Where Swahili, the language of Tanzania and Zanzibar, is spoken
Tanzania and Zanzibar united in 1963, creating the United Republic of Tanzania. This leads us to believe that the country as a whole is also united from a linguistic point of view, which is partly the case: in general, the first language spoken is Swahili (the country’s official language, part of the Bantu language subfamily), but a second language is also used, namely English.
However, although the majority of the indigenous population is in Tanzania (numbering around 15 million), the language is also spoken in other countries, , including Congo, the Comoros Islands, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, parts of Yemen and Oman, Madagascar and Kenya (where it has not only been considered an official language, but also a compulsory subject in schools since the 1980s).
Characteristics of Tanzania’s official language, Swahili
Swahili is a Bantu language, belonging to the Niger-Kordofan linguistic stock, spoken, as we have seen, in many parts of Africa and beyond. However, there are a number of features that need to be highlighted, and these relate above all to the actual concentration of this language within the population: while it’s true that, as we’ve mentioned, it’s spoken in many places, it’s also true that it’s not used in all places as an everyday language.
One example is Kenya, where Swahili is widely used by local institutions and authorities, in schools and businesses, but is not commonly used by people at home. This is also the case in other countries, where dialects related to Swahili are more widespread.
The main characteristic of this language is that it is highly flexible, which explains why people have been able, over time, to “flex” and manipulate it according to the needs and requirements of the different historical and social, as well as cultural, relationships of the various peoples who speak it or have spoken it: it is precisely this variety that has given rise to the different dialects we’ll talk about later.
Name and history of the Tanzanian language Swahili
The language has a very ancient history: the name “Swahili” is derived from the Arabic adjective sawahili, which means “coastal” and refers specifically to people on the east coast of Africa. Several constructions derive from this root, which is why “mswahili” designates the people who speak the language, while “uswahili” refers to the culture associated with it.
The first traces of the use of this language date back to the first communications on the trade routes linking Africa and Asia, in the 1st century B.C., when its function was very important due to its multicultural nature: indeed, the first linguistic borrowings from other languages were numerous, especially at that time, with a characteristic flexibility that was not lost even in colonial times, when it continued to mutate and contaminate itself with other idioms.
Classification and relationship tothree languages
In linguistics, Swahili is classified among the Bantu languages and belongs to the sub-group known as Sabaki, which is related to Miji Kenda languages such as Pokomo and Ngazija, as well as to the languages of the Comoros.
As we predicted, its relations with other languages are very open, and it’s true that it has undergone many influences, mutations and borrowings over time: while it’s true that, in some cases, the same sentence can be said in several ways, non-Bantu languages tend to be more elegant and Bantu languages to be more vulgar.
Geographical distribution
As expected, its geographical distribution is very wide, and although it is officially considered the language of Tanzania and Zanzibar, it is not only used in these regions. In fact, it is essentially the mother tongue of the Swahili people (where Swahili refers not only to the population living in Tanzania or Zanzibar, but also in other islands such as Pemba, Mafia, Lamu, Madagascar and other parts of the Indian Ocean), but is also spoken in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Congo and, in general, in much of sub-Saharan Africa.
As an official language, it is spoken in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya. Along with five other languages, it is the most widely used language in the African Union.
See also Tanzania’s national parks.
Introduction to vocabulary and time
As far as vocabulary is concerned, it’s very rich indeed since Swahili is, as we mentioned, a language full of foreign-derived words and, as a flexible and open language, it has many terms borrowed from other languages. For example, there are many influences from Arabic, Persian, English, Portuguese and even German (not surprising, since Tanzania was heavily colonized by Germany). Some of these words are, for example, “meza” which means “table” in Portuguese; “kompyuta” which reminds us of the English “computer”; “shule” which reminds us of the German for “school”.
It’s worth noting the use of Swahili to indicate the twenty-four hours of the day and night: in fact, the Swahili numbering system counts the hours from sunrise and sunset, while the digit zero is not used.
Dialects
We have foreseen that Swahili is currently used mainly by institutions, companies and local authorities, as a language of information or communication between administrations, the media or schools, but it is above all its dialect that is most widespread. In fact, perhaps we should say its dialects, as there are different types depending on where they have been formed and established among the population.
In fact, the main dialect (or the one considered the standard and most widespread) is only the Zanzibar dialect, but in general, the spoken language has many different forms and significant differences between the various regions where it is used as the main form of domestic communication. There are no fewer than seven dialects and three sub-dialects. These include the kiUnguja dialect, on which standard Swahili is based, and which is spoken specifically in Zanzibar and other parts of Tanzania; the kiMvita dialect (spoken in Kenya and Mombasa); and the kiAmu dialect (widely spoken on the east coast of Africa).
