Comments on: is Swahili a semitic language? http://www.onlineswahili.com/is-swahili-a-semitic-language.htm Learn how to speak Swahili Wed, 19 Jan 2011 17:40:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: KaribuTanzania http://www.onlineswahili.com/is-swahili-a-semitic-language.htm/comment-page-1#comment-62 KaribuTanzania Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:06:32 +0000 http://www.onlineswahili.com/is-swahili-a-semitic-language.htm#comment-62 The 100 million people you are referring to are speaking Kiswahili . It is not easy to define since its made up of different languages but I don't think it is Semitic , it does have some Semitic influences , but also Bantu, nguni ,english , dutch & german.... Karibu Bwana Edit: I am 3d language Swahili and I am probaly not in a potision to answer this Q. Great language thought. Also people please distinques between Bantu & Nguni The 100 million people you are referring to are speaking Kiswahili . It is not easy to define since its made up of different languages but I don’t think it is Semitic , it does have some Semitic influences , but also Bantu, nguni ,english , dutch & german….
Karibu Bwana

Edit: I am 3d language Swahili and I am probaly not in a potision to answer this Q. Great language thought.

Also people please distinques between Bantu & Nguni

]]> By: Svartalf http://www.onlineswahili.com/is-swahili-a-semitic-language.htm/comment-page-1#comment-63 Svartalf Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:06:32 +0000 http://www.onlineswahili.com/is-swahili-a-semitic-language.htm#comment-63 Swahili is NOT a semitic language. It is Bantu. And of Course speakers of other Bantu languages don't understand it... Belonging to the same group of languages implies similar structures, but can cover incredible ranges for phonetics, vocabulary and grammar... and yes, you are right that as a major lingua franca, Kiswahili is largely used in pidgin form... which doesn't mean that your version of it is so pure or perfect to what might be called 'classical' swahili (the form that was initially so widely adopted) either... Remember that the language has been a communication device for centuries, but that relations have not been constant between the populations using it as a mother language and those using it as a second language, nor have native users necessarily held cultural dominion over the rest, or preserved it in its pristine original form. Any Semitic elements in it are most likely loans from Arabic. Kenya has had major relations with the Arabic Peninsula, and it may very well be that local populations have adopted vocabulary or intonations from their neighbors, which other, more insulated populations would not have, and associate with the semites. This still does not make Swahili a semitic language. Swahili is NOT a semitic language. It is Bantu. And of Course speakers of other Bantu languages don’t understand it… Belonging to the same group of languages implies similar structures, but can cover incredible ranges for phonetics, vocabulary and grammar… and yes, you are right that as a major lingua franca, Kiswahili is largely used in pidgin form… which doesn’t mean that your version of it is so pure or perfect to what might be called ‘classical’ swahili (the form that was initially so widely adopted) either… Remember that the language has been a communication device for centuries, but that relations have not been constant between the populations using it as a mother language and those using it as a second language, nor have native users necessarily held cultural dominion over the rest, or preserved it in its pristine original form.

Any Semitic elements in it are most likely loans from Arabic. Kenya has had major relations with the Arabic Peninsula, and it may very well be that local populations have adopted vocabulary or intonations from their neighbors, which other, more insulated populations would not have, and associate with the semites. This still does not make Swahili a semitic language.

]]> By: ganesh http://www.onlineswahili.com/is-swahili-a-semitic-language.htm/comment-page-1#comment-64 ganesh Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:06:32 +0000 http://www.onlineswahili.com/is-swahili-a-semitic-language.htm#comment-64 It's a Narrow Bantu language. It’s a Narrow Bantu language.

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