The Waswahili Community Trust UK
(Wadhamini wa Jumuiya ya Waswahili)
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The Waswahili Community Trust UK |
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A biologist might derive some joy and a degree of self-satisfaction by advancing the ecological definition of the Waswahili. But who would understand what he is talking about? Language is perhaps the most common element with which to identify a given people.
And so it with the Waswahili. They all have Kiswahili as their mother tongue. Some may bicker and say that there are some people who speak Kiswahili even better than those whose mother tongue it is. Fine! But it is still not his mother tongue.
We are not talking about the usage of a language. We are talking about Kiswahili as indeed the language he grew up talking at home. And this is one feature that is common among all the Swahilis: Kiswahili is their mother tongue whatever other languages they may actually speak.
Kiswahili has a rich diversity of dialects from Kimuini in Somalia to Kingazija in the Comoros. But whatever the dialect, the basic syntax is always Bantu.
Those who contest that Kiswahili is not an authentic Bantu - and therefore African - language are the ones that accuse Kiswahili of being an Arabic language or a kind of creole hybrid of a Bantu language and Arabic, should consult a linguist.
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Copyright© March 2003: The Waswahili Community Trust (UK)
Registered Charity:1083065
