*What is Swahili?*

From: John Achokah

Along the eastern coast of Africa from Somalia to Mozambique are a number of old Swahili towns. Visitors will see on the foreshore or on small offshore islands, their whitewashed houses of coral, a number of small mosques where men from the immediate neighborhood gather in their white gowns and small embroidered caps for prayers and outside of which they gather afterwards to discuss town affairs in measured tones. Women are rarely seen outside except in the evenings when they discreetly visit with their female relatives and friends.

The Swahili coast has a long history of involvement with the outside world, dating back to the first millennium after Christ. Trading dhow have sailed down this coast from the Arabian peninsular and the Persian Gulf following the annual northeast monsoon to trade pottery, cloth, and iron tools for African slaves, ivory, gold, timber, shells, dyes, and perfumes. Their home bound journey followed the shift of the monsoon winds to the southeast.

Although the Swahili language is widely spoken in Africa, the concentration is in towns scattered along the coastline of East Africa. Coastal Swahili speakers often stress their difference between themselves and their neighbors, emphasizing their descent from immigrants from Shiraz Persia and from Arabia who had come centuries earlier to the African coast to trade and who stayed to settle, build coral towns, live a sophisticated urban life, and rule.

The Swahili civilization dates back to at least the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. When the Europeans visited the coast in the nineteenth century, Swahili towns appeared to be products of a Persian and Arab Diaspora that had spread around the Indian Ocean. There were extensive and elaborate buildings and a large scale of imports of Islamic and Chinese pottery. These lasted until the Portuguese destroyed a number of towns during the sixteenth century in their attempt to control the Indian Ocean trade routes. This is one of the main causes for the decline of the coastal habitat of the Swahili people, a clear evidence being the towns of Kilwa and Mafia on the coast of Tanzania. Visitors can see many ruins in Mombasa (Kenya), Zanzibar and Bagamoyo (Tanzania) which are preserved by the government and which stand as a reminder of the early influences of the Arabs, Portuguese and Chinese.

Scholars claim that Swahili is a combination of a number of languages. Some have even claimed that Swahili has Arabic origin. While the term Swahili has its origin from Arabic, Sahel or Sawahel, which means coast, the language of the people, and which is referred to by the speakers as Kiswahili, has characteristics of Bantu languages. Not only has Swahili borrowed heavily from Arabic but also from many European languages. The basic sound system and grammar is closely related to Bantu languages of northeast Tanzania, Kenya, and the Comoro Islands.

Swahili is the lingua franca of Tanzania and Kenya. In Tanzania, it is used for instruction at the primary school level and some subjects at the secondary school level. In Tanzania, more than Kenya, it is the language of official government business and most formal situations. It is used in the market place, church, meetings and rallies. There is a substantial literature in the language especially novels and poems. Both the government and private news groups publish daily papers in Kiswahili exposing the language variations that exist among the Swahili speakers.

There are a few dialects which are distinct from standard Swahili. These dialects are spoken in Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zaire, and some parts of Mozambique. Because of Tanzania's involvement with refugees from countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa, Swahili dialects can be found in these regions too. of the . In addition there are some dialects spoken in mainland Tanzania and Kenya and in several neighboring countries.

*Sample Swahili Text:* *Greetings*

A: *Hujambo.* Hi/Hello.
B: *Sijambo.* Hi/Hello.

A: *Habari gani?* How are you (lit. what are the news)?
B: *Habari nzuri* (sana). Good (very).

B: *Na wewe je?* How about you (yourself)?
A: *Mzima*. Fine (lit. I am healthy).

B: *Nyumbani hawajambo?* Is everyone at home well?
A: *Wote hawajambo.* All are fine.

A: *Habari za kazi?* How is (your) work? >
B: *Kazi inaendelea vizuri.* Work is fine (lit. work is going well).

A: *Haya, tutaonana.* O.k. we will see each other again (later).
B: *Haya, kwa heri ya kuonana.* O.k.,Goodbye (lit. goodbye for to see each other again).

*Choni bwachoka* *New Jersey*