Garre language

Garre
Af-Garre
اف الخرّيي
Native toKenya, Somalia
RegionMandera, Bay, Lower Shabelle
EthnicityGarre
Native speakers
690,000 (2019–2020)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3gex
Glottologgarr1259
ELPGarre

Garre (also known as Af-Garre) is a Somali language spoken by the Garre who reside in southern Somalia, Ethiopia and northern Kenya. It belongs to the family's Cushitic branch, and had an estimated 50,000 speakers in Somalia in 1992, 57,500 in 2006 and 86,000 in 2020.[1] The total number of speakers in Kenya and Somalia was estimated at 685,600 in 2019. Garre is in the Digil classification of Somali dialects.[2] Garre language is readily intelligible to Digil speakers, as it has some affinity with Af-Maay and Af-Boon.[3]

  1. ^ a b Garre at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Lamberti 1986, p. 25.
  3. ^ Mohamed Haji Mukhtar (2003). Historical Dictionary of Somalia, New Edition. The Scarecrow Press. p. 28. ISBN 0810843447.