Swahili

Swahili Language Profile

Swahili, an East African language spoken today by over 50 million people, is one of the most widely spoken indigenous languages of Africa (Swahili and Swahili language profile).  It is the official language of Tanzania, is one of two official languages in Kenya, and is widely spoken in Uganda.  It is also spoken in surrounding countries, including the Shaba and Kivu regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Zambia, as well as adjoining areas of southern Somalia and northern Mozambique.  It is the first language of several million speakers, often referred to as ethnic Swahili, who live along the coast of Kenya and Tanzania.  It is also the native language among peoples living on the coastward islands stretching for a thousand miles from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique.  While the number of native speakers is rapidly growing, especially in urban areas due to migration and inter-ethnic marriages, most speakers of the language are second- or third-language speakers (Hinnebusch, 1979: 209-210).  The number of Swahili speakers is constantly growing, thus enhancing its status as the lingua franca of the entire eastern Africa region.  Education, trade and commerce, ecclesiastical use, and language policy have all contributed to its increasing popularity both historically and in contemporary East African society. 

Swahili language and literature have a rich and varied history (Mazrui: c2007).  Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, Arabic script known as ajamiwas used for Swahili written texts.  The oldest such documents date back to the 17th century, thus making it one of the few African languages that have a pre-colonial written tradition.  Through western influence, particularly that of colonial officials and missionaries, the ajami script was replaced by Roman script, which by the 1930’s was regularized by a standard orthography.  While ajami is still used by some older-generation speakers in coastal areas, it is not being used by the younger generation and is primarily found today only in historical texts and manuscripts dating back to the pre-20th century.

The complexity of historical and cultural factors influencing the coastal area of East Africa has resulted in continued change in Swahili language and literature.   This contact with various peoples over the centuries has resulted in the introduction of many loan words into Swahili.  Most notably perhaps is the long contact with the Arabic world, resulting in the adoption of many words of Arabic origin.  Portuguese and English loan words have also found their way into the Swahili vocabulary.  Despite these foreign influences, however, Swahili remains as a distinctly African language, due particularly to its grammatical structure and extensive stock of vocabulary that is Bantu in origin.  Its patterning of noun classes, as well as its numerous verb tenses, exemplifies these similarities.   Grasping the resulting organization of animate and inanimate things within this grammatical structure is essential for anyone who wishes to understand the world view to which it gives expression.

The many changes in the Swahili language that have occurred over recent centuries are evident as one studies the various Swahili literary texts included in this exhibit.  Swahili poetry, arising as it did out of Arabic literary and religious influences, has by far the longest history.  As related by many sources on the history of the language, this tradition was gradually indigenized and secularized, thus resulting in a poetic tradition that was, along with the structure of the language, thoroughly African in its expression.  Other literary genres, such as fiction and drama, have emerged more recently in the Swahili literary canon.  Much research remains to be done to relate the emergence of these literary works to the social and cultural milieu that includes vast changes from the pre-colonial, the colonial, and the post-colonial eras in East African history and society.

 

Kenneth P. Lohrentz
Interim African Studies Librarian
University of Kansas Libraries