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1 results

  • 12 - Geographic and Demographic Spread of Swahili

  • from Part Three - Language Spread
  • Edited by Salikoko S. Mufwene, University of Chicago, Anna María Escobar, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Handbook of Language Contact
    Published online:
    02 June 2022
    Print publication:
    30 June 2022, pp 358-381

  • Summary

    Originating from its relatively tiny native speaking population on the narrow East African coastal strip and its adjacent islands, the Swahili language today has spread throughout East and Central Africa to become the most widely spoken African language after Arabic. This chapter explores the various forces – trade, religion, education, wars, and urbanization – that have led to this momentous linguistic expansion over the years. In the process, the language came in contact with a number of other languages – of international traders and invaders like the Arabs and the Portuguese, of settler communities of Indian and Arabic descent, and of a broad range of African ethnic groups inland – that resulted in the emergence of new varieties of the language. In conclusion, the chapter will look at how, through the different spaces and contexts of linguistic contact, Swahili came to impact on other languages of East and Central Africa.