The Story of Swahili (Africa in World History)

Swahili was once an obscure dialect of an East African Bantu language. Today more than one hundred million people use it: Swahili is to eastern and central Africa what English is to the world. From its embrace in the 1960s by the black freedom movement in the United States to its adoption in 2004 as the African Union’s official language, Swahili has become a truly international language. How this came about and why, of all African languages, it happened only to Swahili is the story that John M. Mugane sets out to explore. The remarkable adaptability of Swahili has allowed Africans and others to tailor the language to their needs, extending its influence far beyond its place of origin. Its symbolic as well as its practical power has evolved from its status as a language of contact among diverse cultures, even as it embodies the history of communities in eastern and central Africa and throughout the Indian Ocean world. The Story of Swahili calls for a reevaluation of the widespread assumption that cultural superiority, military conquest, and economic dominance determine a language’s prosperity. This sweeping history gives a vibrant, living language its due, highlighting its nimbleness from its beginnings to its place today in the fast-changing world of global communication.

History

Mugane, John M.

Africa

Ohio University Press

Product DetailsUnknown Binding: 299 pagesPublisher: Aramati Digital Technologies Publications; 1st edition (1999)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0967309603ISBN-13: 978-0967309606

Tujifunze Kiswahili =: Let's learn Swahili

Reference

Aramati Digital Technologies Publications

Linguistic Typology and Representation of African Languages

"For the thirty-third consecutive year, the Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL) has provided the major forum for the discussion of linguistic data geared towards understanding how African languages are constituted, acquired, and used. This volume represents a selection of 25 peer-reviewed papers from the 33rd ACAL held in March 2002 at Ohio University in Athens. The papers cover language acquisition, syntax, phonetics, phonology, morphology, historical linguistics, as well as language use and function in Africa by making proposals concerning the proper analysis and representation of linguistic information."

Linguistic Typology And Representation Of African Languages

CONFERENCE ON AFRICAN LINGUISTICS 2002

Words, Language & Grammar

Africa World Pr

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