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| − | ''This item deals with how the '''Swahili''' language as it is used in NationStates. As long as this entry is not updated by other nations, it will only deal with how the Swahili language is used in [[Henrytopia]]. For more information about the Swahili language :'' [[Wikipedia:Swahili language]] | + | ''This item deals with how the '''Swahili''' language as it is used in NationStates. For more information about the Swahili language :'' [[Wikipedia:Swahili language]] |
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| − | <table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width="300"> | + | {|<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" align="right" width="300"> |
| | <tr><th colspan="2" bgcolor=lawngreen><big>Swahili </big></th></tr> | | <tr><th colspan="2" bgcolor=lawngreen><big>Swahili </big></th></tr> |
| | <tr><td valign="top">Spoken in:</td><td> | | <tr><td valign="top">Spoken in:</td><td> |
| | + | [[Bashenk]]<br /> |
| | + | [[Ceorana]] <br /> |
| | [[Henrytopia]] <br /> | | [[Henrytopia]] <br /> |
| − | </table> | + | [[Hydrarchia]] <br /> |
| | + | |} |
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| − | '''Swahili''' (also called '''Kiswahili'''; see [[Kiswahili]] for a discussion of the nomenclature) is an [[agglutinative]] [[Bantu language]] widely spoken in [[East Africa]]. Swahili is the [[mother tongue]] of the ''Swahili'' people (much dispute exists over the identity of the ''Swahili'' people since they do not constitute an ethnically homogenous group; for the sake of this article consider them the people whose first language is Swahili) who inhabit a 1500 km stretch of the East African coast from southern [[Somalia]] to northern [[Mozambique]]. There are approximately five million [[first language|first-language]] speakers and fifty million [[second language|second-language]] speakers. Swahili has become a [[lingua franca]] for East Africa and surrounding areas. | + | '''Swahili''' is an agglutinative [[Wikipedia:Bantu language|Bantu language]] widely spoken in RL East Africa. Swahili is the mother tongue of the ''Swahili'' people (much dispute exists over the identity of the ''Swahili'' people since they do not constitute an ethnically homogenous group; for the sake of this article consider them the people whose first language is Swahili) who inhabit a 1500 km stretch of the East African coast from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique. There are approximately five million first-language speakers and fifty million second-language speakers. Swahili has become a lingua franca for East Africa and surrounding areas. |
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| − | == Overview ==
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| − | The traditional centre of the language has been [[Zanzibar]], and Swahili is an official language of [[Tanzania]] and [[Kenya]]. The Swahili spoken in [[Nairobi]] incorporates significantly more English [[loanword]]s than that spoken on the coast, and in Tanzania Swahili is the most widely used language. The language is also spoken in regions that border these three countries, such as far northern [[Malawi]] and [[Mozambique]], eastern [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Uganda]], [[Rwanda]] and [[Burundi]], and southern [[Ethiopia]]. The Zanzibar dialect is known as Kiunguja.
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| − | Swahili belongs to the Sabaki subgroup of the Northeastern coast Bantu languages. It is closely related to the [[Miji Kenda]] group of languages, Pokomo, Ngazija etc. Over at least a thousand years of intense and varied interaction with the [[Middle East]], [[Arabia]], [[Persia]], [[India]] and [[China]] has given Swahili a rich infusion of loanwords from a wide assortment of languages.
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| − | | + | {{Languages}} |
| − | Despite the substantial number of loanwords present in Swahili, the language is in fact Bantu. In the past, some have held that Swahili is variously a derivative of Arabic, that a distinct Swahili people do not exist, or that Swahili is simply an amalgam of Arabic and African language and culture, though these theories have now been largely discarded. The distinct existence of the Swahili as a people can be traced back over a thousand years, as can their language. In structure and vocabulary Swahili is distinctly Bantu and shares far more culturally and lingustically with other Bantu languages and peoples than it does with Arabic, Persian, Indian etc. In fact, it is estimated that the proportion of non-African language loanwords in Swahili is comparable to the proportion of [[French language|French]], [[Latin]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and [[Greek language|Greek]] loanwords in the [[English language|English]] language.
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| − | == Noun classes ==
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| − | In common with all Bantu languages, Swahili grammar arranges nouns into a number of [[noun class|classes]]. A total of 22 noun classes - according to the Meinhof system - are possible across all Bantu languages, with all languages sharing at least ten of these. Swahili employs a total of fifteen noun classes. Words beginning with ''m-'' whose plural changes it to ''wa-'' denote persons, e.g. ''mtoto'' 'child', plural ''watoto''. The infinite of verbs begins with ''ku-'', e.g. ''kusoma'' 'to read'. Other classes are harder to categorize. Singulars beginning ''ki-'' take plurals in ''vi-'': this even applies to foreign words where the ''ki-'' is originally part of the root, not a prefix, so ''vitabu'' 'books'. This class also contains diminutives, and languages. Words beginning with ''u-'' are often abstract, with no plural, e.g. ''utoto'' 'childhood'.
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| − | A fifth class begins with ''n-'' or ''m-'' or nothing, and its plural is the same. Another ''m-'' class takes plurals in ''mi-'', e.g. ''mti'' 'tree', ''miti'' trees. Another class usually has no ending in the singular, and takes ''ma-'' in the plural. When the noun itself does not make clear which class it belongs to, its concords do. Adjectives and numerals take the noun prefixes, and verbs take a different set of prefixes.
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| − | Mtoto mmoja anasoma Watoto wawili wanasoma
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| − | child one is reading children two are reading
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| − | One child is reading Two children are reading
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| − | Kitabu kimoja kinatosha Vitabu viwili vinatosha
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| − | book one suffices book two suffice
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| − | One book suffices Two books suffice
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| − | Ndizi moja inatosha Ndizi mbili zinatosha
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| − | banana one suffices banana two suffice
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| − | One banana suffices Two bananas suffice
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| − | == Verb Affixation ==
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| − | Swahili verbs consist of a [[Root (linguistics)|root]] and a number of affixes (mostly prefixes) which can be attached to mean express grammatical persons, [[tense]] and many clauses that would require a [[grammatical conjunction|conjunction]] in other languages (usually prefixes). As sometimes these affixes are sandwiched inbetween the root word and other affixes, some linguists have mistakenly assumed that Swahili uses [[infix|infixes]] which is not the case.
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| − | In most dictionaries verbs are listed in their root form, for example ''-kata'' meaning 'to cut/chop'. In a simple sentence prefixes for grammatical person are added, e.g. ''ninakata''. ''Ni-'' means 'I' and ''na-'' means <present progressive>. Note that na is not an infix even though it is inbetween two [[morpheme|morphemes]]:
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| − | ''ni- na- kata'' 'I am cutting'
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| − | 1stSING. PRES.PROG. cut/chop
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| − | Now this sentence can be modified either by changing the subject prefix or the tense prefix, for example:
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| − | ''u- na- kata'' 'You are cutting'
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| − | 2ndSING. PRES.PROG. cut/chop
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| − | ''u- me- kata'' 'You have cut'
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| − | 2ndSING. PRES.PROG. cut/chop
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| − | The simple present is more complicated and learners often take some of the phrases for slang before they discover the proper usage. ''Nasoma'' means 'I read'. This is not short for ''ninasoma'' ('I am reading'). ''a-'' is the tense prefix for simple past and the vowel of the prefix ''ni-'' is assimilated. That way it is difficult to tell the prefixes as part and easier to consider them as one, e.g.:
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| − | ''na- soma'' 'I read'
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| − | 1stSING.:PRES. read
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| − | ''mwa- soma'' 'You (pl.) read'
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| − | 2ndPLUR.:PRES. read
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| − | The complete list of basic subject prefixes is (for m-/wa- or human class):
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| − | SINGULAR PLURAL
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| − | 1st PERSON ''ni- tu-''
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| − | 2nd PERSON ''u- m-''
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| − | 3rd PERSON ''a- wa-''
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| − | The most common tense prefixes are:
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| − | ''a-'' <simple present>
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| − | ''na-'' <present progressive>
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| − | ''me-'' <present perfect>
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| − | ''li-'' <past tense>
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| − | ''ta-'' <future tense>
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| − | However it is not only tenses in the sense the word is used in English that can be expressed by tense prefixes: conjunctions can be used in this context as well. For example ''ki-'' is the prefix for <conditional> - the sentence "''nikinunua nyama wa mbuzi sokoni, nitapika leo''" means 'If I buy goat meat at the market, I'll cook today'. The conjunction 'if' in this sentence is simply represented by ''-ki''.
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| − | A third prefix can be added, the object prefix. It is placed just before the root and can either refer to a person, replace an object or emphasize a particular one, e.g.:
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| − | ''a- na- mw- ona'' 'I (am) see(ing) him/her'
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| − | 3rdSING. PRES.PROG. OBJ3rdSING see
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| − | ''ni- na- mw- ona mtoto'' 'I (am) see(ing) '''''the''''' child'
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| − | 1stSING. PRES.PROG. KL.1 see child
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| − | There are not just prefixes. The root of a word is not really the one proposed by most dictoraries - the final vowel is an affix too. The suffix provided by dictionaries means <indicative>. Other forms occur for instance with negation, e.g. ''sisomi'' (the 0 in this case means [[null morpheme]], i.e. it represents an empty space):
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| − | ''si- 0 som -i'' 'I am not reading/ I don't read'
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| − | 1stSING:NEG PRES read NEG
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| − | Other instances of this change of the final vowel include the conjunctive, where an ''-e'' is implemented. This goes only for Bantu verbs ending with ''-a'', ones derived from Arabic follow more complex rules.
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| − | Other suffixes, which once again look suspiciously like infixes, are placed before the end vowel, e.g.
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| − | ''wa- na- pig -w -a'' 'They are ''being'' hit'
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| − | 3rdPLUR. PRES.PROG. hit PASSIVE IND.
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| − | == Dialects ==
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| − | Since colonial times circa 1870 to 1960 and into the present time [[Kiunguja]], the [[Zanzibar]] dialect of Swahili has become the basis of [[Standard Swahili]] as used in East Africa. Nevertheless Swahili encompasses more than fifteen distinct dialects including:
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| − | * ''Kiunguja'': Spoken on Zanzibar island and environs. The basis of Standard Swahili.
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| − | * ''Kimrima'': Spoken around [[Pangani]], [[Vanga]], [[Dar es Salaam]], [[Rufiji]] and [[Mafia Island]].
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| − | * ''Kimgao'':Spoken around [[Kilwa]] and to the south.
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| − | * ''Kipemba'': Spoken around [[Pemba]].
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| − | * ''Kimvita'': Spoken in and around [[Mvita]] or [[Mombasa]]. Historically the major dialect alongside Kiunguja.
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| − | * ''Kiamu'': Spoken in and around the island of [[Lamu]] (Amu).
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| − | * ''Kingwana'': Spoken in the western regions of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]].
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| − | * ''Kingazija'': Spoken in the [[Comoros Islands]].
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| − | * ''Kingozi'': Is a special case as it was the language of the inhabitants of the ancient town of "Ngozi" and is perhaps the basis of the Swahili language.
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| − | * ''[[Sheng (language)|Sheng]]'': More of a corruption or street [[slang]] than a proper dialect, it is the blend of Swahili, English, and some Ethnic tongues which is spoken in and around [[Nairobi]], in informal settings. Sheng originated in the Nairobi [[slum]]s and is not considered proper Swahili, but it is considered fashionable and cosmopolitan among a growing segment of the population.
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| − | == External links and references ==
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| − | *Chiraghdin, Shihabuddin and Mathias Mnyampala. ''Historia ya Kiswahili''. Oxford University Press. Eastern Africa. 1977. ISBN 0195-72-367-8
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| − | *Marshad, Hassan A. ''Kiswahili au Kiingereza (Nchini Kenya)''. Jomo Kenyatta Foundation. Nairobi 1993. ISBN 9966-22-098-4
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| − | *[http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/ The UCLA Language Materials Project]
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| − | *[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=SWA - Ethnologue report on Swahili]
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| − | *[http://africanlanguages.com/kdp/ Online Swahili - English Dictionary]
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| − | *[http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Swahili-english/ Swahili - English Dictionary]
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| − | *[http://www.yale.edu/swahili/ The Kamusi Project: Internet Living Swahili Dictionary (Yale University)]
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| − | [[ar:لغة سواحلية]]
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| − | [[cy:Swahili]]
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| − | [[de:Swahili]]
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| − | [[eo:Svahila lingvo]]
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| − | [[fr:Swahili]]
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| − | [[sw:Kiswahili]]
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| − | [[nl:Swahili]]
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| − | [[ja:スワヒリ語]]
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| − | [[pl:Suahili]]
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| − | [[sv:Swahili]]
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| − | [[Category:Bantu languages]]
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| − | [[Category:Languages of Africa]]
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