Maay, often called Af-Maay or Maay Maay, is spoken in the inter-river region of southern Somalia, particularly the Bay and Bakool areas around the city of Baidoa, as well as by communities in neighbouring parts of Ethiopia and Kenya. It is a Cushitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family. Though often described as a dialect of Somali, Maay differs enough from Standard Somali, known as Maxaa, that speakers of one cannot always follow the other, and Somalia's provisional constitution names both Maay and Maxaa-tiri in defining the official language. Reliable speaker counts are hard to come by after decades of conflict and displacement. Emigration has carried Maay-speaking communities to Kenya and onwards to North America and Europe. When written, the language uses the Latin alphabet.
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