Swahili language
The Swahili language is a language widely spoken in East Africa. In the language, its name is Kiswahili. It is a Bantu language.
| Swahili | |
|---|---|
| Kiswahili | |
| Native to | Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Mayotte (mostly Comorian), Mozambique (mostly Mwani), Oman, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda[1] |
| Native speakers | 26 million (2007)[2] 120 million L2 speakers[3] |
| Language family | |
| Writing system | Latin, Arabic |
| Official status | |
| Official language in | African Union Tanzania Kenya Uganda Comoros (as Comorian) |
| Regulated by | Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa (Tanzania) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | sw |
| ISO 639-2 | swa |
| ISO 639-3 | swa – inclusive code Individual codes: swc – Congo Swahili swh – Coastal Swahili |
| Guthrie code | G.42–43; G.40.A–H (pidgins & creoles)[4] |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUS-m |
 Areas where Swahili is spoken | |
Swahili is spoken in a wide area from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique and in all of Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. Congo has five million first-language speakers and fifty million second-language speakers. Swahili has become a language with which people communicate within East Africa and the surrounding areas.
Swahili was first spoken by the Swahili people, who live on the coast of East Africa and on the islands near the coast, including Zanzibar, which is now a part of Tanzania.
Swahili is an official language in Tanzania and Kenya. It has been influenced by many other languages like Arabic.
Sample words
- city - mji
- country - nchi
- earth - dunia
- no - hapana
- okay - sawa
- water - maji
- yes - ndiyo
- me - mimi
Swahili Language Media
Swahili in Arabic script—memorial plate at the Askari Monument, Dar es Salaam (1927)
Although originally written with the Arabic script, Swahili is now written in a Latin alphabet introduced by Christian missionaries and colonial administrators. The text shown here is the Catholic version of the Lord's Prayer.
This video was recorded in Cape Town during Wikimania 2018.
Swahili in Arabic script on the clothes of a girl in German East Africa (ca. early 1900s)
Loxodonta africana elephants frolic in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, 2012.
_(2).jpg)
References
- ↑ Ethnologue list of countries where Swahili is spoken
Thomas J. Hinnebusch, 1992, "Swahili", International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Oxford, pp. 99–106
David Dalby, 1999/2000, The Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities, Linguasphere Press, Volume Two, pg. 733–735
Benji Wald, 1994, "Sub-Saharan Africa", Atlas of the World's Languages, Routledge, pp. 289–346, maps 80, 81, 85 - ↑ Nationalencyklopedin "Världens 100 största språk 2007" The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007
- ↑ Swahili language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
- ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
Other websites
 |
This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Swahili language edition. |
- Kamusi Project Internet Living Swahili Dictionary
