seems to represent a basic different
between the production possibilities of speech and writing.
dimension 3: show basic opposition between present tense and past
tense .
P. 10

11. 3 Three Dimensions of Variation Among Somali RegisterSomali Registers used for the Present Analysis
1973-1989
The analysis is narrowed down to
The initial expansion of Linguistic variation due to the introduction of written
registers by comparative analysis of written press register to spoken
registers to see the transition and adaptation
The Evolution of Somali Press Registers from 1973 – 1989
6 Press Registers
1. Reportage
2. Editorials
3. Analytical news
4. Editorial letters
5. Sports reviews
6. Serial stories
( looking at distribution of registers along 3 dimensions)
( looking at Trend of 6 press registers along 3 dimensions over 3 periods)

12. 4 Somali Registers Used for the Present Analysis
The initial expansion of Linguistic variation due to the
introduction of written registers :
Dimension 2
Conversational narratives
Analytical press
Serial Stories
Sermons
Sport reviews
letter to editor
Approximate
range of
register
variation before
1973
Sport broadcast
Lectures, family meeting,
Formal meeting
Announcement
press reportage
editorial
Dimension 1
Conversations
Family meeting,
Conversational Narratives
Serial Stories
Lectures-Formal meeting,
-Sport broadcast
Sport reviews-letter to editor
Analytical press- press reportage
Announcement -editorial
Approximate
range of
register
variation
before 1973
Sermons
Dimension 3
Serial Stories, analytical press
Sermons
Lectures, conversation
letter to editor, editorials
Approximate
range of register
variation before
1973
press reportage
Announcement
Conversational narratives
Sport broadcast
Family meeting
Formal meeting
Sport reviews
Distribution of registers along Dimensions

13. 1. Shows the expansion of linguistic variation along the structural elaboration
dimension that resulted from the addition of written press registers in Somali
Before the introduction of written registers, there was already a wide range of
variation among spoken registers along this dimension
- Conversation-Family meeting- conversational narratives have high frequency
use positive features like Yes/No question. Stance adjective, contractions
- Spoken register such as university lecture, formal meeting, sport broadcast
have value around 0 reflecting a lesser but balance use of both involved
features and structural elaboration features
2. Shows the expansion of linguistic variation along the lexical elaboration
In contrast to Dimension 1, Before the introduction of written registers
spoken registers have limited range of variation along the lexical
elaboration.
- Sport broadcast have the largest positive score reflecting the most lexical
repetition and least lexical elaboration because of restrictive online
production constraints
- editorials are extremely elaborated in their lexical characteristics,
representing in a style of text
P. 13

14. 3. Shows the expansion of linguistic variation along argumentative vs
reported presentation of information
- Clearly different from Di 1 and Di2 Before the introduction of
written registers, most of written registers fall within the preexisting
range of spoken variation
- Family an formal meeting have a largest positive score reflecting
frequent present tens verbs, possibility modals and concession
conjunction
- whereas Press reportage extremely represents a reported
presentation of information using high frequent of past tense
- Most of 1973 press registers have a moderately “ argumentative
presentation
P. 14
Then, the analysis is further narrowed down
to 6 press register evolution

15. The Evolution of Somali Press Registers from 1973 – 1989
The analysis showed how the introduction of Somali written press
register greatly expanded the range of variation along 3 functional linguistic
dimensions
By tracing the linguistic evolution of the same written registers of press
to determine;
- in what respect they become normalized (a force pursing registers
toward conformity ) and,
- in what respect they further adapt (resulting in diversification to match
communicative demands )
6 Press Registers
1. Reportage
2. Editorials
3. Analytical news
4. Editorial letters
5. Sports reviews
6. Serial stories

16. The press registers have undergone a steady progression toward more literate
characterization, especially Serial stories that undergo a marked change to
become more similar to the other written register
. The trend indicates normalization takes over register adaptation in which
Somali continue to adapt across this timespan, and become more normalization
through the development of a unified written style

17. The greater negative scores = more frequent use of rare words, long words,
derivationally complex words like nominalizations & compound verbs => Editorial
letters, Serial Stories, Analytical News, and Editorials
The trend is not steady and indicates 6 press registers have evolved to become
more different from speech and more distinct from one another. This
diversification or variation is another form of adaptation as writers learn to exploit
the production possibility of the written mode.

18. Only reportage has remained stable over the 3 periods with their Reported
style. The other 5 registers shifted to be more reported style in the middle period
then shifted back to more argumentative in the last period showing a strong
pattern of adaption.
The shifts along this dimension correspond to changing political , national and
economic circumstances
(1987-89 economic and government control become weaker , so no fear to counterattack
and openly criticized the government, with greater freedom of speech )

19. The evolution and extension of language use patterns in Somali are strongly
influenced by the introduction of written varieties and the nativization of
public institutions (Nativization is the process that a language gains native speakers where a second
language used by adult parents becomes the native language of their children).
Summary and Conclusion
The historical development of Somali press registers relative to the
complementary forces of register adaptation and register normalization
Register adaptation has been particularly notable in the recent history of
Somali, as reflected by
1. the extended range of variation along all three dimension due to the
addition of written registers in 1973
2. the continuing evolution of written registers along Dimensions 1 (
Lexical Elaboration) and 2 (Argumentative versus reported style) when the press
registers have evolved to become more distinct.
Register normalization has been a much weaker force in the evolution of these
registers to date, being reflected primarily in the shift toward more similar
characterizations among the press registers with respect to the structural
elaboration dimension (Dimension 1)

20. THANK YOU