Swahili
About
If you recognize the phrase "hakuna matata" from Disney's The Lion King, you already speak a bit of Swahili. Swahili is spoken by millions of people in Eastern Africa.
The Swahili language, is basically of Bantu (African) origin. It has borrowed words from other languages such as Arabic probably as a result of the Swahili people using the Quran written in Arabic for spiritual guidance as Muslims.
A suggestion has been made that Swahili is an old language. The earliest known document recounting the past situation on the East African coast written in the 2nd century AD (in Greek language by anonymous author at Alexandria in Egypt and it is called the Periplus of Erythrean Sea) says that merchants visiting the East African coast at that time from Southern Arabia, used to speak with the natives in their local language and they intermarried with them. Those that suggest that Swahili is an old language point to this early source for the possible antiquity of the Swahili language.
Regarding the history of the Swahili language, the older view linked to the colonial time asserts that the Swahili language originates from Arabs and Persians who moved to the East African coast. Given the fact that only the vocabulary can be associated with these groups but the syntax or grammar of the language is Bantu, this argument has been almost forgotten. It is well known that any language that has to grow and expand its territories ought to absorb some vocabulary from other languages in its way.
Course Numbers
- Swahili 1: LING 0501
- Swahili 2: LING 0502
- Swahili 3: LING 0503
- Swahili 4: LING 0504
Instructor
Leonora Kivuva
lak31@pitt.edu
For more information go to: http://www.lctl.pitt.edu/swahili.html