L’IMAGE comic series: Hafza’s Story

Alt-Text with long description

 

COMIC

 

[Page 1, Title Page]

 

Upper left corner of page reads: UofT L’IMAGE Project: Language, Identity, Multiculturalism and Global Empowerment

 

Subtitle over light blue box: The lived experiences of real multilingual students at U of T

Title over bright red box: Hafza’s story**

 

Under the title banners, the character Hafza smiles at the readers. She has dark, brown-black hair parted in the middle, tied in a low bun. She has medium-dark skintone. She is wearing cat-eye glasses and a pair of small, gold earrings. She is wearing a burnt orange turtleneck sweater. (Alt-Text note: in the comics, it can be seen that this is actually a sweater dress.)  

 

 

Bottom left corner of page shows the University of Toronto logo.

 

Bottom right footnote: **Some stories in the L’IMAGE comic series employ pseudonyms at the request of the featured student.

 

[Long description of text and images in the comic strip:

The comic strips in the L’IMAGE comic series uses the font Ames, which is the standard font for comics. Ames is an all-caps font. However, Alt-Texts for this project are not written in all-caps so that they will be more accessible for screen readers.

The comic artist for the series is Dr. Ai Taniguchi. Her drawing style can be described as: Japanese manga inspired, cute, large eyes, intentionally sketchy and unpolished line art, simplified, expressive. The comic strips are all digital, but she uses a pen that mimics the line weight of a traditional fountain pen. Her line art is on average 0.5mm in width (relatively thin), but the line weight varies and looks hand-drawn.

The title page of each comic strip is in color. It has a University of Toronto color scheme: navy blue, light blue, and bright red. The background is white with a navy blue frame. The references and acknowledgements page and the “About the L’IMAGE project” page also have this University of Toronto color scheme.

The comic strips themselves are black and white, and employ digital screen tones for shading and backgrounds.]

 

[Page 2]

 

Top panel: Hafza is seen smiling and waving with both of her hands to the reader. The background has a regular pattern of stars and dots.

 

Hafza’s narration: Hi! Magacaygu waa Hafza! (My name is Hafza!) I’m an undergraduate students at UTM (University of Toronto Mississauga).

 

Bottom panel: Hafza is seen smiling with a cat-like mouth. There is hand-written text around her: “See tahay?” (It can be inferred that this is a greeting in Somali; ‘How are you?’). “Hola!” (It can be inferred that this is a greeting in Spanish; “hello!”)

 

Hafza’s narration: I speak English an Somali. I also know a little bit of Arabic and Spanish!

 

 

[Page 3]

 

Top panel: A toddler Hafza with two high buns is seen making a neutral expression with her mouth slightly agape.

 

Hafza’s narration: I’m Somali-Canadian! I was born and raised in Ontario. My parents say I spoke Somali when I was little. I am a Heritage Somali speaker, which means I mostly grew up being exposed to Somali at home. Today, English is my dominant language.

 

Bottom panel: A present-day Hafza is seen listening to a dark-skinned woman wearing a hijiab.

 

Hafza’s narration: I can still understand Somali pretty well when other people are speaking it! I know how to say some common expressions, too. Lately, I’ve been trying to practice my Somali more.

 

 

[Page 4]

 

Top panel: Someone off-screen is saying, “Wait, you’re Somali?!” (Emphasis on Somali). A young Hafza is making an annoyed expression, saying “yes?”.

 

Hafza’s narration: When I was little, there were a lot of Somali speakers in our community. But when I was a child, we moved to an area that didn’t have many Somali speakers. Navigating my Somali-Canadian identity in such a setting was difficult, especially when people made assumptions about me just because I didn’t match their idea of “being African”.

 

Bottom panel: What can be inferred to be Somali cuisine is seen. Three dishes are shown. Readers knowledgeable in Somali cuisine will recognize these dishes as (from top to bottom): Malawah (Somali pancakes/crepes), a goat and rice dish with salad, and suugo suqaar with a side of banana.

 

Hafza’s narration: My relationship with the Somali language fluctuated through my adolescence, but I’ve always stayed in touch with my Somali heritage through my family. And when I started university, that’s when I really started to have a renewed desire for more personally connecting with my Somali heritage and language (Alt-Text note: emphasis on “really”).

 

 

[Page 5]

 

Top panel: Hafza is seen with an excited expression, with her mouth agape. There are sparkles around her. Around her, various concepts from linguistics can be seen: “language variation”, hands making the American Sign Language signs for “A”, “S”, and “L”, International Phonetic Alphabet symbols, a syntactic tree showing the structure of the noun phrase “fun stuff”, “bilingualism”, a tree showing the structure of the word “humid -ify”, and a lambda function for the denotation of the word “person”.

 

Hafza’s narration: What sparked this desire was an introductory linguistics course that I took as a first-year student at UTM. In linguistics, we ask the question of what you know when you know a language. What sounds or signs? What building blocks of meaning? What rules? And more!

 

Bottom panel: The same dark-skinned woman wearing a hijab is seen talking to Hafza, saying “Don’t forget your “bencil””. Hafza can been seen with an expression of realization, with an index finger on her chin, and an exclamation point over her head.

 

Hafza’s narration: After taking linguistics courses, I started to realise that the reason my hooyo (mom) says the word “pencil” like “bencil” in English is because Somali (her first language) doesn’t have a /p/ sound!

 

 

[Page 6]

 

Entire panel: Hafza can be seen listening intently to something on her computer with her head phones. Her laptop shows a spectrogram, so she’s probably analyzing sounds. She can also be seen in the same panel smiling and gesturing towards a research poster.

 

Hafza’s narration: Intrigued by this, I investigated the phonology of Somali-English bilinguals through UTM’s Research Opportunity Program (ROP). Under the guidance of a professor, I conducted and presented research on the production and perception of /p/ and /b/ among Somali speakers who have English as their second language.

 

 

 

[Page 7]

 

Entire panel: A background full of small, hand-drawn flowers. Hafza is seen smiling, pointing up excitedly to the narration boxes.

 

Hafza’s narration: I want to recommend ROP to everyone at UTM!! You get to earn course credit (0.5 or 1.0) while working on real research with amazing professors. If you’re interested, you can learn more here: https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/experience/rop (or google “UTM ROP”!)

 

 

[Page 8]

 

Entire panel: The entire panel is covered in an irregular pattern of sparkly pentagons that evoke feelings of inspiration.

 

Hafza’s narration: Doing research in linguistics has allowed me to reconnect with my Somali identity in a very empowering way. I learned through linguistics that the way that heritage language users use their heritage language is simply one way of “languaging”. It isn’t better or worse than other forms of language. I want to tell other heritage language users like me that they shouldn’t feel ashamed of their language situation. Don’t let the fear of making “mistakes” stop you from practicing your heritage language. To family members: Please don’t be ctitical of their language journey!

 

 

[Page 9]

 

Entire panel: Hafza is seen smiling confidently, with both of her hands on her hips. The entire panel is covered in an irregular pattern of sparkly circles that evoke feelings of inspiration.

 

 

Hafza’s narration: your heritage language is a treasure chest of stories, traditions, and wisdom passed down through generations. My name is Hafza. I cherish all of my languages.

 

 

[Page 10]

 

Page title: About the L’IMAGE project 

Project PI and comic artist: Ai Taniguchi, Assistant Professor, UTM Department of Language Studies 

Research Assistant: Haili Su, MA Student, UTSG Department of Linguistics 

Special thanks to: Gilbert Lin, Assistant Director, Intercultural & Global Initiatives, UTM International Education Centre 

With the generous support of: UofT International Student Experience Fund, UTM Department of Language Studies, UTM International Education Centre 

Learn more: http://www.lingcomics.com 

Bottom right of page shows the University of Toronto Mississauga logo and the University of Toronto logo. 

 

 

 

INFOGRAPHIC

 

[Page 1]

 

Subtitle: Five-minute linguistics with L’IMAGE Aji!

Main title, over red banner: Somali

 

Somali is a language that belongs to the East Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. It is. the national and official language in Somalia. Arabic also has a strong presence in Somalia due to religious affiliations, and is also an official language Somalia. Arabic is also an Afroasiatic language, but it belongs to the Semitic branch. Although Somali borrows some words from Arabic, Somali and Arabic are completely different languages.

 

Somali also has official status in Djibouti and Ethiopia. Somali’s closest language relatives are Dabarre, Garre, Jiddu, Tunni, and Maay.[AB1] 

 

A small map of Africa is seen to the center right of the page. It highlights the country of Somalia, which is located at the Horn of Africa on the east coast.

 

L’IMAGE Aji: It is estimated that Somali has at least 15 million speakers worldwide. There are many Somali speakers in diaspora communities in Canada, too: according to the 2016 census, there are about 36,000 people who speak Somali in Canada.

 

[Long description of infographic pages:]

 

Each page of the infographic is in color. It has a University of Toronto color scheme: navy blue, light blue, and bright red.

 

L’IMAGE Aji is a fish character drawn in a style reminiscent of Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty. It is generally round in its silhouette and features. It has a pastel blue body with a yellow stripe, white belly, and yellow fins. It has two round eyes and round, pink blush on the cheeks, with a cat-like smiling mouth. There are bubbles coming out above it.

 

 

 

[Page 2]

 

Subtitle: Five-minute linguistics with L’IMAGE Aji!

Main title, over red banner: Somali

 

The question of how the various varieties of Somali spoken in Somalia ought to be classified is a complicated one, but Somali can be split into three major mutually intelligible dialect groups: Northern Somali, Central Somali, and Benaadir (or Coastal) Somali. This classification aligns with geographic and/or administrative boundaries in Somalia (see map below).

A close up of the map of the country of Somali is seen in the center of the page. Aji is gesturing towards it. Somalia looks like a horn, with the north eastern border being the “horn”. The map divides the country into three regions: Northern, Benaadir, and Central. The Northern region is a “C” shaped region that extends from the “horn” to the more southern parts. It is the largest region. The other two regions are smaller and  inside the “C” shape. Central is the southwestern region inside this “C” shape, and the Benaadir region is the northeastern region of this “C” shape.

Standardized Somali (sometimes referred to as Af-Maxaad Tidhi), which is the basis of the official Somali spelling system and is used in news broadcasts, is characterizable as a variety of Somali that incorporates features from the various Somali dialects.

[Page 3]

 

Subtitle: Five-minute linguistics with L’IMAGE Aji!

Main title, over red banner: Somali

 

There are a number of writing systems that have been used to transcribe the Somali language, but the official writing system is the Somali Latin alphabet. It shares all the same letters as the English alphabet, except for p, v, and z.

 

Somali doesn’t have a /p/ sound (as in pen in English), so when English words with /p/ get borrowed into Somali, they often get pronounced as [b] (and written as “b”)! For example, the word monopoly in Somali is monoboli!

 

One of the things Hafza investigated in her undergraduate research is how Somali speakers pronounce and perceive English words with sounds like /p/!

 

Aji: Search the phrase “Somali phonology” online to see what other sounds the Somali language has!

 

 

[Page 4]

 

Subtitle: Five-minute linguistics with L’IMAGE Aji!

Main title, over red banner: Somali

 

We learned in a previous L’IMAGE linguistics lesson that in some languages (e.g., Cantonese), tones can distinguish one word from another, completely different word. Somali has a tone system too[AB2] , although very different from that of Chinese languages that we saw before.

 

In Somali, each word is typically marked with a high tone. When Somali speakers write Somali the tone is not indicated in the orthography, but in linguistics, the acute accent mark (like this: é) is often used to indicate high tones. We will use this convention in this lesson.

 

Where the high tone goes in the word matters in Somali! For example, gées with the high tone on the first “e” means ‘horn’ in Somali, but geés with the high tone on the second “e” means ‘side’!

 

Aji is seen smiling in the bottom right corner of the page.

 

​

[Page 5]

 

Subtitle: Five-minute linguistics with L’IMAGE Aji!

Main title, over red banner: Somali

 

 

If you are an English speaker, you probably know that verbs in English take on different forms depending on the tense, etc.: she walks vs. she walked. Creating different grammatical “versions” of a word is called inflection. The inflection of verbs is sometimes called conjugation.

 

Nouns can be inflected as well! In many languages, nouns can take on different forms depending on things like number (e.g., singular, plural), case (e.g., nominative, accusative), and gender (e.g., feminine, masculine). The inflection of nouns is sometimes called declension.

 

Somali nouns can be divided into four declension classes. Each declension class has a different way of inflecting the nouns. Although there are many grammatical factors that go into each class, the main way that the four declension classes differ is in terms of how the nouns in each class are pluralized.

 

Aji is seen smiling in the bottom right corner of the page.

 

 

[Page 6]

 

Subtitle: Five-minute linguistics with L’IMAGE Aji!

Main title, over red banner: Somali

 

 

For example, káb ‘shoe’ and naág ‘woman’ are examples of nouns in Class 1. The plural marker for this class is -ó. So ‘shoes’ would be kabó, and ‘women’ would be naagó. Class 1 is a fairly broad, “default” group that includes a lot of nouns, including newer nouns borrowed from other languages.

 

We’ll come back to Class 2. Let’s look at Class 3 and Class 4 first.

 

An illustration of a single shoe is labeled “káb”. An illustration of a pair of shoes is labeled “kabó”.

 

Aji is seen smiling in the bottom right corner of the page.

 

 

[Page 7]

 

Subtitle: Five-minute linguistics with L’IMAGE Aji!

Main title, over red banner: Somali

 

The words abbaanduúle  ‘commander’ and beége ‘gauge’ are examples of nouns in Class 3. Class 3 nouns all have the suffix -e. The plural marking for Class 3 is the suffix -yaál. The plural ‘commanders’ would be abbaanduulayaál, and ‘gauges’ would be beegayaál.

 

The words baáko ‘package’ and hoóyo ‘mother’ are examples of nouns in Class 4. Many Class 4 nouns end in -o. The plural marking for Class 4 is the suffix -óyin. ‘Packages’ would be baakoóyin, and ‘mothers’ would be hooyoóyin.

 

An illustration of a single mailing box is lableled “baáko.” An illustration of two mailing boxes are labeled “baakoóyin.”

 

Aji is seen smiling in the bottom right corner of the page.

 

 

[Page 8]

 

Subtitle: Five-minute linguistics with L’IMAGE Aji!

Main title, over red banner: Somali

 

Class 2 is a bit trickier! Take a look at these Class 2 Somali nouns and their plural forms:

 

1. áf ‘language’  afáf ‘languages’

2. míis ‘table’  miisás ‘tables’

3. qoór ‘neck’  qoorár ‘necks’

 

All singular nouns in Class 2 consist of one syllable, and they always end in a consonant. You’ll notice that on the surface, it looks like the bolded plural marking is different for each noun --- but there’s a pattern here!

 

The plural suffix for Class 2 is -áC, where C is the final consonant of the singular noun. This kind of word formation process where a word or a part of a word is repeated is called reduplication!

 

Aji is seen smiling in the bottom right corner of the page.

 

 

[Page 9]

 

References  

Ismail, A.M. (2011). Dialectologie du somali: problématiques et perspectives [Doctoral Dissertation, INALCO].

Abdullahi, M.D. (2000). Le Somali, dialectes et histoire [Doctoral Dissertation, Université de Montréal].

Green, C. R. (2021). Somali Grammar. In Somali Grammar. De Gruyter Mouton.

Saeed, J. I. (1993). Somali reference grammar. Dunwoody Press.

 

Statistics Canada. (2017). 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-X2016001. Ottawa. Released November 29, 2017.

 

 

Learn more

 

Warsame, A. A. (2001). How a strong government backed an African language: The lessons of Somalia. International Review of Education, 47(3-4), 341-360.

 

Acknowledgement

 

Expert Consultant**

Aisha Barise

PhD Student, Department of Integrated Studies in Education

McGill University

 

**Errors, if any, are the PI’s oversight.

 

 

[Page 10]

 

Page title: About the L’IMAGE project 

Project PI and comic artist: Ai Taniguchi, Assistant Professor, UTM Department of Language Studies 

Research Assistant: Haili Su, MA Student, UTSG Department of Linguistics 

Special thanks to: Gilbert Lin, Assistant Director, Intercultural & Global Initiatives, UTM International Education Centre 

With the generous support of: UofT International Student Experience Fund, UTM Department of Language Studies, UTM International Education Centre 

Learn more: http://www.lingcomics.com 

Bottom right of page shows the University of Toronto Mississauga logo and the University of Toronto logo. 

 

 [AB1]

These varieties may be classified as « dialects » of Somali. Whereas sister Cushitic languages such as Oromo (e.g., approx. 37million), Beja, Afar, Hadiyya, Kambaata, Saho, and Sidama are even more non-mutually non-comprehensible with more speakers.

(No particular suggestions—just a comment)

 [AB2]The prosodic class of Somali whether tonal or stress/accent language was under debate, as you know. But under prosodic typology of Hyman (2006), which might be classified a contemporary, Somali would fall under the tonal class, with an « unusual » tonal status.

 

I think you capture this nicely here for non-specialized audiences, by contrasting it with Chinese languages.

 

No suggestion, just a comment.