Dominant Languages in a Plural Society: English and Kiswahili in Post-Colonial East Africa

Abstract

Within the regional constellation of languages in East Africa English and Kiswahili have been the most influential trans-ethnic languages. The sociopolitical dynamics of these languages, however, have varied from one country to another along three interrelated parameters:(1) the confluence of indigenous, Islamic and Western traditions; (2) the divide, in power relations, between imperial, hegemonic and preponderant languages; and (3) the difference in the sociolinguistic values of sentiment and instrumentality. In this interaction of social forces the languages have played complementary and competitive roles and have acquired both convergent and divergent functions. As the East African multilingual context continues to favor a state of polylingualism, English and Kiswahili have been struggling for greater legitimacy, the former by getting increasingly localized and the latter by seeking universalist credentials.

Algorithmic power and African indigenous languages: search engine autocomplete and the global multilingual Internet

“…Kiswahili has a strong presence of Arabic and English loan words through historical Indian Ocean trade connections and European colonisation in East Africa. Like Somali, Kiswahili now uses a Latin orthography; though Arabic script was used prior to the colonial encounter (Mazrui and Mazrui, 1993). Unlike Somali, Kiswahili names of people tend to be spelt the same as in English.…”

Ecrire en swahili : le romancier swahili et ses critiques

“…Trois ans après la parution du roman, A. M. Mazrui fait un compre rendu très élogieux de ce texte, sur des critères purement idéolo-giques (Mazrui, 1984). Treize années plus tard, Mwenda Mbatia revient sur ce compte rendu pour faire une critique conjointe du roman de Said Ahmed et de la perspective critique adoptée par Mazrui.…”

Development and initial validation of the Kiswahili version of the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS‐K) questionnaire

“…The Middle Eastern countries of Yemen and Oman equally have some Kiswahili speakers 5 . Kiswahili is the official language of Tanzania, an East African country with a population approaching 60 million residents 6 …”

“…5 Kiswahili is the official language of Tanzania, an East African country with a population approaching 60 million residents. 6 The Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) questionnaire is one of the patient-reported outcome tools to measure disabilities due to migraine. 7 It is a self-administered tool that quantifies the severity of disability by estimating the loss of productive time for routine activities in the form of lost days due to the incapacitating consequences of headaches over the antecedent 3 months.…”