Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison
BY
ERIKA HORIGAMI
A GRADUATION THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF FOREIGN STUDIES
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF ARTS
IN ENGLISH STUDIES
SUPERVISOR:
Judy Yoneoka
Kumamoto Gakuen University
Oe 2-5-1 Kumamoto
Japan
Dec. 17, 2002
This thesis consists of 3266 words
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
CONTENTS
1
2
2.1
Introduction
The phonemic structure of the Swahili and English languages
Vowels
2.1.1
Vowels in isolation
2.1.2
Vowels in Words and Sentences
2.2
Consonants
2.2.1
Phonemics of Swahili and English
2.2.2
Comparison of Phonemic Inventories
3
The borrowed words from English and other languages
4
The language of instruction debate in Tanzania; English or Swahili?
5
Conclusion
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABSTRACT
みなさんは「スワヒリ語」という言語を聞いたことがありますか？多くの人が「No」と
返答するだろう。私もかつてその中の一人であった。なぜこのようなテーマを選んだのか
と言うと、
「アフリカ」では英語を使用しているはずがないと思い込んでいたからだ。しか
し、わたしの考えは覆された。さまざまな文献を調べていく内にスワヒリ語と英語の関連
性が見えてきたのだ。
かつてスワヒリ語はアラビア文字で表記されていたが 19 世紀の半ばからローマ字へと変
わった。主な地域で話されている国は、ケニア、ウガンダ、タンザニアでありいずれも東
アジアである。特にケニア、ウガンダでは英語は第二言語として定着しており、必要不可
欠な言語となっている。私は英語とスワヒリ語の相違性を特に母音、子音の音素構造から
比較してみた。そして他国からの借用語、最後にタンザニアの言語教育の現状を述べた。
現在、タンザニアを含め、アフリカの言語教育はこれから抱えていかなければならない重
要課題の一つだと思う。
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
I. Introduction
Have you ever heard language of “Swahili”? The answer would probably be “No”.
Why I chose Swahili for this study is that I didn’t think that African people use English. But I
looked look over the relation between Swahili and English, a surprise awaited me. Swahili
language is spoken in most east Africa, in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania and used as a
lingua franca. About 50 million people speak the Swahili language, which is included the
second language speakers. Its language comes from Pidgin language between a group of
Arabic merchants and a group of Bantu language speakers in coast of East Africa for trade
negotiation. In this paper, I investigate how Swahili and English are different.
Specifically, I concentrate on the phonetic structure of the two languages in section 2,
comparing vowels and consonants. I compared English pronunciation with Swahili, heard
on tape, Swahili speaker in Kenya, and Internet. In Section 3, I discuss words that were
borrowed from English and other languages into Swahili and their historical background.
Finally, in Section 4, I discuss the specific situation in Tanzania with respect to the current
debate regarding the language of instruction in schools and office—whether it should be
Swahili or English or a combination of the two.
2. Swahili and English phonology compared
2.1 Vowel
There are 5 vowels in Swahili, and 12 vowels in English. We can find the vowels of
Swahili among the vowels of English as follows:
English…[ ] (see), [ ] (miss), [e] (better), [ ] (cat), [ ] (father), [ ] (mop), [ ] (law), [ ]
(mop), [u ] (cool), [u] (cook), [ ] (cut), [ ] (bird), [ ] (sofa)
Swahili…/a/ (father), /e/ (better), /i/ (see), /o/ (law), /u/ (pool)
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
There are five vowels in Swahili /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. I notice that difference pronunciation
between vowels one by one and vocabulary, sentence. I’d explanation these cases that it
pronounce vowels one by one (a-1) and it pronounce vocabulary, sentence. (a-2). But, I’d
leave the sentence case out because of necessary listen in practice. I decided to listen
carefully some Swahili sentence and English sentence on my own investigation.
2.1.1―vowels in isolation
There are some instances of English vowels, so you’d like to think of the same pattern
of Swahili vowels one by one.
/a/ in Swahili is similar to [ ] low open back vowel in English.
/e/ in Swahili is similar to [ei] vowel in English. This [ei] is, as it were, diphthong. The
[ei] of diphthong vowel and [e] is almost similar to vowel. So, [I] of [ei] can’t almost hear.
It is lengthened and long sound.
/i/ in Swahili is similar to [i‫ ]׃‬high close front vowel in English.
/o/ in Swahili is similar to [
] low open back vowel in English.
/u/ in Swahili is similar to [ υ‫ ]׃‬high close back vowel in English
Swahili vowels
English vocabulary and phonetic sign
/a/
half /h lf/, father /f
/e/
late /leit/, better /bet (r)/
/i/
meat /mi t/, see /si /
/o/
law /l /, tall /t l/
/u/
pool /pu l/, rule /ru l/
(r)/,
Table1: Comparison between Swahili and English vowels in
isolation
2.1.2―vowels in words and sentences
In the case of pronunciation of words and sentences,
/a/ in Swahili is similar to [Λ] low close central vowel in English. [Λ] in British English,
it is rather close Japanese [ア]. On the other hand, [Λ] in American English, place of
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
tongue is high and open mouth is narrow as compare with Japanese. In my opinion, /a/ in
Swahili (a-2) belongs to [Λ] class as I hear /a/ in Swahili of vocabulary and sentence.
/e/ in Swahili is similar to [e] mid close front vowel in English
I think that place of tongue is low and open mouth is rather wide /e/ in Swahili.
There are some instances of [e] in English vocabulary.
.
/i/ in Swahili is similar to [I] high open front in English. This [I] is that it isn’t same as
Japanese the middle sound of [イ] and [エ] in Japanese. It is proper to the point of like [イ]
in Japanese.
/o/ in Swahili is similar to [ ] low close back vowel in English. Compare with [オ] in
Japanese. In my opinion, /o/ in Swahili is that lip is rounded and open mouth is wide.
/u/ in Swahili is similar to [u] high open back vowel in English.
This [u] is that lip is pushed out forward, same as [u‫]׃‬. Of course, length of sound is short.
Open of mouth is wider than [u].
Swahili vowels
English vocabulary and phonetic sign
/a/; baba (father)
luck /l k/, cut /k t/
/e/; wewe (you)
get /get/, set /set/
/i/; kiti (chair)
miss /mis/, pick /pik/
/o/; moto (fire)
lobby /l bi/, topic /t pik/
/u/; nusu (half)
foot /fut/, cook /kuk/
Table2: Comparison between Swahili and English vowels in words and sentences
2.2 Consonants
Consonants are usually defined linguistically in three ways: voiced/ voiceless, place of
articulation and manner of articulation. From here, we will look at consonants with respect
to Swahili and English.
First of all, we can classify consonants into (1) voiced consonants and (2) voiceless
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
consonants, and compare the number of voiced and voiceless consonants English and
Swahili as follows:
In English… (1) [b], [d], [g], [m], [n], [l], [v], [z], [w], [r], [j]
(2) [p], [t], [k], [f], [s], [h]
(15 in all)
(9 in all)
In Swahili… (1) /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /z/, /ny/, /ng’/( ), /j/( ), /w/, /y/(j), /r/, /l/, /dh/, /gh/, /mw/, /bw/
(16 in all)
(2) /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /m/, /n/, /ch/( ), /h/, /th/( ), /sh/( )
(11 in all)
I classified /ny/, /ng’/( ), /j/( ), /mw/, /bw/, /m/, /n/, /ch/( ) as voiced consonant under the
influence of listening carefully.
Secondly, where is used the respiratory organs as pronounce, for instance, place of
articulation and compare with Swahili and English in a diagram. Articulation is that it is made
speech sound as various sound organs.
As to the variety of place of articulation is eight.
1, bilabial
[p], [b], [m], [w]
2, labio-dental
3, dental
[f], [v]
[ ], [ ]
4, alveolar
[t], [d], [s], [z], [l], [n]
5, alveo-palatal
6, palatal
7, velar
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [r]
[j]
[k], [g], [ ]
8, glottal
[h]
Next, we will compare the phonetic character of Swahili consonants with English
consonants.
bilabial labiodental dental alveolar postalveolar palatal velar
explosive
ｐ
ｔ
implosive
ｂ
ｄ
ｆ、ｖ
fricative
nasal
ｍ
th,dh
ｓ、ｚ
ｎ
glottal
ｋ
ch
ｊ
ｇ
kh,gh ｈ
sh
ny
ng'
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
liquid
ｒ,l
w
Nasal-compound mb
mv
ｙ
nd,nz
nj
ng
Table 3: Swahili Consonants
bilabial labiodental dental alveolar Alveo-palatal velar
explosive
1,p
1,t 2,d
glottal palatal
1,k2,g
2,b
fricative
1,f 2,v
1,
Ѳ 1,s 2,z
1,
2,
1,
2,
1,h
2,
affricate
lateral
2,l
nasal
2,
2,m
2,n
Semi-vowel
2,r
2,(w)
2,j
2,w
Table 4: English Consonants
1=voiceless sound
2=voiced sound
Next, we will compare the phonetic character of Swahili consonants with English
consonants.
/p/ in Swahili is almost similar to English [p]. This consonant is voiceless stop and the
sound, bursts open through the mouth. Voiced stop, which is the opposite, is [b]. /p/ in
Swahili has two phonemes. One is [p] and another is [ph]. This [ph] is that occurs at the
beginning of a word. For instance, when you put paper front of the mouth, this paper would
spring out. It makes this sound [ph] like these situations. However the two sounds /p/ in
Swahili are phonemic. By these differences of pronunciation, the speech language of
meaning is completely difficult. [ph] is aspirated in class 9/10 nominal and [p] is
pronounced in class 5/6 nominal.1 Class 9/10 nominal classifies as animals, kinship terms,
There are 8 classes’ nouns in Swahili. See the index of bibliography SWAHILI /
ENGLISH
1
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
and borrowed words. This borrowed words are from Arabic, English, Portuguese, Indian
languages, and others. Class 5/6 nominal classifies as fruits, parts of plants, and others.
―For instance, phaa (9/10) is “gazelle”, versus paa (5/6) is “roof”.
/t/ in Swahili is similar to [t] voiceless alveolar stops in English. When it is the
beginning of a word, it is pronounced a strong expiration. In English [t], it is the alveolar
that tip of tongue is touched with alveolar-ridge. In Swahili, the two phonemes are used
differentiate different nominal classes from nominal. For instance, thai 9/10 is “tie”, versus
taifa 5/6 is “nation”.
/k/ in Swahili is similar to [k] voiceless velar stops in English. This sound is the same
as /p/ and /t/ situation. The two /k/ phoneme differences from nominal. For instance,
khaa (9/10) is “crab”, versus kaa 5/6 is “piece of charcoal”.
―Aspirated sounds make a slight puff of air following the voiceless sounds. In English, the
[p] after another consonant (speak, sharp, speech) and the end of syllable isn’t aspirated.
/b/ in Swahili is similar to [b] voiced bilabial stop in English. The voiced sound [b]
corresponds to [p] voiceless is low expiration as against [p], and it isn’t carry aspirate.
Generally, voiced sound is low expiration as against voiceless sound.
/d/ in Swahili is similar to [d] voiced alveolar stop in English. It is the same pattern
expiration and aspirate like [p].
/g/ in Swahili is similar to [g] voiced velar stop in English. This sound is noticed point
isn’t mistake for nasal [ ]. This [g] is always “strong” as in English goat [gout], isn’t
pronounced “soft” as in English gin [d in].
―These /b/, /d/, and /g/ are voiced sound as English. But they are implosive sound in
Swahili. This implosive sound is that the air is breathed into the mouth as they are
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
released. ―For instance, it is baba (father), gumu (hard), dada (sister).
/f/ in Swahili is similar to [f] voiceless labio-dental fricatives in English.
/v/ in Swahili is similar to [v] voiced labio-dental fricatives in English.
/s/ in Swahili is similar to [s] voiceless alveolar fricatives in English. In English /s/,
sometimes plural is changed –s to –z. The case of [z], there are vowels or voiced stop
except [z, ,
]. For instance, heroes [
], beds [
]. In Swahili /s/, it is never
pronounced as /z/.
/z/ in Swahili is similar to [z] voiced alveolar fricatives in English. The notice point of
[z], it isn’t pronounced [dz] as in English.
―For instance, it is fatuma (a girl’s name), vizuri (well), fupi (short), sasa (now), kavu (dry).
/m/ in Swahili is similar to [m] bilabial nasals in English.
/n/ in Swahili is similar to [n] alveolar nasals in English.
―These sounds /m/, /n/ are different sounds when it follows consonant next to m- and n-.
This pattern has many in Swahili consonant. Beginning of a word /m/ before consonant is
pronounced nasal which is gone out the breath from nose. For instance, it is mtu[m(i) tu]
(person), mboga (vegitable), nta[n(ui)ta] (wax), ndege (bird, airplane), ngoma (dance). /m/
and /n/ of mboga and ndege wouldn’t almost hear.
/ny/ in Swahili isn’t being in English consonant. Although, it is similar to the segment
[ni] in the English word, [onion]. I think imitation word that vowel /a/ next to /ny/, it is similar
to Japanese mimetic word of cat, [ニャ]. ―For instance, it is nyanya (grandmother,
tomato), ninyi (you in plural).
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
/ng’/ in Swahili is similar to the final [ng] sounds in the English word, young[
strong[
], long[
],
]. /n/ of /ng’/ is similar to nasal. But, when it is word next to /ng/, it
is difficult finger, singer. ―For instance, it is ng’ombe (cow, cattle), ng’oa (pull out).
/ch/ in Swahili is similar to [ ] voiceless palatp-alveolar affricates in English. As in
English, it is similar to chance[
], cheek[
], but not as in English chemist[
].
―For instance, it is chakula (food), chache (few).
/j/ in Swahili is similar to [ ] voiced palato-alveolar affricates in English. But it
seems to be hear /dy/ to /j/. ―For instance, hujambo[fudyambo] (hello), jana[dyana]
(yesterday).
/w/ in Swahili is similar to [w] velar or bilabial semi-vowel (glide) in English. When it
comes to a vowel next to [w], it changes over quickly to the vowel. This is the same case
/w/ in Swahili.
/y/ in Swahili is similar to [y] palatal semi-vowel in English. The /y/ case in Swahili,
the vowel [i] is almost similar to tongue and form of lip.
/h/ in Swahili is similar to [h] glottal fricative in English. This sound [h] is same shape
as following vowel and semi-vowel to the shape of lip and tongue. The /h/ in Swahili
consonant is mostly borrowed from Arabic with kh. For instance, muhtasari is come from
mukhtasari (summary), heri is come from kheri (happiness, blessedness, good fortune, etc),
habari is come from khabari (news).
―For instance, it is watu (person), huyu[fuyu] (this one=person), yeye[ieie] (she or he),
hawa (these ones=people).
/r/ in Swahili is quite difficult from the English one. The /r/ in Swahili, I think that tip of
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
tongue is flopped lightly near back of alveolar-ridge. ―For instance, it is habari[habar(u)i]
(new), heri[her(u)i] (happiness, blessedness, good fortune, etc), robo[r(u)obo] (spirit, soul).
/l/ in Swahili is similar to [l] alveolar lateral in English. Second language speakers of
Swahili often don’t distinguish [l] and [r] in pronunciation. ―For instance, it is lala (sleep),
leo (today).
/th/ in Swahili is similar to [ ] voiceless dental fricatives in English. Tip of tongue is
stuck out forward a little between upper teeth and lower teeth, or tip of tongue is touched
lightly the reverse of upper teeth. As the sound in English, “thick”, “thin” and “mouth”.
South East Africans are pronounced this sound as “s”. For instance, it is thelathini (thirty),
theluji (snow), themanini (eighty).
/dh/ in Swahili is similar to [ ] voiced dental fricatives in English. This is the same
pattern of /th/, it is changed voiced sound.
As the sound in English is “that”, “mother”
and “without”. But there is exception of /dh/, /h/ of /dhani/ isn’t pronounced. ―For
instance, dhani [thambi] (sin), dhani [dani] (think).
/gh/ in Swahili isn’t in English. The /n/ of /gh/ in Swahili, isn’t pronounced and /g/ as a
fricative. ―For instance compared, it is ghala[g(u)ala] (storehouse), ghali[g(u)ali]
(expensive) in Swahili versus sing.
/sh/ in Swahili is similar to [ ] voiceless palato-alveolar fricatives in English. This
sound /sh/ is followed for the most part into Swahili from Arabic. For instance compared, it
is ishirini (twenty), mshahara[m(u)shahara] (salary) in Swahili versus push, dish, and
selfish in English.
/mw/ in Swahili isn’t in English. This is a combination word /m/ followed /w/. It is
pronounced that lip is rounded before /m/ and then gliding into /w/. For instance, it is
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
mwalimu[m(u)walimu] (teacher), mwanafunzi[m(u)wanafunzi] (student).
/bw/ in Swahili isn’t in English. This is a combination word /m/ followed /w/. It is
similar to /mw/. The lip are rounded before pronounce /b/ and then it glided into /w/. For
instance, it is bwana [b(u)wana] (sir, Mr), mbwa [mb(u)wa] (dog).
3. Words borrowed into Swahili from English and other languages.
Borrowed words from Arabic
Swahili has borrowed a great deal of vocabulary from Arabic, and from other languages
as well. It has been estimated that the borrowing from Arabic, Persian, Hindi, and other
Indian Ocean languages, amount to 20% of the spoken vocabulary in Swahili. From Arabic,
the assimilated words are connected with religion, trade, commerce, sailing, and urban
living. For instance as follows; tarehe (date), nabii (prophet), kitabu (book), kalamu (pen,
pencil), fariji (comfort), dau (type of sailing vessel).
Borrowed words from Portuguese
Second, as an influence of trading Portuguese added much vocabulary used in card
playing, and other vocabulary representative of their culture. For instance as follows;
geneza (jail), foronya (pillowcase), bomba (pump), mvinyo (wine).
Borrowed words from British
Finally, in the middle of nineteenth century, the British explored and eventually
colonized East Africa. Under the influence of the British, Swahili has taken many words
from English. Most of these are for nations, clothing, technology, and artifacts. For
example, Swahili borrowed words the following words from British. motokaa (car), baisikeli
(bicycle), mashini (machine), bosi (boss), soksi (socks), tai (tie), demokrasia (democracy),
benki (bank), daktari (doctor), roketi (rocket), eropleni (airplane), jela (jail), gavana
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
(governor), kampuni (company), dereva (driver), faini (fine), penesileni (penicillin), meya
(mayor), teksi (taxi), silabi (syllable), hospitali (hospital), digri (degree), historia (history)
It can be seen that most of these words end in –I or –a. According to Hinnebusch
(1992), nouns are classified morphologically, with assigned to Noun class 9/10 or 5/10.
Thus we see that the borrowed vocabulary has been systematically indigenized
grammatically.
4
The language of instruction debate in Tanzania; English or Swahili?
English is widely a very necessary language for reading in Tanzania, East Africa. But
in secondary schools 95% of the students can’t understand in English. Teachers don’t
almost understand special knowledge about English, either. The public secondary school
in Tanzania, almost all students and teachers don’t understand English. For instance, in a
certain secondary school, only 3 of the 45 teachers can use English fluency. This is a very
serious problem, and it is recommended that secondary school teachers need to retrain in
English.
In work situations, employers expect a high level of English education of youth. In
Tanzania, a high percentage of workers have to use English. When foreign investors visit
on business they speak in English, workers in Tanzania have to attend to them in English.
On the other hand, some people hold the opposite opinion. The following sentence
caught my eye in a homepage. According to http://www.ippmedia.com/KISWAHILI, “If you
want our gold, you must speak our language!”
Both of these viewpoints show that
Tanzanian people have strong belief that both English and Swahili are very important
languages for their country.
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
5
Conclusion
In this paper, I divided into each Swahili vowels and consonants from English phonetic
sign. In Swahili vowels, I found that it is pronounced vowels one by one are long but they
are relatively short in compare with English phonemes.
On the other hand, Japanese, which is my mother tongue, and Swahili vowels, are very
similar. Swahili vowels are easily transformed into Japanese, ア/a/、イ/i/、ウ/u/、エ/e/、
オ/o/. When I put a question to Kenyan women whether Swahili and Japanese sounds are
similar, her answer was“ I think so”, too.
Secondly, the Swahili consonants, /ny/, /ng’/, /dh/, /gh/, /mw/, /bw/ aren’t represented in
English. It is difference of representations, but other English consonants could use these
Swahili consonants segmentally in English vocabulary.
Finally, I was surprised the languages of debate in Tanzanian education at secondly
school. It was seen that not only the lack of English achievement of students was a
problem, but also the lack of qualified teachers. This will be a very serious problem from
now on.
In addition, this debate under sources another problem for Swahili and many other
world languages, the fact that English is considered as important as Swahili in Tanzania. I
think that this could be similar situation in other countries as well. In the future, it many
become necessary to actively protect Swahili language as a mother tongue.
Bibliography:
Ashton, E.O. (1994) Swahili Grammar
Longman.
Hinnebusch, Thomas J. & Sara M. Mirza (1998): KISWAHILI / SWAHILI:
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF AMERICA
Linguistic and Sociolinguistic
Aspects of Swahili and English: A comparison (HORIGAMI)
Hinnebusch, Thomas J. (1992) “Swahili” in International Encyclopedia of
Linguistics, Vol. 4, p. 99-206.
Inaki A. & T. Hotta & T. Okita (1995): Eigo･ Eigo・Eigogaku: Shouhakusya
Nema, H (1986): EIGO no HATSUON ENSHU: Tanishukan
“Swahili Pronunciation”, (2001) The Kamusi Project, Internet Living Swahili Dictionary,
available at http://www.yale.edu/swahili/ Dec. 17, 2002.
“Swahili
Medium
Debate:
Languge
of
Instruction”,
IPP
Media,
http://www.ippmedia.com/KISWAHILI%20MEDIUM%20DEBATE:Language%20of%20inst,
November 2002.