Problem:IOL/2015/i5/en(B)

IOL 2015 Problem #5 Somali Masafo

Here are 25 half-lines of Somali poetry written in a metre known as masafo:

1. ogaadeen ha ii dirin 2. duul haad amxaaraa 3. kaa dooni maayee 4. amba waa ku daba geli 5. dakanka iyo qaankee 6. anaa been dabaadee 7. galbeed uga dareershaan 8. dalkaad adigu joogtiyo 9. dar alliyo heshiis iyo 10. mase waa dayoobeen 11. dacalkaaga kuma shuban 12. miyaan duudsiyaayaa 13. doodaye maxaad oran

14. daliilkii ku siiyaye 15. miyaad iigu duurxuli 16. dorraad adigu kama dhigin 17. ma deldelin raggoodii 18. deelqaadkan aad tiri 19. diigaanyo ciidana 20. wax ma kala dillaallaa 21. duunyada ka qaadoo 22. diinkiyo dugaaggiyo 23. dildillaaca waaberi 24. dibnahaaga kama qiran 25. hobyo wixii ka soo degey

To help you understand the structure of masafo, here are 10 half-lines which were constructed from genuine masafo half-lines by random rearrangement of words within the halfline. Some of them might conform to the rules of the versification, but the majority do not:

26. u anigaa lehe diin 27. waad nimankaad ma diidi 28. qoran daftarkaaga kuma 29. fuushaan kaama dusha 30. helo dabacayuun kulaan

31. kuu miyuu tari wax dafir 32. kuu daalasaayee nin 33. shareecada dikrigiyo 34. dumarkii furayaan ma 35. ogaadee diyaar kuu

(a) Describe the structure of a masafo half-line.

(b) Here are 10 more masafo half-lines. Five of them are genuine, and five are obtained by random rearrangement. Which is which?

36. war ismaaciil daarood 37. dir miyaad wadaagtaan 38. labadaad ka duudiye 39. ka jannadaad daahiye 40. adiga iyo deriskaa

41. digaxaarka mariyoo 42. ciid iyo doolo diraac 43. nooma keeneen darka 44. kala deyaayaa miyaan 45. wuxuun kaa danqaabaan

—Alexander Piperski