View source for Swahili language

{{Short description|Bantu language spoken mainly in East Africa}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Swahili
| nativename       = {{lang|sw|Kiswahili}}<br/>{{lang|sw|كِسوَحِيلِ}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|sw|kiswɑˈhili|lang|Kiswahili.ogg|lang}}
| ethnicity        = [[Swahili people|Swahili]]
| history          = 
| states           = [[Tanzania]], [[Kenya]], [[Uganda]], [[Mozambique]], the eastern part of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], the [[Bajuni Islands]] and [[Barawa|Brava]], southern [[Somalia]]<ref>Thomas J. Hinnebusch, 1992, "Swahili", ''International Encyclopedia of Linguistics'', Oxford, pp. 99–106<br />David Dalby, 1999/2000, ''The Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities'', Linguasphere Press, Volume Two, pp. 733–735<br />Benji Wald, 1994, "Sub-Saharan Africa", ''Atlas of the World's Languages'', Routledge, pp. 289–346, maps 80, 81, 85</ref><ref name=e27/>
| speakers         = [[first language|L1]]: {{sigfig|5.265080|2}} million (2019–2023)<ref name=e27/><br /> [[second language|L2]]: {{sigfig|92.393400|2}} million
| date             = 2019–2021
| ref              = e27
| speakers_label   = Speakers
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam1             = [[Niger–Congo languages|Niger–Congo]]
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Volta–Congo languages|Volta-Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5             = [[Bantoid languages|Bantoid]]
| fam6             = [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7             = [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]
| fam8             = [[Northeast Bantu languages|Northeast Bantu]]
| fam9             = [[Northeast Coast Bantu languages|Northeast Coast Bantu]]
| fam10            = [[Sabaki languages|Sabaki]]
| dia1             = [[Bravanese dialect|Bravanese]]
| dia2             = [[Bajuni dialect|Bajuni]]
| dia3             = [[Congo Swahili]]
| dia4             = [[Makwe language|Makwe]]
| dia5             = [[Mwani language|Mwani]]
| dia6             = [[Sidi language|Sidi]]
| dia7             = [[Socotra Swahili language|Socotra]] {{Extinct}}
| protoname        = '''Proto-Swahili'''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGwnDwAAQBAJ |title = The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society, 800–1500|isbn = 9781512821666|last1 = Nurse|first1 = Derek|last2 = Spear|first2 = Thomas|date = 10 June 2017|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lGwnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA50 50]| publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press }}</ref>
| script           = {{Plainlist}}
* [[Latin script]] ([[#Orthography|Roman Swahili alphabet]])
* [[Arabic script]] ([[Swahili Ajami|Arabic Swahili alphabet]])
* [[Swahili Braille]]
{{Endplainlist}}
| nation           = {{Collapsible list
  | expand = yes
  | titlestyle = font-weight:normal; background:transparent; text-align:left;
  | title = 4 countries
  | {{flag|Tanzania}}
  | {{flag|Rwanda}}
  | {{flag|Kenya}}
  | {{flag|Uganda}}
  }}
{{Collapsible list
  | expand = yes
  | titlestyle=font-weight:normal; background:transparent; text-align:left;
  | title=Organisations
  | {{flag|African Union}}
  | {{flag|East African Community}}
  | {{flag|SADC}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 August 2019 |title=Sadc Adopts Kiswahili as 4th Working Language |url=https://ec.europa.eu/education/knowledge-centre-interpretation/news/sadc-adopts-kiswahili-4th-working-language_en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201018082045/https://ec.europa.eu/education/knowledge-centre-interpretation/news/sadc-adopts-kiswahili-4th-working-language_en |archive-date=18 October 2020 |access-date=21 February 2021 |website=European Commission}}</ref>
  }}
| minority         = {{Plainlist}}
* {{flag|Angola}}
* {{flag|Burundi}} 
* {{flag|DR Congo}} 
* {{flag|Mozambique}} 
* {{flag|Zambia}}
{{Endplainlist}}
| agency           = {{Plainlist}}
* {{lang|sw|[[Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa]]|italic=no}} (Tanzania)
* {{lang|sw|[[Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa]]|italic=no}} (Kenya)
* {{lang|sw|[[Baraza la Kiswahili la Afrika Mashariki]]|italic=no}} (Uganda)
{{Endplainlist}}
| iso1             = sw
| iso2             = swa
| iso3             = swa
| lc1              = swc
| ld1              = [[Congo Swahili]]
| lc2              = swh
| ld2              = Coastal Swahili
| lc3              = ymk
| ld3              = [[Makwe language|Makwe]] (?)
| lc4              = wmw
| ld4              = [[Mwani language|Mwani]] (?)
| lingua           = 99-AUS-m
| guthrie          = {{Plainlist}}
* G.42–43;
* G.40.A–H (pidgins & creoles)
{{Endplainlist}}
| glotto           = swah1254
| glottorefname    = Swahili (G.40)
| map              = Maeneo penye wasemaji wa Kiswahili.png
| mapcaption       = Geographic-administrative extent of Swahili. Dark: native range (the [[Swahili coast]]). Medium green: Spoken by a majority alongside indigenous languages. Light green: Spoken by a minority.
| notice           = IPA
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym
| person = Mswahili
| people = [[Swahili people|Waswahili]]
| language = Kiswahili
}}
'''Swahili''', also known as '''{{lang|sw|Kiswahili}}''' as it is referred to [[endonym and exonym|in the Swahili language]], is a [[Bantu languages|Bantu language]] originally spoken by the [[Swahili people]], who are found primarily in [[Tanzania]], [[Kenya]], and [[Mozambique]] (along the [[East Africa]]n coast and adjacent [[littoral]] islands).<ref>{{cite web|last=Mugane|first=John|url=https://www.ohioswallow.com/extras/9780896804890_chapter_01_and_toc.pdf |title=The Story of Swahili|work=Center for International Studies, Ohio University |date=21 June 2022 |access-date=21 June 2022}}</ref> Estimates of the number of Swahili speakers, including both native and second-language speakers, vary widely. They generally range from 150 million to 200 million;<ref name="speakers"/> with most of its native speakers residing in Tanzania and Kenya.

Swahili has a significant number of [[loanword]]s from other languages, mainly [[Arabic]], as well as from [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[English language|English]] and [[German language|German]]. Around 40% of Swahili vocabulary consists of Arabic loanwords,<ref name="bbc.com">{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60333796 | title='It's time we move from the coloniser's language' | work=BBC News | date=17 February 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Schadeberg |first=Thilo C. |title=1. Loanwords in Swahili |date=2009-12-12 |work=Loanwords in the World's Languages |pages=76–102 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110218442.76 |access-date=2025-03-07 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110218442.76 |isbn=978-3-11-021843-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref> including the name of the language ({{lang|ar|سَوَاحِلي}} {{lang|ar-Latn|sawāḥilī}}, a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning 'of the coasts'). The loanwords date from the era of contact between [[Arab slave trade|Arab trade]]rs and the [[Northeast Bantu languages|Bantu]] inhabitants of the east coast of Africa, which was also the time period when Swahili emerged as a [[lingua franca]] in the region.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Swahili-language|title=Swahili language|publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica|access-date=30 January 2021|archive-date=23 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723004044/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Swahili-language|url-status=live}}</ref>

Due to concerted efforts by the government of Kenya and [[Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa|Tanzania]], Swahili is one of three official languages (the others being English and French) of the [[East African Community]] (EAC) countries, namely [[Burundi]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Kenya]], [[Rwanda]], [[Somalia]], [[South Sudan]], [[Tanzania]], and [[Uganda]]. It is the lingua franca of other areas in the [[African Great Lakes]] region and [[East Africa|East]] and [[Southern Africa]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mazrui, Ali Al'Amin.|title=Swahili state and society : the political economy of an African language|date=1995|publisher=East African Educational Publishers|isbn=0-85255-729-9|oclc=441402890}}</ref><ref>Prins 1961</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Development and Promotion of Extractive Industries and Mineral Value Addition|url=http://www.eac.int/treaty/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=206&Itemid=331|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021151552/http://www.eac.int/treaty/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=206&Itemid=331|archive-date=21 October 2016|access-date=20 July 2016|publisher=[[East African Community]]}}</ref> Swahili is also one of the working languages of the [[African Union]] and of the [[Southern African Development Community]]. The [[East African Community]] created an institution called the ''East African Kiswahili Commission'' (EAKC) which began operations in 2015. The institution currently serves as the leading body for promoting the language in the [[East Africa|East African region]], as well as for coordinating its development and usage for regional integration and sustainable development.<ref name="Press Release on EAKC">[https://www.eac.int/press-releases/138-education,-science-technology-news/738-east-african-kiswahili-commission-discusses-strategy-implementation-plan#:~:text=About%20the%20East%20African%20Kiswahili,Operations%20Plan%20for%202016%2D2017. Press Release on EAKC]</ref> In recent years [[South Africa]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-09-17-kiswahili-gets-ministers-stamp-to-be-taught-in-sa-schools/|title=Kiswahili gets minister's stamp to be taught in SA schools|newspaper=[[The Sowetan]]|last=Sobuwa|first=Yoliswa|date=17 September 2018|access-date=9 October 2018|archive-date=18 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918231128/https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-09-17-kiswahili-gets-ministers-stamp-to-be-taught-in-sa-schools/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Botswana]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.languagemagazine.com/2020/10/12/botswana-to-introduce-swahili-language-in-local-schools/ |title=Botswana to Introduce Swahili Language in Local Schools |date=12 October 2020 |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=22 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210322162812/https://www.languagemagazine.com/2020/10/12/botswana-to-introduce-swahili-language-in-local-schools/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Namibia]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://neweralive.na/posts/pandemic-disrupts-kiswahili-adoption-plans |title=Pandemic disrupts Kiswahili adoption plans |date=3 November 2020 |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=5 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205223846/https://neweralive.na/posts/pandemic-disrupts-kiswahili-adoption-plans |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Ethiopia]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=AAU to Start Teaching Kiswahili Language – Ethiopian Monitor |date=9 February 2022 |url=https://ethiopianmonitor.com/2022/02/09/addis-ababa-university-to-start-ma-ba-degrees-in-kiswahili-language/ |access-date=2022-04-08 |language=en-US}}</ref> and [[South Sudan]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mbamalu |first=Socrates |date=2019-03-13 |title=Tanzania to send Kiswahili teachers to South Sudan |url=https://thisisafrica.me/arts-and-culture/tanzania-to-send-kiswahili-teachers-to-south-sudan/ |access-date=2022-04-08 |website=This is africa |language=en-US}}</ref> have begun offering Swahili as a subject in schools or have developed plans to do so.

[[Comorian language|Shikomor]] (or [[Comorian language|Comorian]]), an official language in [[Comoros]] and also spoken in [[Mayotte]] ([[Shimaore]]), is closely related to Swahili and is sometimes considered a dialect of Swahili, although other authorities consider it a distinct language.<ref>Nurse and Hinnebusch, 1993, p.18</ref><ref>Nurse and Hinnebusch, 1993</ref> In 2022, based on Swahili's growth as a prominent international language, the [[United Nations]] declared [[UN Swahili Language Day|Swahili Language Day]] as 7 July to commemorate the date that [[Julius Nyerere]] adopted Swahili as a unifying language for African independence struggles.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UNESCO declares July 7 World Kiswahili Language Day |url=https://www.uonbi.ac.ke/news/un-declares-july-7-world-kiswahili-language-day |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730061449/https://www.uonbi.ac.ke/news/un-declares-july-7-world-kiswahili-language-day |archive-date=30 July 2022 |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=unesco.org |language=en|date=2021-11-24 }}</ref>

==Classification==
Swahili is a [[Bantu languages|Bantu language]] of the [[Sabaki languages|Sabaki branch]].<ref>Derek Nurse, Thomas J. Hinnebusch, Gérard Philippson. 1993. ''Swahili and Sabaki: A Linguistic History''. University of California Press</ref> In [[Guthrie classification of Bantu languages|Guthrie's geographic classification]], Swahili is in Bantu zone G, whereas the other Sabaki languages are in zone E70, commonly under the name ''Nyika.'' Historical linguists consider the Arabic influence on Swahili to be significant, since it takes around 40% of its vocabulary directly from [[Arabic]], and was initially spread along the [[East Africa]]n coast.<ref name="bbc.com"/><ref>Derek Nurse, Thomas T. Spear. 1985. Arabic loan words make up to 40% of the language. ''The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society'', 800–1500. University of Pennsylvania Press</ref><ref>Thomas Spear. 2000. "Early Swahili History Reconsidered". ''The International Journal of African Historical Studies'', Vol. 33, No. 2, pp. 257–290</ref>

==History==
[[File:Askari makumbusho matini Kiswahili - Kiarabu.png|thumb|upright|Swahili in Arabic script—memorial plate at the [[Askari Monument]], Dar es Salaam (1927)]]

===Etymology===
The word "Swahili" comes from an [[Omani Arabic|Arabic]] name for the area, meaning "coasts":
{|
|-
|{{wikt-lang|ar|سَاحِل}} || → &nbsp; || {{wikt-lang|ar|سَوَاحِل}} || → &nbsp; || {{lang|ar|سَوَاحِلِيّ}}
|-
| {{transliteration|ar|ALA|sāḥil}} || || {{transliteration|ar|ALA|sawāḥil}} || || {{transliteration|ar|ALA|sawāḥilī}}
|-
|"[[coast]]" || || "coasts" ([[broken plural]]) || || "of coasts"
|}

===Origin===
The core of the Swahili language originates in [[Northeast Coast Bantu languages|Bantu languages]] of the coast of East Africa. Much of Swahili's Bantu vocabulary has cognates in the [[Unguja language|Unguja]], [[Pemba language|Pemba]], and [[Mijikenda language]]s<ref>{{Cite book|last=Polomé|first=Edgar|url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012888.pdf|title=Swahili Language Handbook|publisher=Centre for Applied Linguistics|year=1967|pages=28|access-date=12 September 2019|archive-date=27 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127014857/http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012888.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> and, to a lesser extent, other [[Northeast Bantu languages|East African Bantu languages]]. While opinions vary on the specifics, it has been historically purported that around 16–20% of the Swahili vocabulary is derived from loan words, the vast majority [[Arabic]], but also other contributing languages, including [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and [[Malay language|Malay]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Hassan O. |title=A Brief History of the Swahili Language |url=http://www.glcom.com/hassan/swahili_history.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512022044/http://www.glcom.com/hassan/swahili_history.html |archive-date=12 May 2017 |access-date=30 September 2017 |website=Swahili Language & Culture}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Source languages for loanwords in Swahili<ref>"1. Loanwords in Swahili", T. Schadeberg, in Tadmor, Uri. Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook. Germany: De Gruyter, 2009.</ref>
! Source languages !! Percentage
|-
| [[Arabic language|Arabic]] (mainly [[Omani Arabic]]) || 40%
|-
| [[English language|English]] || 4.6%
|-
| [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] || 0.9–1.0%
|-
| [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] || 0.7–3.9%
|-
| [[Persian language|Persian]] (mainly [[Iranian Persian]]) || 0.4–3.4%
|-
| [[Malagasy language|Malagasy]] || 0.2–0.4%
|}

[[Omani Arabic]] is the source of most Arabic loanwords in Swahili.<ref>Baldi, Sergio, [https://journals.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/98881/edition/85189/content/folia-orientalia-2012-vol-xlix-arabic-loans-in-east-african-languages-through-swahili-a-survey-baldi-sergio?language=en Arabic Loans in East African Languages through Swahili: A Survey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330035142/https://journals.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/98881/edition/85189/content/folia-orientalia-2012-vol-xlix-arabic-loans-in-east-african-languages-through-swahili-a-survey-baldi-sergio?language=en |date=30 March 2021 }}, Folia Orientalia, 2012, PAS Journals Repository</ref><ref>Nurse and Hinnebusch, 1993, p. 321</ref> In the text "Early Swahili History Reconsidered", however, Thomas Spear noted that Swahili retains a large amount of grammar, vocabulary, and sounds inherited from the [[Sabaki languages|Sabaki language]]. In fact, while taking account of daily vocabulary, using lists of one hundred words, 72–91% were inherited from the [[Sabaki languages|Sabaki language]] (which is reported as a parent language) whereas 4–17% were loan words from other African languages. Only 2–8% were from non-African languages, and Arabic loan words constituted a fraction of that.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor = 220649|title = Early Swahili History Reconsidered|last1 = Spear|first1 = Thomas|journal = The International Journal of African Historical Studies|year = 2000|volume = 33|issue = 2|pages = 257–290|doi = 10.2307/220649}}</ref> According to other sources, around 40% of the Swahili vocabulary comes from Arabic.<ref name="bbc.com"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/swahili/guide/facts.shtml |title=A Guide to Swahili - 10 facts about the Swahili language |access-date=30 September 2017 |archive-date=5 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905184549/http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/swahili/guide/facts.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> What also remained unconsidered was that a good number of the borrowed terms had Bantu equivalents. The preferred use of Arabic loan words is prevalent along the coast, where local people, in a cultural show of proximity to, or descent from Arab culture, would rather use loan words, whereas the people in the interior tend to use the Bantu equivalents. It was originally written in [[Arabic script]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glcom.com/hassan/swahili_history.html |title=Swahili history |last=Juma |first=Abdurahman |publisher=glcom.com |access-date=30 September 2017 |archive-date=12 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512022044/http://www.glcom.com/hassan/swahili_history.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The earliest known documents written in Swahili are letters written in [[Kilwa Kisiwani|Kilwa]], [[Tanzania]], in 1711 in the Arabic script that were sent to the Portuguese of Mozambique and their local allies. The original letters are preserved in the Historical Archives of Goa, [[India]].<ref>{{cite book |first=E. A. |last=Alpers |title=Ivory and Slaves in East Central Africa |location=London|publisher=Heinemann |year=1975 |pages=98–99}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=T. |last=Vernet |title=Les cités-Etats swahili et la puissance omanaise (1650–1720) |journal=Journal des Africanistes |volume=72 |issue=2 |year=2002 |pages=102–05|doi=10.3406/jafr.2002.1308 }}</ref>

===Colonial period===
[[File:Swahili-pn.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Although originally written with the Arabic script, Swahili is now written in a [[Latin script|Latin alphabet]] introduced by [[Christians|Christian]] [[Missionary|missionaries]] and colonial administrators. The text shown here is the [[Catholic]] version of the [[Lord's Prayer]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wikisource.org/wiki/Baba_yetu |title=Baba yetu |publisher=Wikisource |access-date=15 November 2015 |archive-date=8 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008014826/http://wikisource.org/wiki/Baba_yetu |url-status=live }}</ref>]]

Various colonial powers that ruled on the coast of East Africa played a role in the growth and spread of Swahili. With the arrival of the Arabs in East Africa, they used Swahili as a language of trade as well as for teaching Islam to the local [[Bantu peoples]]. This resulted in Swahili first being written in the Arabic script. The later contact with the Portuguese resulted in the increase of vocabulary of the Swahili language. The language was formalised in an institutional level when the Germans took over after the [[Berlin conference]]. After seeing there was already a widespread language, the Germans formalised it as the official language to be used in schools. Thus schools in Swahili are called Shule (from German {{Lang|de|Schule}}) in government, trade and the court system. With the Germans controlling the major Swahili-speaking region in East Africa, they changed the alphabet system from Arabic to Latin. After the First World War, Britain took over German East Africa, where they found Swahili rooted in most areas, not just the coastal regions. The British decided to formalise it as the language to be used across the East African region (although in [[East Africa Protectorate|British East Africa]] [Kenya and Uganda] most areas used English and various Nilotic and other Bantu languages while Swahili was mostly restricted to the coast). In June 1928, an inter-territorial conference attended by representatives of [[Kenya]], [[Tanganyika Territory|Tanganyika]], [[Uganda]], and [[Zanzibar]] took place in [[Mombasa]]. The Zanzibar dialect was chosen as [[standard Swahili]] for those areas,<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://aboutworldlanguages.com/Swahili |title=Swahili |publisher=About World Languages |access-date=30 September 2017 |archive-date=1 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001030923/http://aboutworldlanguages.com/Swahili |url-status=live }}</ref> and the standard orthography for Swahili was adopted.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lexikos.journals.ac.za/pub/article/viewFile/918/437 |title=Dictionaries and the Standardization of Spelling in Swahili |publisher=Lexikos |last=Mdee |first=James S. |volume=9 |year=1999 |pages=126–27 |access-date=2 June 2017 |archive-date=28 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028234354/http://lexikos.journals.ac.za/pub/article/viewFile/918/437 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Current status==

===Overview===
Estimates of the total number of first- and second-language Swahili speakers vary widely, from as low as 50 million to as high as 200 million, but generally range from 60 million to 150 million.<ref name="speakers">The ''Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities'' (ed. Carl Skutsch; publ. Taylor & Francis; 2013), pages 183–184: "The most important single [Bantu language] is Swahili as a primary or secondary language (50 million speakers)."
* John M. Mugane, ''The Story of Swahili'' (2015), page 1: "In terms of speakers, [Swahili] is peer to the dozen or so languages of the world that boast close to 100 million users" [footnoted to page 287:] "The World Bank estimates that 120 to 150 million people speak Swahili as a second language; William J. Frawley (2003, 181) puts the number at a minimum of 75 million, and Ethnologue has it as 40 million. This book takes the higher number as closer to the reality, given that Swahili is well known as a lingua franca in countries whose populations far exceed 150 million." (Page 227: "Africa's Swahili-speaking region, in which 100 million people who speak it as a second language have created a diverse array of [varieties]".)
* [https://clp.arizona.edu/courses/languages/swahili University of Arizona Critical Languages Program]: "[estimates] vary widely, from 60 million to over 150 million".
* {{cite web |date=5 November 2021 |title=World Kiswahili Language Day |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379702 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523105024/https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379702 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |access-date=4 November 2023 |publisher=UNESCO |quote=Kiswahili is one of the most widely used languages of the African family, and the most widely spoken in sub-Saharan Africa. It is among the 10 most widely spoken languages in the world, with more than 200 million speakers.}}</ref>

Swahili has become a second language spoken by tens of millions of people in the five [[African Great Lakes]] countries ([[Kenya]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|DRC]], [[Rwanda]], [[Uganda]], and [[Tanzania]]), where it is an official or national language. It is also the first language for many people in Tanzania, especially in the coastal regions of Tanga, Pwani, Dar es Salaam, Mtwara and Lindi. In the inner regions of Tanzania, Swahili is spoken with an accent influenced by other local languages and dialects. There, it is a first language for most of the people who are born in the cities, whilst being spoken as a second language in rural areas. Swahili and closely related languages are spoken by relatively small numbers of people in [[Burundi]], [[Comoros]], [[Malawi]], [[Mozambique]], [[Zambia]] and [[Rwanda]].<ref>Nurse & Thomas Spear (1985) ''The Swahili''</ref> The language was still understood in the southern ports of the [[Red Sea]] in the 20th century.<ref name="Kharusi">{{Cite journal |last=Kharusi |first=N. S. |date=2012 |title=The Ethnic Label Zinjibari: Politics and Language Choice Implications Among Swahili Speakers in Oman |journal=[[Ethnicities (journal)|Ethnicities]] |language=en |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=335–353 |doi=10.1177/1468796811432681 |s2cid=145808915}}</ref><ref>Adriaan Hendrik Johan Prins (1961) ''The Swahili-speaking Peoples of Zanzibar and the East African Coast.'' ''[[Ethnologue]]''</ref> The [[East African Community]] created an institution called the East African Kiswahili Commission (EAKC) which began operations in 2015. The institution currently serves as the leading body for promoting the language in the [[East Africa|East African region]], as well as for coordinating its development and usage for regional integration and sustainable development.<ref name="Press Release on EAKC"/>

Swahili is among the first languages in Africa for which [[language technology]] applications have been developed. [[Arvi Hurskainen]] is one of the early developers. The applications include a [[spelling checker]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Zana za Uhakiki za Microsoft Office 2016 – Kiingereza|url=http://www.microsoft.com/sw-ke/download/details.aspx?id=52668|website=Microsoft Download Center|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-date=6 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306044655/http://www.microsoft.com/sw-KE/download/details.aspx?id=52668|url-status=live}}</ref> [[part-of-speech tagging]],<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=Salama|url=http://77.240.23.241/|website=77.240.23.241|access-date=23 October 2019}}</ref> [[language learning software]],<ref name="auto" /> an analysed Swahili [[text corpus]] of 25 million words,<ref>{{cite web|title=Helsinki Corpus of Swahili 2.0 (HCS 2.0) – META-SHARE|url=http://metashare.csc.fi/repository/browse/helsinki-corpus-of-swahili-20-hcs-20/d544fe38184411e291cf005056be118e78589842c66b4efda6ad46f4034679c9/|website=metashare.csc.fi|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-date=23 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023142138/http://metashare.csc.fi/repository/browse/helsinki-corpus-of-swahili-20-hcs-20/d544fe38184411e291cf005056be118e78589842c66b4efda6ad46f4034679c9/|url-status=live}}</ref> an [[electronic dictionary]],<ref name="auto" /> and [[machine translation]]<ref name="auto" /> between Swahili and English. The development of language technology also strengthens the position of Swahili as a modern medium of communication.<ref>Hurskainen, Arvi. 2018. Sustainable language technology for African languages. In Agwuele, Augustine and [[Adams Bodomo|Bodomo, Adams]] (eds), The Routledge Handbook of African Linguistics, 359–375. London: Routledge Publishers. {{ISBN|978-1-138-22829-0}}</ref> 

[[File:Swahili 2024.png|thumb|402x402px|Swahili in East Africa]]

===Tanzania===
The widespread use of Swahili as a national language in Tanzania came after Tanganyika gained independence in 1961 and the government decided that it would be used as a language to unify the new nation. This saw the use of Swahili in all levels of government, trade, art as well as schools in which primary school children are taught in Swahili, before switching to English (medium of instruction)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/se/6107/610708.html |title=The Failure of Language Policy in Tanzanian Schools |access-date=13 October 2020 |archive-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716031547/http://www.socialstudies.org/sites/default/files/publications/se/6107/610708.html |url-status=live }}</ref> in secondary schools (although Swahili is still taught as an independent subject). After Tanganyika and Zanzibar unification in 1964, ''Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili'' (TUKI, Institute of Swahili Research) was created from the Interterritorial Language Committee. In 1970 TUKI was merged with the [[University of Dar es Salaam]], while ''Baraza la'' ''Kiswahili la Taifa'' (BAKITA) was formed. BAKITA is an organisation dedicated to the development and advocacy of Swahili as a means of national integration in Tanzania. Key activities mandated for the organisation include creating a healthy atmosphere for the development of Swahili, encouraging use of the language in government and business functions, coordinating activities of other organisations involved with Swahili, standardising the language. BAKITA vision are: "1.To efficiently manage and coordinate the development and use of Kiswahili in Tanzania 2.To participate fully and effectively in promoting Swahili in East Africa, Africa and the entire world over".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vision and Mission of The National Kiswahili Council |url=https://www.bakita.go.tz/eng/vision_mission |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022065512/https://www.bakita.go.tz/eng/vision_mission |archive-date=22 October 2020 |access-date=13 October 2020 |website=The United Republic of Tanzania National Kiswahili Council |language=en}}</ref> Although other bodies and agencies can propose new vocabularies, BAKITA is the only organisation that can approve its usage in the Swahili language. Tanzanians are highly credited for shaping the language to appear the way it is now.

===Kenya===
In Kenya, Swahili (or Kiswahili as it is referred to in the Constitution and by the Kenya Law Reform Society <ref> https://www.klrc.go.ke/index.php/constitution-of-kenya/108-chapter-two-the-republic/173-7-national-official-and-other-languages</ref> ) has been the national language since 1964 and is official since 2010.<ref name="theeastafrican.co.ke">{{cite web|url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/uganda-finally-adopts-kiswahili-as-official-language-3869770|title=Uganda finally adopts Kiswahili as official language|work=[[Nation Media Group|The East African]]|date=5 July 2022 |access-date=13 July 2022}}</ref> ''Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa'' (CHAKITA) was established in 1998 to research and promote Kiswahili language in Kenya.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chakita.org/|title=CHAKITA:Chama Cha Kiswahili Cha Taifa|work=chakita.org|access-date=21 June 2022}}</ref> Kiswahili is a compulsory subject in all Kenyan primary and secondary schools.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kbc.co.ke/cs-matiangi-kiswahili-remain-compulsory-in-new-curriculum/|title=CS Matiangi: Kiswahili to remain compulsory in new curriculum|work=Kenya Broadcasting Corporation(KBC)|access-date=21 June 2022}}</ref>

===Congo===

{{Main|Congo Swahili}}

Swahili is recognized as a national language in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] and is widely spoken in the eastern regions. The local dialects of Swahili in [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Congo]] are known as [[Congo Swahili]] and differ considerably from Standard Swahili.<ref>{{Cite book |url= |last1=Okamura |first1=Toru |last2= Kai |first2= Masumi |title=Indigenous Language Acquisition, Maintenance, and Loss and Current Language Policies |year=2020 |publisher=IGI Global |page=58 |isbn=9781799829614}}</ref>

===Burundi===
In order to strengthen political ties with other [[East African Community]] nations, both Kiswahili and English have been taught in Burundian elementary schools since the academic year 2005/2006. Kiswahili is now used widely in Burundi but is not recognised as an official language; only French, Kirundi, and English have this distinction.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ul.qucosa.de/api/qucosa%3A70969/attachment/ATT-0/|title=The variability of Kiswahili In Bujumbura|access-date=2023-09-04}}</ref> Since 2013, Swahili has been included in the all Burundian education system.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://information.tv5monde.com/afrique/burundi-lapprentissage-du-francais-en-perte-de-vitesse-2116171|title=Burundi : l'apprentissage du français en perte de vitesse|date=22 March 2023 |access-date=2024-11-21}}</ref>

===Uganda===
Uganda adopted Kiswahili as one of its official languages (alongside [[English language|English]]) in 2022, and also made it compulsory across primary and secondary schools in the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/kiswahili-language-compulsory-in-primary-secondary-schools-cabinet--3869906|title=Kiswahili language compulsory in primary, secondary schools – Cabinet|work=[[Nation Media Group|The Monitor]]|date=5 July 2022 |access-date=13 July 2022}}</ref><ref name="theeastafrican.co.ke"/>

===Somalia===
The [[Somali language]] is the national and primary first language of Somalia.<ref name=Somcon1>{{Cite web|title=The Federal Republic of Somalia Provisional Constitution of 2012.|url=https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex4.detail?p_lang=en&p_isn=94693&p_country=SOM&p_classification=01}}</ref> The Swahili language is not widespread in Somalia and has no [[Official language|official status]] nationally or regionally.<ref name=Somcon1/> [[Dialect]]s of Swahili are spoken by some [[Minority group|ethnic minorities]] on the [[Bajuni Islands|Bajuni islands]] in the form of [[Bajuni dialect|Kibajuni]] on the southern tip of the country and in the town of [[Barawa|Brava]] in the form of [[Bravanese dialect|Chimwiini]]; both contain a significant amount of [[Somali language|Somali]] and [[Italian language|Italian]] loanwords.<ref>{{Cite report|last=Henderson|first=Brent|title=Chimwiini: Endangered Status and Syntactic Distinctiveness|url=http://users.clas.ufl.edu/bhendrsn/JWAL%20paper%20Chimwiini.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119153301/http://users.clas.ufl.edu/bhendrsn/JWAL%20paper%20Chimwiini.pdf|archive-date=2022-01-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nurse|first=Derek|title=When northern Swahili met southern Somali|url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/23416/1006736.pdf?sequence=1#page=659|journal=Contemporary African Linguistics}}</ref> Standard Swahili is generally only spoken by Somali nationals who have resided in Kenya and subsequently returned to Somalia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Scharrer|first=Tabea|date=2018-06-16|title="Ambiguous citizens": Kenyan Somalis and the question of belonging|journal=Journal of Eastern African Studies|volume=12|issue=3|pages=494–513|doi=10.1080/17531055.2018.1483864|s2cid=149655820|issn=1753-1055|doi-access=free|hdl=21.11116/0000-0001-F64C-5|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Weitzberg|first=Keren|title=We Do Not Have Borders: Greater Somalia and the Predicaments of Belonging in Kenya|date=2017-07-25|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv224txv2.16|work=|pages=181–182|publisher=Ohio University Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctv224txv2.16|s2cid=240478166|access-date=2022-01-19|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Lastly, a closely related language [[Zigula language|Mushunguli]] (also known as Zigula, Zigua, or Chizigua) is spoken by some of the [[Somali Bantus|Somali Bantu]] ethnic minority mostly living in the [[Jubba Valley]].<ref>{{e25|xma|Mushungulu}}</ref> It is classified as a [[Northeast Coast Bantu languages|Northeast Coast Bantu language]] as Swahili is<ref>{{Cite web|title=Glottolog 4.5 – Northeast Coastal Bantu|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/nort3209|access-date=2022-01-25|website=glottolog.org}}</ref> and has some intelligibility with Swahili.

In 2024, Somalia joined the [[East African Community]] and its inclusion may facilitate the spread of the Swahili language in Somalia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Somalia finally joins EAC as the bloc's 8th Partner State |url=https://www.eac.int/press-releases/3049-somalia-finally-joins-eac-as-the-bloc-s-8th-partner-state |access-date=2025-01-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240304163326/https://www.eac.int/press-releases/3049-somalia-finally-joins-eac-as-the-bloc-s-8th-partner-state |archive-date=2024-03-04 |website=www.eac.int}}</ref> Nevertheless, in Somalia, Swahili, as a foreign language, will have to compete with [[English language|English]]; the primary global [[lingua franca]], [[Arabic]]; the official second language of Somalia and a [[sacred language|liturgical language]] for Muslims,<ref name=Somcon1/> as popular secondary or tertiary languages. Consequently, there is significant uncertainty regarding the adoption of the Swahili language in Somalia compared to the situation in most other EAC member states.

==Religious and political identity==
===Religion===
Swahili played a major role in spreading both [[history of Christianity|Christianity]] and [[history of Islam|Islam]] in [[East Africa]]. From their arrival in East Africa, [[Arabs]] brought Islam and set up [[madrasa]]s, where they used Swahili to teach Islam to the natives. As the Arab population and influence expanded, a growing number of indigenous people converted to Islam and began receiving religious and cultural instruction in Swahili, which increasingly absorbed Arabic vocabulary.<ref name="Mukuthuria"> {{cite journal| last=Mukuthuria| first=Mwenda| title=Islam and the Development of Kiswahili| journal=The Journal of Pan African Studies| volume=2| issue=8| pages=36–45| date=March 2009| url=https://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol2no8/2.8_IslamAndTheDevelopmentOfKiswahili.pdf| access-date=April 3, 2025}}</ref>

With the arrival of [[rape of Africa|Europeans]] in East Africa, Christianity was introduced to the region, profoundly shaping the development of Swahili. While Arab influence remained concentrated along the coastal areas, European missionaries ventured further inland, establishing missions and promoting Christian teachings.<ref name="whiteley1956">{{cite journal| last=Whiteley| first=Wilfred H.| title=The Changing Position of Swahili in East Africa| journal= Africa: Journal of the International African Institute| volume=26| issue=4| pages=323–331| date=October 1956| publisher=Cambridge University Press| jstor=1156672| doi=10.2307/1156672| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1156672| access-date=April 3, 2025| url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Heugh1">{{cite encyclopedia| last=Heugh| first=Kathleen| title=Language Education Policies in Africa| encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics| edition=2nd| volume=6| pages=414–422| publisher=Elsevier| year=2006| doi=10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/00664-7| isbn=978-0-08-044854-1}}</ref> Early outposts were located along the coast, where they encountered Swahili as a widely spoken [[lingua franca]]. Recognizing its utility and structural similarities to other indigenous languages, the Europeans adopted Swahili as a medium for evangelization, religious and general educational instruction, and, eventually, colonization.<ref name="Simpson">{{cite journal| last=Simpson| first=Andrew| title=German Colonial Administrators, Swahili Lecturers and the Promotion of Swahili at the Seminar für Orientalische Sprachen in Berlin| journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society| volume=19| issue=1| pages=53–66| year=2009| publisher=Cambridge University Press| jstor=25653412| doi=10.1017/S1356186308008815| doi-broken-date=14 April 2025| url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25653412| access-date=April 3, 2025}}</ref><ref name="Viera1">{{cite journal| last=Pawliková-Vilhanová| first=Viera| title=Biblical Translations of Early Missionaries in East and Central Africa| journal=Asian and African Studies| volume=15| issue=1| pages=80–89| year=2006| url=https://www.sav.sk/journals/uploads/021015317_Vilhanov%C3%A1.pdf| access-date=April 3, 2025}}</ref><ref name="Dzahene1">{{cite book |last=Dzahene-Quarshie |first=Josephine |chapter=The Development of Kiswahili as an Academic Discipline |title=Journeys through the Modern Languages at the University of Ghana |pages=63–72 |publisher=Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd |year=2014 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368632572 |access-date=April 3, 2025}}</ref>

===Politics===
During the struggle for Tanganyika independence, the [[Tanganyika African National Union]] used Swahili as a language of mass organisation and political movement. This included publishing pamphlets and radio broadcasts to rally the people to fight for independence. After gaining independence, Swahili was adopted as the national language. To this day, Tanzanians carry a sense of pride when it comes to Swahili, especially when it is used to unite over 120 tribes across Tanzania. Swahili was used to strengthen solidarity within the nation, and remains to be a key identity of the Tanzanian people.

==Phonology==
{{For|assistance with IPA transcriptions of Swahili for Wikipedia articles|Help:IPA/Swahili|selfref=yes}}
[[File:WIKITONGUES- Iddy speaking Swahili.webm|thumb|Example of spoken Swahili]]

===Vowels===
Standard Swahili has five vowel [[phoneme]]s: {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, and {{IPA|/u/}}. According to [[Ellen Contini-Morava]], vowels are never [[vowel reduction|reduced]], regardless of [[stress (linguistics)|stress]].<ref name=":1">Contini-Morava, Ellen. 1997. Swahili Phonology. In Kaye, Alan S. (ed.), Phonologies of Asia and Africa 2, 841–860. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns.</ref> However, according to [[Edgar Polomé]], these five phonemes can vary in pronunciation. Polomé claims that {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, and {{IPA|/u/}} are pronounced as such only in stressed syllables. In unstressed syllables, as well as before a [[prenasalized consonant]], they are pronounced as {{IPA|[e]}}, {{IPA|[ɪ]}}, {{IPA|[o]}}, and {{IPA|[ʊ]}}. ''E'' is also commonly pronounced as mid-position after ''w''. Polomé claims that {{IPA|/ɑ/}} is pronounced as such only after ''w'' and is pronounced as {{IPA|[a]}} in other situations, especially after {{IPA|/j/}} (''y''). ''A'' can be pronounced as {{IPA|[ə]}} in word-final position.<ref name="files.eric.ed.gov">{{Citation |title=Swahili Language Handbook |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012888.pdf |type=Report |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127014857/http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012888.pdf |access-date=12 September 2019 |archive-date=27 November 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Vowel length|Long vowels]] in Swahili are written as doubled vowels (for example, {{lang|sw|kondoo}}, "sheep") due to a historical process in which {{IPA|/l/}} became [[Elision|elided]] between the second last and last vowels of a word (for example, {{lang|sw|kondoo}}, "sheep" was originally ''kondolo'', which survives in certain dialects{{which|date=June 2024}}). As a consequence, long vowels are not considered [[phonemic]]. A similar process exists in [[Zulu language#Vowels|Zulu]].

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 0 auto; text-align:center"
|+Swahili consonant phonemes<ref name=":1" /><ref>Modern Swahili Grammar East African Publishers, 2001 Mohamed Abdulla Mohamed p. 4</ref>
|-
! colspan=2 |
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]<br/>/ [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan=2 | [[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}} 
|
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}} {{angbr|ny}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}} {{angbr|ng'}}
|
|-
! rowspan=4 | [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
! [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasalized]]
| {{IPA link|ᵐb̥}} {{angbr|mb}}
| 
| {{IPA link|ⁿd̥}} {{angbr|nd}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿd̥ʒ̊}} {{angbr|nj}}
| {{IPA link|ᵑɡ̊}} {{angbr|ng}}
|
|-
! [[Implosive consonant|implosive]]<br/>/ [[Voiced plosive|voiced]]
| {{IPA link|ɓ}} ~ {{IPA link|b}} {{angbr|b}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɗ}} ~ {{IPA link|d}} {{angbr|d}}
| {{IPA link|ʄ}} ~ {{IPA link|dʒ}} {{angbr|j}}
| {{IPA link|ɠ}} ~ {{IPA link|ɡ}} {{angbr|g}}
|
|-
! [[Voiceless plosive|voiceless]]
| {{IPA link|p}}
|
| {{IPA link|t}}
| {{IPA link|tʃ}} {{angbr|ch}}
| {{IPA link|k}} 
|
|-
! [[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]
| ({{IPA link|pʰ}} {{angbr|p}})
|
| ({{IPA link|tʰ}} {{angbr|t}})
| ({{IPA link|tʃʰ}} {{angbr|ch}})
| ({{IPA link|kʰ}} {{angbr|k}})
| 
|-
! rowspan=3 | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasalized]]
| {{IPA link|ᶬv̥}} {{angbr|mv}}
|
| {{IPA link|ⁿz̥}} {{angbr|nz}}
|
|
|
|-
! [[Voiced fricative|voiced]]
| {{IPA link|v}}
| ({{IPA link|ð}} {{angbr|dh}})
| {{IPA link|z}}
|
| ({{IPA link|ɣ}} {{angbr|gh}})
|
|-
! [[Voiceless fricative|voiceless]]
| {{IPA link|f}}
| ({{IPA link|θ}} {{angbr|th}})
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}} {{angbr|sh}}
| ({{IPA link|x}} {{angbr|kh}})
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! colspan=2 | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|j}} {{angbr|y}}
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|-
! colspan=2 | [[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|
|}

Where not shown, the orthography is the same as IPA.

Some dialects of Swahili may also have the aspirated phonemes {{IPA|/pʰ tʰ tʃʰ kʰ bʱ dʱ dʒʱ ɡʱ/}} though they are unmarked in Swahili's orthography.<ref name="Lodhi">{{Cite journal |last=Lodhi |first=Abdulaziz Y. |date=2003 |title=Aspiration in Swahili Adjectives and Verbs |url=https://sprak.gu.se/digitalAssets/1324/1324063_aspiration-in-swahili.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Africa & Asia |language=en |volume=3 |page=157 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715041859/https://sprak.gu.se/digitalAssets/1324/1324063_aspiration-in-swahili.pdf |archive-date=2020-07-15}}</ref> Multiple studies favour classifying prenasalization as consonant clusters, not as separate phonemes. Historically, nasalization has been lost before voiceless consonants, and subsequently the voiced consonants have devoiced,{{Citation needed|date=December 2021}} though they are still written ''mb, nd'' etc. The {{IPA|/r/}} phoneme is realised as either a short trill {{IPA blink|r}} or more commonly as a single tap {{IPA blink|ɾ}} by most speakers. {{IPA|[x]}} exists in free variation with h, and is only distinguished by some speakers.<ref name="files.eric.ed.gov" /> In some Arabic loans (nouns, verbs, adjectives), emphasis or intensity is expressed by reproducing the original emphatic consonants {{IPA|/dˤ, sˤ, tˤ, ðˤ/}} and the uvular {{IPA|/q/}}, or lengthening a vowel, where aspiration would be used in inherited Bantu words.<ref name="Lodhi" />

==Orthography==
{{expand section|date=July 2024}}
{{See also|Swahili Ajami}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 105-DOA0075, Deutsch-Ostafrika, Einheimisches Mädchen.jpg|thumb|upright|Swahili in Arabic script on the clothes of a girl in [[German East Africa]] ({{Circa}} early 1900s)]]
Swahili is now written in the Latin alphabet. There are a few [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] for native sounds, ''ch'', ''sh'', ''ng{{'}}'' and ''ny''; ''q'' and ''x'' are not used,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/swahili/guide/alphabet.shtml |title=A Guide to Swahili – The Swahili alphabet |publisher=BBC |access-date=25 December 2019 |archive-date=12 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212181115/http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/swahili/guide/alphabet.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> ''c'' is not used apart from the digraph ''ch'', unassimilated English loans and, occasionally, as a substitute for ''k'' in advertisements. There are also several digraphs for Arabic sounds, which many speakers outside of ethnic Swahili areas have trouble differentiating.

The language used to be primarily written in the [[Swahili Ajami|Ajami script]], which is an Arabic script. Much literature was produced in this script. With the introduction of Latin, the use of Ajami script has been diminished significantly. However, the language continues to have a tradition of being written in Arabic script.<ref name="Mutiua"/> Starting from the later half of the 19th century, continuing into the 20th century, and going on in the 21st century, a process of "Swahilization" of the Arabic Script has been underway by Swahili scribes and scholars. The first of such attempts was done by [[:sw:Mwalimu Sikujua|Mwalimu Sikujua]], a scholar and poet from [[Mombasa]].<ref name="Omar">Omar, Y. A., & Frankl, P. J. L. (1997). An Historical Review of the Arabic Rendering of Swahili Together with Proposals for the Development of a Swahili Writing System in Arabic Script (Based on the Swahili of Mombasa). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 7(01), 55–71. doi:[https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186300008312 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186300008312]</ref> However, the spread of a standardized indigenous variation of Arabic script for Swahili was hampered by the colonial takeover of East Africa by [[the United Kingdom]] and [[Germany]]. The usage of Arabic script was suppressed in [[German East Africa]] and to a lesser extent in [[Kenya Colony|British East Africa]]. Nevertheless, well into the 1930s and 1940s, rural literacy rate in Arabic script as well as a local preference to write Swahili in the Arabic script (an unmodified version as opposed to proposals such as that of Mwalimu Sikujua) was relatively high.<ref name="Omar"/> There were also differences in orthographic conventions between cities and authors and over the centuries, some quite precise but others different enough to cause difficulties with intelligibility. Thus despite a lack of official governmental backing, attempts at standardization and Swahilization of the Arabic script continued into the 20th century.

==Grammar==
{{main|Swahili grammar}}

===Noun classes {{anchor|Noun classes}}===
Swahili nouns are separable into [[noun class|classes]], which are roughly analogous to [[Grammatical gender|gender]]s in other languages. In Swahili, [[prefix]]es mark groups of similar objects: {{angbr|m-}} marks single human beings ({{lang|sw|mtoto}} 'child'), {{angbr|wa-}} marks multiple humans ({{lang|sw|watoto}} 'children'), {{angbr|u-}} marks abstract nouns ({{lang|sw|utoto}} 'childhood'), and so on. And just as adjectives and pronouns must agree with the gender of nouns in some languages with grammatical gender, so in Swahili adjectives, pronouns and even verbs must agree with nouns. This is a characteristic feature of all the [[Bantu languages]].

====Semantic motivation====
The ''ki-/vi-'' class historically consisted of two separate genders, artefacts (Bantu class 7/8, utensils and hand tools mostly) and diminutives (Bantu class 12/13), which were conflated at a stage ancestral to Swahili. Examples of the former are ''kisu'' "knife", ''kiti'' "chair" (from ''mti'' "tree, wood"), ''chombo'' "vessel" (a contraction of ''ki-ombo''). Examples of the latter are ''kitoto'' "infant", from ''mtoto'' "child"; ''kitawi'' "frond", from ''tawi'' "branch"; and ''chumba'' (''ki-umba'') "room", from ''nyumba'' "house". It is the diminutive sense that has been furthest extended. An extension common to diminutives in many languages is ''approximation'' and ''resemblance'' (having a 'little bit' of some characteristic, like ''-y'' or ''-ish'' in English). For example, there is ''kijani'' "green", from ''jani'' "leaf" (compare English 'leafy'), ''kichaka'' "bush" from ''chaka'' "clump", and ''kivuli'' "shadow" from ''uvuli'' "shade". A 'little bit' of a verb would be an instance of an action, and such ''instantiations'' (usually not very active ones) are found: ''kifo'' "death", from the verb ''-fa'' "to die"; ''kiota'' "nest" from ''-ota'' "to brood"; ''chakula'' "food" from ''kula'' "to eat"; ''kivuko'' "a ford, a pass" from ''-vuka'' "to cross"; and ''kilimia'' "the [[Pleiades]]", from ''-limia'' "to farm with", from its role in guiding planting. A resemblance, or being a bit like something, implies marginal status in a category, so things that are marginal examples of their class may take the ''ki-/vi-'' prefixes. One example is ''chura'' (''ki-ura'') "frog", which is only half terrestrial and therefore is marginal as an animal. This extension may account for disabilities as well: ''kilema'' "a cripple", ''kipofu'' "a blind person", ''kiziwi'' "a deaf person". Finally, diminutives often denote contempt, and contempt is sometimes expressed against things that are dangerous. This might be the historical explanation for ''kifaru'' "[[rhinoceros]]", ''kingugwa'' "[[spotted hyena]]", and ''kiboko'' "[[hippopotamus]]" (perhaps originally meaning "stubby legs").<ref>Ellen Contini-Morava (1994) ''Noun Classification in Swahili.''</ref>

Another class with broad semantic extension is the ''m-/mi-'' class (Bantu classes 3/4). This is often called the 'tree' class, because ''mti, miti'' "tree(s)" is the prototypical example. However, it seems to cover vital entities neither human nor typical animals: trees and other plants, such as ''mwitu'' 'forest' and ''mtama'' 'millet' (and from there, things made from plants, like ''mkeka'' 'mat'); supernatural and natural forces, such as ''mwezi'' 'moon', ''mlima'' 'mountain', ''mto'' 'river'; active things, such as ''moto'' 'fire', including active body parts (''moyo'' 'heart', ''mkono'' 'hand, arm'); and human groups, which are vital but not themselves human, such as ''mji'' 'village', and, by analogy, ''mzinga'' 'beehive/cannon'. From the central idea of ''tree'', which is thin, tall, and spreading, comes an extension to other long or extended things or parts of things, such as ''mwavuli'' 'umbrella', ''moshi'' 'smoke', ''msumari'' 'nail'; and from activity there even come active instantiations of verbs, such as ''mfuo'' "metal forging", from ''-fua'' "to forge", or ''mlio'' "a sound", from ''-lia'' "to make a sound". Words may be connected to their class by more than one metaphor. For example, ''mkono'' is an active body part, and ''mto'' is an active natural force, but they are also both long and thin. Things with a trajectory, such as ''mpaka'' 'border' and ''mwendo'' 'journey', are classified with long thin things, as in many other languages with noun classes. This may be further extended to anything dealing with time, such as ''mwaka'' 'year' and perhaps ''mshahara'' 'wages'. Animals exceptional in some way and so not easily fitting in the other classes may be placed in this class.

The other classes have foundations that may at first seem similarly counterintuitive.<ref>See Contini-Morava for details.</ref> In short,
*Classes 1–2 include most words for people: kin terms, professions, ethnicities, etc., including translations of most English words ending in ''-er.'' They include a couple of generic words for animals: ''mnyama'' 'beast', ''mdudu'' 'bug'.
*Classes 5–6 have a broad semantic range of groups, expanses, and augmentatives. Although interrelated, it is easier to illustrate if broken down:
**Augmentatives, such as ''joka'' 'serpent' from ''nyoka'' 'snake', lead to titles and other terms of respect (the opposite of diminutives, which lead to terms of contempt): ''Bwana'' 'Sir', ''shangazi'' 'aunt', ''fundi'' 'craftsman', ''kadhi'' 'judge'
**Expanses: ''ziwa'' 'lake', ''bonde'' 'valley', ''taifa'' 'country', ''anga'' 'sky'
***from this, mass nouns: ''maji'' 'water', ''vumbi'' 'dust' (and other liquids and fine particulates that may cover broad expanses), ''kaa'' 'charcoal', ''mali'' 'wealth', ''maridhawa'' 'abundance'
**Collectives: ''kundi'' 'group', ''kabila'' 'language/ethnic group', ''jeshi'' 'army', ''daraja'' ' stairs', ''manyoya'' 'fur, feathers', ''mapesa'' 'small change', ''manyasi'' 'weeds', ''jongoo'' 'millipede' (large set of legs), ''marimba'' 'xylophone' (large set of keys)
***from this, individual things found in groups: ''jiwe'' 'stone', ''tawi'' 'branch', ''ua'' 'flower', ''tunda'' 'fruit' (also the names of most fruits), ''yai'' 'egg', ''mapacha'' 'twins', ''jino'' 'tooth', ''tumbo'' 'stomach' (cf. English "guts"), and paired body parts such as ''jicho'' 'eye', ''bawa'' 'wing', etc.
***also collective or dialogic actions, which occur among groups of people: ''neno'' 'a word', from ''kunena'' 'to speak' (and by extension, mental verbal processes: ''wazo'' 'thought', ''maana'' 'meaning'); ''pigo'' 'a stroke, blow', from ''kupiga'' 'to hit'; ''gomvi'' 'a quarrel', ''shauri'' 'advice, plan', ''kosa'' 'mistake', ''jambo'' 'affair', ''penzi'' 'love', ''jibu'' 'answer', ''agano'' 'promise', ''malipo'' 'payment'
***From pairing, reproduction is suggested as another extension (fruit, egg, testicle, flower, twins, etc.), but these generally duplicate one or more of the subcategories above
*Classes 9–10 are used for most typical animals: ''ndege'' 'bird', ''samaki'' 'fish', and the specific names of typical beasts, birds, and bugs. However, this is the 'other' class, for words not fitting well elsewhere, and about half of the class 9–10 nouns are foreign loanwords. Loans may be classified as 9–10 because they lack the prefixes inherent in other classes, and most native class 9–10 nouns have no prefix. Thus they do not form a coherent semantic class, though there are still semantic extensions from individual words.
*Class 11 (which takes class 10 for the plural) are mostly nouns with an "extended outline shape", in either one dimension or two:
**mass nouns that are generally localized rather than covering vast expanses: ''uji'' 'porridge', ''wali'' 'cooked rice'
**broad: ''ukuta'' 'wall', ''ukucha'' 'fingernail', ''upande'' 'side' (≈ ''ubavu'' 'rib'), ''wavu'' 'net', ''wayo'' 'sole, footprint', ''ua'' 'fence, yard', ''uteo'' 'winnowing basket'
**long: ''utambi'' 'wick', ''utepe'' 'stripe', ''uta'' 'bow', ''ubavu'' 'rib', ''ufa'' 'crack', ''unywele'' 'a hair'
***from 'a hair', [[singulative]]s of nouns, which are often class 6 ('collectives') in the plural: ''unyoya'' 'a feather', ''uvumbi'' 'a mote of dust', ''ushanga'' 'a bead'.
*Class 14 are abstractions, such as ''utoto'' 'childhood' (from ''mtoto'' 'a child') and have no plural. They have the same prefixes and concord as class 11, except optionally for adjectival concord.
*Class 15 are verbal infinitives.
*Classes 16–18 are locatives. The Bantu nouns of these classes have been lost; the only permanent member is the Arabic loan ''mahali'' 'place(s)', but in Mombasa Swahili, the old prefixes survive: ''pahali'' 'place', ''mwahali'' 'places'. However, any noun with the locative suffix ''-ni'' takes class 16–18 agreement. The distinction between them is that class 16 agreement is used if the location is intended to be definite ("at"), class 17 if indefinite ("around") or involves motion ("to, toward"), and class 18 if it involves containment ("within"): ''mahali pazuri'' 'a good spot', ''mahali kuzuri'' 'a nice area', ''mahali muzuri'' (it's nice in there).

====Borrowing====
Borrowings may or may not be given a prefix corresponding to the semantic class they fall in. For example, Arabic {{lang|ar|دود}} ''dūd'' ("bug, insect") was borrowed as ''mdudu'', plural ''wadudu'', with the class 1/2 prefixes ''m-'' and ''wa-'', but Arabic {{lang|ar|فلوس}} ''fulūs'' ("fish scales", plural of {{lang|ar|فلس}} ''fals'') and English ''sloth'' were borrowed as simply ''fulusi'' ("[[mahi-mahi]]" fish) and ''slothi'' ("[[sloth]]"), with no prefix associated with animals (whether those of class 9/10 or 1/2).

In the process of naturalization<ref>See pp. 83–84 in [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] (2020), ''[[Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond]]'', [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revivalistics-9780199812790 Oxford University Press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125062747/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revivalistics-9780199812790?cc=us&lang=en& |date=25 November 2020 }} {{ISBN|9780199812790}} / {{ISBN|9780199812776}}.</ref> of borrowings within Swahili, loanwords are often reinterpreted, or reanalysed,<ref name=LCLE>See pp. 11 and 52 in [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] (2003), ''[[Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew]]'', [https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403917232 Palgrave Macmillan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143416/https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403917232 |date=12 June 2018 }} {{ISBN|9781403917232}} / {{ISBN|9781403938695}}.</ref> as if they already contain a Swahili class prefix. In such cases the interpreted prefix is changed with the usual rules. Consider the following loanwords from Arabic:
#The Swahili word for "book", ''kitabu'', is borrowed from Arabic {{lang|ar|كتاب}} ''kitāb(un)'' "book" (plural {{lang|ar|كتب}} ''kutub''; from the Arabic root ''k.t.b.'' "write"). However, the Swahili plural form of this word ("books") is '''''vi'''tabu'', following Bantu grammar in which the ''ki-'' of '''''ki'''tabu'' is reanalysed (reinterpreted) as a nominal class prefix whose plural is ''vi-'' (class 7/8).<ref name=LCLE/> 
#Arabic {{lang|ar|معلم}} ''muʿallim(un)'' ("teacher", plural {{lang|ar|معلمين}} ''muʿallimīna'') was interpreted as having the mw- prefix of class 1, and so became ''mwalimu'', plural ''walimu''. 
#Arabic {{lang|ar|مدرسة}} ''madrasa'' school, even though it is singular in Arabic (with plural {{lang|ar|مدارس}} ''madāris''), was reinterpreted as a class 6 plural ''madarasa'', receiving the singular form ''darasa''.

Similarly, English ''wire'' and Arabic {{lang|ar|وقت}} ''waqt'' ("time") were interpreted as having the class 11 prevocalic prefix ''w-'', and became ''waya'' and ''wakati'' with plural ''nyaya'' and ''nyakati'' respectively.

===Agreement===
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2016}}
Swahili phrases agree with nouns in a system of [[Agreement (linguistics)|concord]] but, if the noun refers to a human, they accord with noun classes 1–2 regardless of their noun class. Verbs agree with the noun class of their subjects and objects; adjectives, prepositions and demonstratives agree with the noun class of their nouns. In Standard Swahili ''(Kiswahili sanifu)'', based on the dialect spoken in Zanzibar, the system is rather complex; however, it is drastically simplified in many local variants where Swahili is not a native language, such as in Nairobi. In non-native Swahili, concord reflects only animacy: human subjects and objects trigger ''a-, wa-'' and ''m-, wa-'' in verbal concord, while non-human subjects and objects of whatever class trigger ''i-, zi-''. Infinitives vary between standard ''ku-'' and reduced ''i-.''<ref>Kamil Ud Deen, 2005. ''The acquisition of Swahili''.</ref> ("Of" is animate ''wa'' and inanimate ''ya, za.'')

In Standard Swahili, human subjects and objects of whatever class trigger animacy concord in ''a-, wa-'' and ''m-, wa-,'' and non-human subjects and objects trigger a variety of gender-concord prefixes.

{| class=wikitable
|+Swahili noun-class concord
|-
!NC!!Semantic<br/>field!!Noun<br/>-C, -V!!Subj.!!Obj.!!''-a''!!Adjective<br/>-C, -i, -e<ref group="*">Most Swahili adjectives begin with either a consonant or the vowels ''i-'' or ''e-'', listed separately above. The few adjectives beginning with other vowels do not agree with all noun classes since some are restricted to humans. NC 1 ''m(w)-'' is ''mw-'' before ''a'' and ''o,'' and reduces to ''m-'' before ''u''; ''wa-'' does not change; and ''ki-, vi-, mi-'' become ''ch-, vy-, my-'' before ''o'' but not before ''u'': ''mwanana, waanana'' "gentle", ''mwororo, waororo, myororo, chororo, vyororo'' "mild, yielding", ''mume, waume, kiume, viume'' "male".</ref>
|-
! –
| ''I''
| (mimi) || colspan=2| ni- ||
|-
! –
| ''we''
| (sisi) || colspan=2| tu- ||
|-
! –
| ''thou''
| (wewe)
| u- || ku- ||
|-
! –
| ''you''
| (ninyi) || m- || wa- ||
|-
! 1
| ''person''
| m-, mw- || a- || m- || wa || m-, mwi-, mwe-
|-
! 2
| ''people''
| wa-, w- || colspan=2| wa- || wa || wa-, we-, we-
|-
! 3
| ''tree''
| m-, mw- || colspan=2| u- || wa || m-, mwi-, mwe-
|-
! 4
| ''trees''
| mi- || colspan=2| i- || ya || mi-, mi-, mye-
|-
! 5
| ''group,'' {{gcl|AUG|glossing=wikilink}}
| ji-/Ø, j- || colspan=2| li- || la || ji-/Ø, ji-, je-
|-
! 6
| ''groups,'' {{gcl|AUG}}
| ma- || colspan=2| ya- || ya || ma-, me-, me-
|-
! 7
| ''tool,'' {{gcl|DIM|glossing=wikilink}}
| ki-, ch- || colspan=2| ki- || cha || ki-, ki-, che-
|-
! 8
| ''tools,'' {{gcl|DIM}}
| vi-, vy- || colspan=2| vi- || vya || vi-, vi-, vye-
|-
! 9
| rowspan=2|''animals, 'other','' <br/>''loanwords''
| rowspan=2| N- || colspan=2| i- || ya || rowspan=2| N-, nyi-, nye-
|-
! 10
| colspan=2| zi- || za
|-
! 11
| '' 'extension' ''
| u-, w-/uw- || colspan=2| u- || wa || m-, mwi-, mwe-
|-
! 10
| (plural of 11)|| N- || colspan=2| zi- || za || N-, nyi-, nye-
|-
! 14
| ''abstraction''
| u-, w-/uw- || colspan=2| u- || wa || m-, mwi-, mwe-<br/> ''or'' u-, wi-, we-
|-
! 15
| ''infinitives''
| ku-, kw-<ref group="*">In a few verbs: ''kwenda, kwisha''</ref> || colspan=2| ku- || kwa- || ku-, kwi-, kwe-
|-
! 16
| ''precise position''
| -ni, ''mahali'' || colspan=2| pa- || pa || pa-, pe-, pe-
|-
! 17
| ''imprecise position''
| -ni || colspan=2| ku- || kwa || ku-, kwi-, kwe-
|-
! 18
| ''internal position''
| -ni || colspan=2| m(u)- || mwa || mu-, mwi-, mwe-
|}

<references group="*"/>

==Dialects and closely related languages==
This list is based on ''Swahili and Sabaki: a linguistic history''.

===Dialects===
Modern standard Swahili, written in Latin, is based on ''Kiunguja,'' the dialect spoken in [[Zanzibar City]].<ref name="Lambert10"/>

Swahili literature and poetry, traditionally written in [[Swahili Ajami]], is based on ''Kiamu'', the dialect of [[Lamu]] on the Kenyan Coast.<ref name="Mulokozi"/><ref name="Mutiua">Mutiua, Chapane. “Swahili Ajami: An Introduction.” Hypotheses, October 7, 2020. [https://ajami.hypotheses.org/1089 https://ajami.hypotheses.org/1089] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20230429043729/https://ajami.hypotheses.org/1089 Archive].</ref>

But there are numerous other dialects of Swahili, some of which are mutually unintelligible, such as the following:<ref name="Lambert10">H.E.Lambert 1956, 1957, 1958</ref>

====Old dialects====
Maho (2009) considers these to be distinct languages:
*''[[Kimwani]]'' is spoken in the Kerimba Islands and northern coastal Mozambique.
*''[[Bravanese dialect|Chimwiini]]'' is spoken by the ethnic minorities in and around the town of [[Barawa]] on the southern coast of Somalia.
*''[[Kibajuni dialect|Kibajuni]]'' is spoken by the [[Bajuni people|Bajuni]] minority ethnic group on the coast and islands on both sides of the Somali–Kenyan border and in the [[Bajuni Islands]] (the northern part of the Lamu archipelago) and is also called ''Kitikuu'' and ''Kigunya''.
*[[Socotra Swahili]] (extinct)
*[[Sidi language|Sidi]], in Gujarat, India (possibly extinct)
The rest of the dialects are divided by him{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} into two groups:
*Mombasa–Lamu Swahili
**Lamu
*** The dialects of the Lamu group (especially Kiamu, Kipate, Kingozi) are the linguistic base of the oldest ({{Circa|1600 CE}}) Swahili manuscripts and poems that reached us.<ref name="Mulokozi">{{cite book |title=History of Kiswahili Poetry, A.D. 1000–2000: A Report | isbn=9789976911220 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWPE1-OpxF4C |access-date=11 November 2022| last1=Mulokozi | first1=Mugyabuso M. | last2=Sengo | first2=Tigiti S. Y. | year=1995 | publisher=Institute of Kiswahili Research, University of Dar es Salaam }}</ref> They are sometimes described as "literary" dialects but they were also used for everyday life and are still spoken today except Kingozi.
***''Kiamu''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mathieu Roy |url=http://archive.org/details/9783838179438 |title=KIAMU, archipel de Lamu (Kenya): Analyse phonétique et morphologique d'un corpus linguistique et poétique |date=2013|edition=French }}</ref> is spoken in and around the island of [[Lamu]] (Amu) and have an important corpus<ref name="SOAS Swahili manuscripts">{{cite web |title=SOAS Swahili manuscripts |url=https://digital.soas.ac.uk/swahili |website=SOAS Swahili manuscripts |publisher=varia |access-date=11 November 2022 |ref=SOAS}}</ref> of classical poems of the 18th and 19th centuries written in Arabic script (Kiajemi).
***''Kipate'' is a local dialect of [[Pate Island]], considered{{by whom|date=November 2022}} to be closest to the original dialect of Kingozi{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}. It has also an important classical corpus<ref name="SOAS Swahili manuscripts"/> of poems from the 18th and 19th centuries.
***''Kingozi'' is an extinct dialect spoken on the Indian Ocean coast between Lamu and Somalia and is sometimes still{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} used in poetry. It is often considered{{by whom|date=November 2022}} the source of Swahili{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}. Academic theories about Kingozi as an old literary dialect are conflicting. It is sometimes linked to [[Fumo Liyongo|the epics of Liongo]]. For Sacleux,<ref>{{cite book |last1=SACLEUX |first1=Charles |title=Grammaire des dialectes swahilis |date=1909 |publisher=Procure des PP. du Saint-Esprit |location=Paris |page=IX}}</ref> it's and old and "an exclusively literary, arcane dialect". It varies depending on the authors whose will to return to a pure form of the old language make them use Kigunya mainly (Kipate is a subdialect of Kigunya) and secondarily Kiamu and Kimvita. Knappert,<ref>{{cite book |last1=KNAPPERT |first1=Jan |title=Four centuries of Swahili verses |date=1979 |publisher=DARF PUBLISHERS |location=London}}</ref> on the contrary, states the existence of a literary [[Koiné language|koine]] in the 18th century based on the Kingozi as a prestigious and widespread dialect. The 2009 New Updated Guthrie List, a referential classification of the Bantu languages, considers kiOzi as a dialect in itself.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Maho |first1=Jouni Filip |title=The online version of the New Updated Guthrie List, a referential classification of the Bantu languages |url=https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_products/35125_Bantu-New-updated-Guthrie-List.pdf |website=brill.com |publisher=Brill |access-date=11 November 2022 |ref=2009}}</ref> It is not the ancestor language of Kiswahili but a member of the Lamu group (code G42a) with Kiamu, Kipate and Kisiu. This brief overview indicates that the state of research is fragmented and uncertain on the history of the kingozi.
**Mombasa
***''Chijomvu'' is a subdialect of the Mombasa area.
***''Kimvita'' is the major dialect of Mombasa (also known as "Mvita", which means "war", in reference{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} to the many wars which were fought over it, the other major dialect alongside Kiunguja. It has an important classical corpus written in Arabic script from the 18st and 19st century.<ref>{{cite web |title=SOAS Swahili manuscripts |url=https://digital.soas.ac.uk/swahili |website=SOAS Swahili manuscripts |publisher=varia |access-date=11 November 2022}}</ref>
***''Kingare'' is the subdialect of the Mombasa area.
**''Kimrima'' is spoken around [[Pangani]], [[Vanga]], [[Dar es Salaam]], [[Rufiji District|Rufiji]] and [[Mafia Island]].
**''Kiunguja'' is spoken in [[Stone Town|Zanzibar City]] and environs on [[Zanzibar|Unguja (Zanzibar) Island]]. Kitumbatu (Pemba) dialects occupy the bulk of the island.
**Mambrui, Malindi
**''Chichifundi'', a dialect of the southern Kenya coast.
**Chwaka
**''Kivumba'', a dialect of the southern Kenya coast.
**[[Nosy Be|Nosse Be]] (Madagascar)
*Pemba Swahili
**''Kipemba'' is a local dialect of the [[Pemba Island]].
**''Kitumbatu'' and ''Kimakunduchi'' are the countryside dialects of the island of Zanzibar. Kimakunduchi is a recent renaming of "Kihadimu"; the old name means "serf" and so is considered pejorative.
**Makunduchi
**Mafia, Mbwera
**Kilwa (extinct)
**''Kimgao'' used to be spoken around [[Kilwa District]] and to the south.

Maho includes the various [[Comorian language|Comorian]] dialects as a third group. Most other authorities consider Comorian to be a [[Sabaki languages|Sabaki]] language, distinct from Swahili.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uJmgsq37dMC&pg=PA65|title=The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society, 800–1500|page=65|author1=Derek Nurse|author2=Thomas Spear|author3=Thomas T. Spear|isbn=9780812212075|year=1985|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |access-date=15 June 2016|archive-date=30 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330035233/https://books.google.com/books?id=7uJmgsq37dMC&pg=PA65|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Other regions===
In [[Somalia]], where the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] [[Somali language]] predominates, a variant of Swahili referred to as [[Bravanese dialect|Chimwiini]] (also known as Chimbalazi) is spoken along the [[Benadir]] coast by the [[Bravanese people]].<ref>{{Ethnologue25|Chimwiini}}</ref> Another Swahili dialect known as [[Kibajuni dialect|Kibajuni]] also serves as the mother tongue of the [[Bajuni people|Bajuni]] minority ethnic group, which lives in the tiny [[Bajuni Islands]] as well as the southern [[Kismayo]] region.<ref>{{Ethnologue25|Kibajuni}}</ref><ref name="Godfrey">{{cite book| last = Mwakikagile| first = Godfrey| title = Kenya: identity of a nation| publisher = New Africa Press| year = 2007| page = 102| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lsqjN-t6mP4C| isbn = 978-0-9802587-9-0| access-date = 15 September 2017| archive-date = 23 March 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210323164112/https://books.google.com/books?id=lsqjN-t6mP4C| url-status = live}}</ref>

In [[Oman]], there are an estimated {{sigfig|51,800|2}} people who speak Swahili as of 2020.<ref>{{Ethnologue25|Swahili}}</ref> Most are descendants of those repatriated after the fall of the [[Sultanate of Zanzibar]].<ref name="African">{{cite news|last=Fuchs|first=Martina|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oman-music-idUSTRE7942XI20111005|title=African Swahili music lives on in Oman|work=Reuters|date=5 October 2011|access-date=15 November 2015|archive-date=17 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117033444/http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-oman-music-idUSTRE7942XI20111005|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Josephi">Beate Ursula Josephi, ''Journalism education in countries with limited media freedom'', Volume 1 of Mass Communication and Journalism, (Peter Lang: 2010), p.96.</ref>

===Pidgins and creoles===
There are Swahili-based slangs, pidgins and creoles:
* {{annotated link|Kitaa – Dar es Salaam}}
* {{annotated link|Engsh}}
* {{annotated link|KiKAR}}
* {{annotated link|Kutchi-Swahili}}
* {{annotated link|Settler Swahili}}
* {{annotated link|Sheng slang}}

==Swahili poets==
* [[Dada Masiti]] (c. 1810s–15 July 1919), Kenyan poet
* [[Shaaban bin Robert]] (1909–1962), Tanzanian poet, author, and essayist
* [[Euphrase Kezilahabi]] (1944–2020), Tanzanian novelist, poet, and scholar
* [[Mathias E. Mnyampala]] (1917–1969), Tanzanian writer, lawyer, and poet
* [[Tumi Molekane]] (b. 1981), South African rapper and poet
* [[Fadhy Mtanga]] (b. 1981), Tanzanian creative writer, photographer, graphic designer
* [[Christopher Mwashinga]] (b. 1965), Tanzanian author and poet
* [[Abdilatif Abdalla]] (b. 1946), Kenyan poet and political activist.{{Efn|He was imprisoned for his support of the Kenya People's Union, and wrote the poetry collection ''Sauti ya Dhiki'' while in solitary confinement, which was subsequently awarded the [[Jomo Kenyatta Prize for Literature]].}}
* [[Mwana Kupona]] (d. {{circa|1865}}), Kenyan poet.
* [[Ebrahim Hussein]] (b. 1943) , Tanzanian playwright and poet
* [[Haji Gora Haji]] (1933–2021), Tanzanian poet
* [[Alamin Mazrui]] (b. 1948), Kenyan poet<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alamin Mazrui |url=https://www.poetrytranslation.org/poets/alamin-mazrui |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=Poetry Translation Centre}}</ref>
* [[Kithaka wa Mberia]] (b. 1955), Poet<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kithaka wa Mberia |url=https://www.poetrytranslation.org/poets/kithaka-wa-mberia |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=Poetry Translation Centre}}</ref>
* [[Ahmed Sheikh Nabhany]] (1927–2017), Kenyan poet

==Oral literature==

===19th-century collections===
In 1870, [[Edward Steere]] published [https://archive.org/details/swahilitalesasto00stee/page/n5/mode/2up Swahili Tales as Told by Natives of Zanzibar], a collection of 23 Swahili tales with facing-text English translation, along with a selection of proverbs and riddles.<ref>Steere, Edward (1870). ''[https://archive.org/details/swahilitalesasto00stee/ Swahili Tales as Told by Natives of Zanzibar]''. London: Bell and Daldy.</ref> Some of the tales included are: "''Kisa cha Punda wa Dobi,''"<ref>[https://archive.org/details/swahilitalesasto00stee/page/2/mode/2up?view=theater Steere 1870], pp. 2-10.</ref> "The Story of the Washerman's Donkey," also known as "[[The Heart of a Monkey]];" "''Mwalimu Goso,''"<ref>[https://archive.org/details/swahilitalesasto00stee/page/286/mode/2up?view=theater Steere 1870], pp. 286-294.</ref> "Goso the Teacher," a [[cumulative tale]]; and
"''Sungura na Simba,''"<ref>[https://archive.org/details/swahilitalesasto00stee/page/370/mode/2up?view=theater Steere 1870], pp. 370-378.</ref> "The Hare and the Lion," a story about the [[Hare#In mythology and folklore|trickster hare]].

Here are some of the proverbs that Steere recorded in Swahili:<ref>[https://archive.org/details/swahilitalesasto00stee/page/192/mode/2up?view=theater Steere 1870], pp. 192-195.</ref>
*"''Mbio za sakafuni hwishia ukingoni''." "Running on a roof ends at the edge of it."
*"''Angurumapo simba, mteza nani''?" "Who will dance to a lion's roaring?"
*"''Mlevi wa mvinyo hulevuka, mlevi wa mali halevuki''." "He that is drunk with wine gets sober, he that is drunk with wealth does not."
*"''Kikulacho kinguoni mwako''." "What bites is in your own clothes."

Here are some of the riddles that Steere recorded in Swahili:<ref>[https://archive.org/details/swahilitalesasto00stee/page/418/mode/2up?view=theater Steere 1870], pp. 418-421.</ref>
*"''Nyumba yangu kubwa, haina mlango (yayi).''" "My house is large; it has no door (egg)."
*"''Kuku wangu akazalia miibani (nanasi).''" "My hen has laid among thorns (pineapple)."
*"''Popo mbili zavuka mto (macho).''" "Two nuts cross a river (eyes)."
Steere also includes the formulaic announcement of a riddle:
*"''Kitendawili! — Tega.''" "An enigma! — Set your trap."

An anonymous publication from 1881, [https://archive.org/details/swahilistoriesf00storgoog/ Swahili Stories from Arab Sources with an English Translation], includes 15 stories in Swahili with English translations, plus an additional 14 Swahili stories that are not translated. There is also a selection of proverbs and riddles with English translations.<ref>anonymous (1881). ''[https://archive.org/details/swahilistoriesf00storgoog/ Swahili Stories from Arab Sources ]''. Zanzibar.</ref>

Here are some of the proverbs:<ref>[https://archive.org/details/swahilistoriesf00storgoog/page/n40/mode/2up ''Swahili Stories'' 1881]. pp. 34-35.</ref>
*"''Tulingane sawasawa, kama sahani na kawa''." "We match together, like a dish and a cover."
*"''Samaki mmoja akioza, wameoza wote''." "If one fish is bad, they are all bad."
*"''Wa kuume haukati wa kushoto''." "The right hand does not cut the left."
*"''Paka akiondoka, panya hutawala''." "When the cat goes away, the rat is king."

Here are some of the riddles:<ref>[https://archive.org/details/swahilistoriesf00storgoog/page/n40/mode/2up ''Swahili Stories'' 1881]. pp. 35-36.</ref>
*"''Gumugumu huzaa teketeke, gumugumu teketeke huzaa (mahindi)''." "The hard is the parent of the soft, and the soft of the hard (maize)."
*"''Mtoto wangu killa mwaka hulala chini (boga)''." "My child each year lies on the ground (pumpkin)."
*"''Nyumba vangu kubwa haina taa (kaburi).''" "My great house has no lamp (grave)."
*"''Nimetupa mshale wangu, mchana kwenda mbali nikitupa usiku hauendi mbali (macho).''" "I cast my arrow in the day time, it went far off; it I cast it at night, it does not go far (eyes)."

For additional collections of Swahili prose from the 19th century, see the inventory in J. D. Rollins's ''A History of Swahili Prose from Earliest Times to the End of the Nineteenth Century.''<ref>Rollins, Jack D. (1983)
''A History of Swahili Prose from Earliest Times to the End of the Nineteenth Century''. Leiden: Brill. pp. 55-56.</ref>

===Additional proverbs===
{{interlinear|lang=sw|indent=0
|Fuata nyuki ule asali.|c1=<ref name = "Kamusi la Kiswahili Fasaha">{{cite book | author=Baraza la Kiswahili la Zanzibar | title=Kamusi la Kiswahili Fasaha | publisher = Oxford University Press | date=2010 | isbn=978-0-19-573618-2 | oclc=800802371 | language=sw}}</ref>{{rp | page = 478}}
|Follow the bee so that you may eat honey.}}

{{interlinear|lang=sw|indent=0
|Baada ya dhiki faraja.|c1=[http://swahiliproverbs.afrst.illinois.edu/proverbssecond.htm]
|After hardship comes relief.}}

{{interlinear|lang=sw|indent=0
|Mgaagaa na upwa hali wali mkavu.|c1=<ref name = "Kamusi la Kiswahili Fasaha" />{{rp | page = 482}}
|The one who busies himself with work will not miss a meal.}}

{{interlinear|lang=sw|indent=0
|Mwacha mila ni mtumwa.
|The person who abandons his culture is a slave.}}

[[File:Elephants fight Amboseli (7234358288) (2).jpg|thumb|''[[Loxodonta africana]]'' elephants frolic in [[Amboseli National Park]], Kenya, 2012.]]
Two sayings with the same literal meaning of ''Where elephants fight, the grass is trampled'' or figuratively speaking, when those with power fight, it is those below them who suffer:<ref>[https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199539536.001.0001/acref-9780199539536-e-650 www.oxfordreference.com When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers]. Consulted on 13 June 2021.</ref><ref>[[New York Times]] 26 March 1936</ref>

{{interlinear|lang=sw|indent=3
|Wapiganapo tembo nyasi huumia.|c1=<ref>[https://howafrica.com/27-fascinating-african-proverbs-about-elephants-one-of-the-big-5-animals/ howafrica.com Animals – 27 Fascinating African Proverbs About Elephants, One of the Big 5 Animals 17. When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. ~ Kikuyu Proverb]. Consulted on 13 June 2021.</ref>
|Fighting elephants damage the grass.}}

{{interlinear|lang=sw|indent=3
|Ndovu wawili wakisongana, ziumiazo ni nyika.|c1=<ref>[https://afriprov.org/nov2001 afriprov.org Nov. 2001 Proverb: ” When elephants fight the grass (reeds) gets hurt.” – Swahili ( Eastern and Central Africa ), Also Gikuyu ( Kenya), Kuria ( Kenya/Tanzania), Ngoreme (Tanzania)]. Consulted on 13 June 2021.</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/swahilitalesasto00stee/page/193/mode/2up?view=theater Steere 1870], p. 193</ref>
|Where two elephants argue, the grassland is damaged.}}

== Sample text ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Swahili<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Swahili Reading |url=https://mylanguages.org/swahili_reading.php |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=mylanguages.org}}</ref>
!English<ref name=":2" />
|-
|'''Kifungu cha 26.'''
1) Kila mtu ana haki ya kuelimishwa. Elimu yapasa itolewe bure hasa ile ya madarasa ya chini. Elimu ya madarasa ya chini ihudhuriwe kwa lazima. Elimu ya ufundi na ustadi iwe wazi kwa wote. Na elimu ya juu iwe wazi kwa wote kwa kutegemea sifa ya mtu.

2) Elimu itolewe kwa madhumuni ya kuendeleza barabara hali ya binadamu, na kwa shabaha ya kukuza haki za binadamu na uhuru wake wa asili. Elimu ni wajibu ikuze hali ya kueleana, kuvumiliana na ya urafiki kati ya mataifa na kati ya watu wa rangi na dini mbali-mbali. Kadhalika ni wajibu iendeleze shughuli za Umoja wa Mataifa za kudumisha amani.

3) Ni haki ya wazazi kuchagua aina ya elimu ya kufunzwa watoto wao.
|'''Article 26'''
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.

2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Africa|Languages}}
*[[Mandombe script]]
*[[Swahili literature]]
*[[Settler Swahili]]
*[[GLOCALangs]]
*[[UCLA Language Materials Project]]
*[[Languages of Africa]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book |last=Ashton |first=E. O. |year=1947 |title=Swahili Grammar: Including intonation |location=Essex |publisher=Longman House |isbn=0-582-62701-X}}
* {{cite journal |last=Blommaert |first=Jan |year=2003 |url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/content/1/c6/01/42/29/paper23.pdf |title=Situating Language Rights: English and Swahili in Tanzania Revisited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609191850/http://kcl.ac.uk/content/1/c6/01/42/29/paper23.pdf |archive-date=9 June 2007 |journal=Working Papers in Urban Language & Literacies |article-number=23 |publisher=Ghent University}}
* {{cite journal |last=Brock-Utne |first=Birgit |year=2001 |title=Education for All – in Whose Language? |journal=Oxford Review of Education |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=115–134 |doi=10.1080/03054980125577 |s2cid=144457326}}
* {{cite book |last1=Chiraghdin |first1=Shihabuddin |last2=Mnyampala |first2=Mathias E. |author-link2=Mathias E. Mnyampala |year=1977 |title=Historia ya Kiswahili |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-572367-8}}
* {{cite web |last=Contini-Morava |first=Ellen |year=1994 |title=Noun Classification in Swahili |url=http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/swahili/oldversion/oldswahili.html |publisher=University of Virginia |website=Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201042652/http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/swahili/oldversion/oldswahili.html |archive-date=2024-02-01}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Irele |editor-first1=Abiola |editor-first2=Biodun |editor-last2=Jeyifo |year=2010 |title=The Oxford encyclopedia of African thought |volume=1 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533473-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Lambert |first=H. E. |year=1957 |title=Ki-Vumba: A Dialect of the Southern Kenya Coast |location=Kampala |publisher=East African Swahili Committee, Makerere College |lccn=93243012 |series=Studies in Swahili dialect |volume=2}}
* {{cite book |last=Lambert |first=H. E. |year=1958 |title=Chi-Jomvu and ki-Ngare: Subdialects of the Mombasa Area |location=Kampala |publisher=East African Swahili Committee, Makerere College |series=Studies in Swahili dialect |volume=3 |oclc=11680805}}
* {{cite book |last=Lambert |first=H. E. |year=1958 |title=Chi-Chifundi: A Dialect of the Southern Kenya Coast |publisher=East African Swahili Committee, Makerere College |location=Kampala |series=Studies in Swahili dialect |volume=5 |lccn=60032150}}
* {{cite book |last=Marshad |first=Hassan A. |title=Kiswahili au Kiingereza? (Nchini Kenya) |publisher=Jomo Kenyatta Foundation |location=Nairobi |year=1993 |isbn=9966-22-098-4 |language=sw}}
* {{cite book |last=Mugane |first=John A. |year=2015 |title=The Story of Swahili |location=Athens, OH |publisher=Ohio University Press |isbn=978-0-89680-293-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Nurse |first1=Derek |last2=Hinnebusch |first2=Thomas J. |title=Swahili and Sabaki: a linguistic history |year=1993 |series=University of California Publications in Linguistics |volume=121 |isbn=0520097750 |lccn=93004560}}
*{{cite journal |url=http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol12num3/ogechi.pdf |last=Ogechi |first=Nathan Oyori |title=On language rights in Kenya |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716165827/http://www.njas.helsinki.fi/pdf-files/vol12num3/ogechi.pdf |archive-date=16 July 2011 |journal=Nordic Journal of African Studies |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=277–295 |year=2003}}
* {{cite book |last=Prins |first=A. H. J. |year=1961 |chapter=The Swahili-Speaking Peoples of Zanzibar and the East African Coast (Arabs, Shirazi and Swahili) |title=Ethnographic Survey of Africa |editor-first=Daryll |editor-last=Forde |location=London |publisher=International African Institute}}
* {{cite book |last=Prins |first=A. H. J. |year=1970 |title=A Swahili Nautical Dictionary |location=Dar es Salaam |publisher=Chuo cha Uchunguzi wa Lugha ya Kiswahili |lccn=79981848 |series=Preliminary studies in Swahili lexicon |volume=1}}
* {{cite book |last=Sakai |first=Yuko |year=2020 |title=Swahili Syntax Tree Diagram: Based on Universal Sentence Structure |publisher=Createspace |isbn=978-1696306461}}
* {{cite book |last=Whiteley |first=Wilfred |year=1969 |title=Swahili: the rise of a national language |location=London |publisher=Methuen |series=Studies in African History}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150905062228/http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=17&menu=004 UCLA report on Swahili]
* John Ogwana (2001) [http://www.inst.at/trans/11Nr/ogwana11.htm Swahili Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: Factors of Its Development and Expansion]
* [https://swahili-dictionary.com/english-swahili/@list-swahili-english-dictionaries List of Swahili Dictionaries]
* {{cite book | author = Arthur Cornwallis Madan | url = https://archive.org/details/englishswahilid00madagoog/page/n3 | title = English-Swahili dictionary | via = [[Internet Archive|archive.org]] | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | year = 1902 | page = 555 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20181014223800/https://archive.org/stream/englishswahilid00madagoog/englishswahilid00madagoog_djvu.txt | archive-date = 14 October 2018 | url-status = live}}
* {{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Helen |last2=Gustafsson |first2=Marianne |title=Kiswahili Grammar Notes |date=1989 |url=https://kamusi.org/content/kiswahili-grammar-notes |access-date=21 December 2021}}
* [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24055-arabic-swahili.pdf "Proposal to add Arabic letter for Swahili"] at the Unicode Website
* [https://omniglot.com/conscripts/nasema.htm Nasema], a method of writing Swahili with the [[N'Ko script]]

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