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Swahili, also known by its local name Kiswahili, is a Bantu language originally spoken by the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent littoral islands). [6] Estimates of the number of Swahili speakers, including both native and second-language speakers, vary widely.
The Swahili people (Swahili: Waswahili, وَسوَحِيلِ) comprise mainly Bantu, Afro-Arab, and Comorian ethnic groups inhabiting the Swahili coast, an area encompassing the East African coast across southern Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, and northern Mozambique, and various archipelagos off the coast, such as Zanzibar, Lamu, and the Comoro Islands.
Swahili people speak Swahili as their native language, which belongs to the Bantu language family. Graham Connah described Swahili culture as at least partially urban, mercantile, and literate. [1] Swahili culture is the product of the history of the coastal part of the African Great Lakes region.
The Pokomos are the only tribe in the world with Kingozi language in use today. Kingozi language is the precursor of Swahili as quoted on page 98 in The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean. [9] The Pokomo culture is rich in folk tales, songs, dances, weddings, arts/artifacts to name but just a few.
Endonymically, the term for cultural objects, including language, is formed with the ki-noun class (Nguni ísi-), as in KiSwahili (Swahili language and culture), IsiZulu (Zulu language and culture) and KiGanda (Ganda religion and culture). In the 1980s, South African linguists suggested referring to these languages as KiNtu.
The Sabaki languages are the Bantu languages of the Swahili Coast, named for the Sabaki River.In addition to Swahili, Sabaki languages include Ilwana (Malakote) and Pokomo on the Tana River in Kenya, Mijikenda, spoken on the Kenyan coast; Comorian, in the Comoro Islands; and Mwani, spoken in northern Mozambique. [3]
Today, English is the official language in Kenya, while Swahili enjoys the status of the national language. British English is primarily used in Kenya. Additionally, a distinct local dialect, Kenyan English , is used by some communities and individuals in the country, and contains features unique to it that were derived from local Bantu ...
The "Shirazi era" refers to a mythic origin in the history of Southeast Africa (and especially Tanzania), between the 13th century and 15th century, as recorded in the 15th century Kilwa Chronicle. [1] Many Swahili in the central coastal region claim that their towns were founded by Persians from the Shiraz region in the 13th century. [citation ...