Swahili language
(Redirected from Kiswahili)
| Swahili | |
|---|---|
| Kiswahili | |
| Native to | Burundi, DR Congo, Kenya, Mayotte (mostly Comorian), Mozambique (mostly Mwani), Oman, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda[1] |
Native speakers | 26 million (2007)[2] 120 million L2 speakers[3] |
| Latin, Arabic | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Tanzania Rwanda Kenya Uganda |
| Regulated by | Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa (Tanzania) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | sw |
| ISO 639-2 | swa |
| ISO 639-3 | swa – inclusive codeIndividual codes: swc – Congo Swahiliswh – Coastal Swahili |
G.42–43;[4] | |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUS-m |
 Areas where Swahili is spoken | |
The Swahili language is a language widely spoken in East Africa. In the language, its name is Kiswahili. It is a Bantu language.
Swahili is spoken in a wide area from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique and in all of Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. Congo has five million first-language speakers and fifty million second-language speakers. Swahili has become a language with which people communicate within East Africa and the surrounding areas.
Swahili was first spoken by the Swahili people, who live on the coast of East Africa and on the islands near the coast, including Zanzibar, which is now a part of Tanzania.
Swahili is an official language in Tanzania and Kenya. It has been influenced by many other languages like Arabic.
Sample words
[change | change source]- city - mji
- country - nchi
- earth - dunia
- no - hapana
- okay - sawa
- water - maji
- yes - ndiyo
- me - mimi
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Ethnologue list of countries where Swahili is spoken
Thomas J. Hinnebusch, 1992, "Swahili", International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Oxford, pp. 99–106
David Dalby, 1999/2000, The Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities, Linguasphere Press, Volume Two, pg. 733–735
Benji Wald, 1994, "Sub-Saharan Africa", Atlas of the World's Languages, Routledge, pp. 289–346, maps 80, 81, 85 - ↑ Nationalencyklopedin "Världens 100 största språk 2007" The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007
- ↑ Swahili language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
- ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
Other websites
[change | change source]
Swahili edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Kamusi Project Archived 2012-06-20 at the Wayback Machine Internet Living Swahili Dictionary
| National | |
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| Other | |
