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86-554: Lumbwa treaty derives from the word Lumbwa . Its origin dates back to the arrival of Ameru in Mount Kenya region. Upon their arrival, they interacted with what seemed to be two distinct communities speaking a Kalenjin-Ogiek language. One part of the community was associated with Sirikwa culture and more specifically, Sirikwa pits and thus the bantu speaking Ameru called them Humba, Humbua and Lumbwa . The description of these two communities coincides with similar oral tradition for

172-560: A 'little bit' of some characteristic, like -y or -ish in English). For example, there is kijani "green", from jani "leaf" (compare English 'leafy'), kichaka "bush" from chaka "clump", and kivuli "shadow" from uvuli "shade". A 'little bit' of a verb would be an instance of an action, and such instantiations (usually not very active ones) are found: kifo "death", from the verb -fa "to die"; kiota "nest" from -ota "to brood"; chakula "food" from kula "to eat"; kivuko "a ford,

258-468: A group of communities that were referred to as Oropom , Jenqwel, Sirikwa, Sengwer, Sikker among others. These descriptions can describe Iraqw people and Datoga Kalenjin who used to live in association with each other, with Iraqw known for elaborate irrigation systems especially in Lake Baringo area and as well as the building of fortified cattle settlement in what is otherwise termed Sirikwa holes . On

344-782: A historical process in which /l/ became elided between the second last and last vowels of a word (for example, kondoo , "sheep" was originally kondolo , which survives in certain dialects ). As a consequence, long vowels are not considered phonemic . A similar process exists in Zulu . Where not shown, the orthography is the same as IPA. Some dialects of Swahili may also have the aspirated phonemes /pʰ tʰ tʃʰ kʰ bʱ dʱ dʒʱ ɡʱ/ though they are unmarked in Swahili's orthography. Multiple studies favour classifying prenasalization as consonant clusters, not as separate phonemes. Historically, nasalization has been lost before voiceless consonants, and subsequently

430-588: A lot on case law and precedence. A lesser known, yet important function of the Njuri Ncheke, is overseeing and enforcing the rules and regulations controlling the use and conservation of open grasslands, salt-licks and forests. Their work as conservators extends to the preservation of the Sacred Sites. The Njuri Ncheke is influential in socio-economic and political decision-making amongst the Meru. The council spearheaded

516-557: A major role in spreading both Christianity and Islam in East Africa . From their arrival in East Africa, Arabs brought Islam and set up madrasas , where they used Swahili to teach Islam to the natives. As the Arab presence grew, more and more natives converted to Islam and were taught using the Swahili language. From the arrival of Europeans in East Africa, Christianity was introduced to

602-573: A means of national integration in Tanzania. Key activities mandated for the organisation include creating a healthy atmosphere for the development of Swahili, encouraging use of the language in government and business functions, coordinating activities of other organisations involved with Swahili, standardising the language. BAKITA vision are: "1.To efficiently manage and coordinate the development and use of Kiswahili in Tanzania 2.To participate fully and effectively in promoting Swahili in East Africa, Africa and

688-647: A pass" from -vuka "to cross"; and kilimia "the Pleiades ", from -limia "to farm with", from its role in guiding planting. A resemblance, or being a bit like something, implies marginal status in a category, so things that are marginal examples of their class may take the ki-/vi- prefixes. One example is chura ( ki-ura ) "frog", which is only half terrestrial and therefore is marginal as an animal. This extension may account for disabilities as well: kilema "a cripple", kipofu "a blind person", kiziwi "a deaf person". Finally, diminutives often denote contempt, and contempt

774-721: A politician of Asian origin, to represent Imenti North Constituency and Kinoti Gatobu , a 26-year-old independent candidate, to represent Buuri Constituency . In the same elections, Kithure Kindiki , the Senator from Tharaka-Nithi County, became the Majority Leader in the Senate. The historical and cultural artifacts of the Meru are preserved at the Meru Museum , formerly the colonial office located in Meru Town . The Njuri Ncheke Shrine at Nchiru

860-433: A prenasalized consonant, they are pronounced as [e] , [ɪ] , [o] , and [ʊ] . E is also commonly pronounced as mid-position after w . Polomé claims that /ɑ/ is pronounced as such only after w and is pronounced as [a] in other situations, especially after /j/ ( y ). A can be pronounced as [ə] in word-final position. Long vowels in Swahili are written as doubled vowels (for example, kondoo , "sheep") due to

946-450: A seclusion period that may last up to a month. As a matter of principle, young men must ensure minimal contact with their mothers after initiation. Nowadays, the depth of instruction varies depending on the extent of urban influence. Previously, girls would also undergo circumcision , but the practice was outlawed by the Njuri Ncheke in April 1956. The practice has been progressively abandoned and

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1032-468: A second language spoken by tens of millions of people in the five African Great Lakes countries ( Kenya , DRC , Rwanda , Uganda , and Tanzania ), where it is an official or national language. It is also the first language for many people in Tanzania, especially in the coastal regions of Tanga, Pwani, Dar es Salaam, Mtwara and Lindi. In the inner regions of Tanzania, Swahili is spoken with an accent influenced by other local languages and dialects. There, it

1118-469: A significant number of loanwords from other languages, mainly Arabic , as well as from Portuguese , English and German . Around 40% of Swahili vocabulary consists of Arabic loanwords, including the name of the language ( سَوَاحِلي sawāḥilī , a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning 'of the coasts'). The loanwords date from the era of contact between Arab traders and the Bantu inhabitants of

1204-565: A strong modern educational heritage provided by Christian missionaries . The main education institutions were started or sponsored by the Catholic, Methodist and Presbyterian churches. Greater Meru has numerous institutions of learning, including primary schools, secondary schools, teachers' training colleges, nursing schools, technical institutes and universities. One of the most prestigious chartered private universities in Kenya, Kenya Methodist University

1290-458: A substitute for k in advertisements. There are also several digraphs for Arabic sounds, which many speakers outside of ethnic Swahili areas have trouble differentiating. The language used to be primarily written in the Ajami script , which is an Arabic script. Much literature was produced in this script. With the introduction of Latin, the use of Ajami script has been diminished significantly. However,

1376-511: A system of concord but, if the noun refers to a human, they accord with noun classes 1–2 regardless of their noun class. Verbs agree with the noun class of their subjects and objects; adjectives, prepositions and demonstratives agree with the noun class of their nouns. In Standard Swahili (Kiswahili sanifu) , based on the dialect spoken in Zanzibar, the system is rather complex; however, it is drastically simplified in many local variants where Swahili

1462-671: A variety of gender-concord prefixes. This list is based on Swahili and Sabaki: a linguistic history . Modern standard Swahili, written in Latin, is based on Kiunguja, the dialect spoken in Zanzibar City . Swahili literature and poetry, traditionally written in Swahili Ajami , is based on Kiamu , the dialect of Lamu on the Kenyan Coast. But there are numerous other dialects of Swahili, some of which are mutually unintelligible, such as

1548-550: Is a Bantu language of the Sabaki branch . In Guthrie's geographic classification , Swahili is in Bantu zone G, whereas the other Sabaki languages are in zone E70, commonly under the name Nyika. Historical linguists consider the Arabic influence on Swahili to be significant, since it takes around 15% of its vocabulary directly from Arabic , and was initially spread by Arab slave traders along

1634-648: Is a compulsory subject in all Kenyan primary and secondary schools. Swahili is recognized as a national language in the Democratic Republic of The Congo and is widely spoken in the eastern regions. The local dialects of Swahili in Congo are known as Congo Swahili and differ considerably from Standard Swahili. In order to strengthen political ties with other East African Community nations, both Kiswahili and English have been taught in Burundian elementary schools since

1720-540: Is a first language for most of the people who are born in the cities, whilst being spoken as a second language in rural areas. Swahili and closely related languages are spoken by relatively small numbers of people in Burundi , Comoros , Malawi , Mozambique , Zambia and Rwanda . The language was still understood in the southern ports of the Red Sea in the 20th century. The East African Community created an institution called

1806-470: Is a reflection of previous migratory patterns, the level of intra-community interactions, and the influences of other adjacent Bantu, Nilotic and Cushitic communities. As a whole language scholars have demonstrated that the Meru language exhibits much older Bantu characteristics in grammar and phonetic forms than neighbouring Bantu languages. The Meru people are of Bantu origin. Like the closely related Kikuyu , Embu and Mbeere , they are concentrated in

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1892-470: Is also gazetted as a heritage site and placed under the care of the National Museums of Kenya. The Shrine is accessible and open to the public most time of the year unless there are Njuri Ncheke activities at the site. Members of the Njuri Ncheke, though bound by a strict oath of secrecy, can also provide valuable and authoritative information and insights into the Meru traditions and culture dating back to

1978-434: Is an active body part, and mto is an active natural force, but they are also both long and thin. Things with a trajectory, such as mpaka 'border' and mwendo 'journey', are classified with long thin things, as in many other languages with noun classes. This may be further extended to anything dealing with time, such as mwaka 'year' and perhaps mshahara 'wages'. Animals exceptional in some way and so not easily fitting in

2064-515: Is being replaced by instruction based alternative rites of passage. Typical Meru cuisine includes nyani (traditional vegetables), mûkimo (mashed banana with traditional vegetables or potatoes), kîthere or mûthere (unfettered corn seeds cooked with beans or peas and traditional vegetables), nyama cia gwaakia (roasted meat), ūkie or ûcûrû (fermented porridge made from flour of corn, millet or sorghum), and rugicu (a mixture of honey meat and vegetables). The Meru have

2150-466: Is closely related to Swahili and is sometimes considered a dialect of Swahili, although other authorities consider it a distinct language. In 2022, based on Swahili's growth as a prominent international language, the United Nations declared Swahili Language Day as 7 July to commemorate the date that Julius Nyerere adopted Swahili as a unifying language for African independence struggles. Swahili

2236-533: Is generally only spoken by Somali nationals who have resided in Kenya and subsequently returned to Somalia. Lastly, a closely related language Mushunguli (also known as Zigula, Zigua, or Chizigua) is spoken by some of the Somali Bantu ethnic minority mostly living in the Jubba Valley . It is classified as a Northeast Coast Bantu language as Swahili is and has some intelligibility with Swahili. Swahili played

2322-570: Is not a native language, such as in Nairobi. In non-native Swahili, concord reflects only animacy: human subjects and objects trigger a-, wa- and m-, wa- in verbal concord, while non-human subjects and objects of whatever class trigger i-, zi- . Infinitives vary between standard ku- and reduced i-. ("Of" is animate wa and inanimate ya, za. ) In Standard Swahili, human subjects and objects of whatever class trigger animacy concord in a-, wa- and m-, wa-, and non-human subjects and objects trigger

2408-430: Is one of the early developers. The applications include a spelling checker , part-of-speech tagging , a language learning software , an analysed Swahili text corpus of 25 million words, an electronic dictionary , and machine translation between Swahili and English. The development of language technology also strengthens the position of Swahili as a modern medium of communication. Furthermore, Swahili Misplaced Pages

2494-556: Is one of the few Wikipedias in an African language that features a substantial number of contributors and articles. The widespread use of Swahili as a national language in Tanzania came after Tanganyika gained independence in 1961 and the government decided that it would be used as a language to unify the new nation. This saw the use of Swahili in all levels of government, trade, art as well as schools in which primary school children are taught in Swahili, before switching to English (medium of instruction) in secondary schools (although Swahili

2580-541: Is represented in the University Council. The Meru are primarily agrarian, and their home life and culture is similar to other Highland Bantus. The Meru have maintained adherence to a fairly strict customary code amongst the various cohorts of the population. For instance, circumcision is a mandatory rite of passage for boys, during which time cultural education including community norms and expectations, such as respect for elders and protection of children are taught in

2666-960: Is sometimes expressed against things that are dangerous. This might be the historical explanation for kifaru " rhinoceros ", kingugwa " spotted hyena ", and kiboko " hippopotamus " (perhaps originally meaning "stubby legs"). Another class with broad semantic extension is the m-/mi- class (Bantu classes 3/4). This is often called the 'tree' class, because mti, miti "tree(s)" is the prototypical example. However, it seems to cover vital entities neither human nor typical animals: trees and other plants, such as mwitu 'forest' and mtama 'millet' (and from there, things made from plants, like mkeka 'mat'); supernatural and natural forces, such as mwezi 'moon', mlima 'mountain', mto 'river'; active things, such as moto 'fire', including active body parts ( moyo 'heart', mkono 'hand, arm'); and human groups, which are vital but not themselves human, such as mji 'village', and, by analogy, mzinga 'beehive/cannon'. From

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2752-553: Is spoken along the Benadir coast by the Bravanese people . Another Swahili dialect known as Kibajuni also serves as the mother tongue of the Bajuni minority ethnic group, which lives in the tiny Bajuni Islands as well as the southern Kismayo region. In Oman , there are an estimated 52,000 people who speak Swahili as of 2020. Most are descendants of those repatriated after the fall of

2838-562: Is still taught as an independent subject). After Tanganyika and Zanzibar unification in 1964, Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI, Institute of Swahili Research) was created from the Interterritorial Language Committee. In 1970 TUKI was merged with the University of Dar es Salaam , while Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa (BAKITA) was formed. BAKITA is an organisation dedicated to the development and advocacy of Swahili as

2924-674: Is the lingua franca of other areas in the African Great Lakes region and East and Southern Africa . Swahili is also one of the working languages of the African Union and of the Southern African Development Community . The East African Community created an institution called the East African Kiswahili Commission (EAKC) which began operations in 2015. The institution currently serves as

3010-566: The East African coast. The word `Swahili' comes from an Arabic name for the area, meaning "coasts": The core of the Swahili language originates in Bantu languages of the coast of East Africa. Much of Swahili's Bantu vocabulary has cognates in the Unguja , Pemba , and Mijikenda languages and, to a lesser extent, other East African Bantu languages . While opinions vary on the specifics, it has been historically purported that around 16–20% of

3096-546: The Maasai , seemed to widely practice farming of eleucine and took up territory that would have been Sirikwa's. This led them to believe the Kipsigis were the outspoken effete Lumbwa and at the same time, they didn't seem to understand the different Kalenjin tribes, calling them in totality the Nandi. The Kipsigis were also referred to as Parakuyo , Kwavi and Soti or Sotik. In effect, with

3182-594: The Meru and Mount Kenya national parks and the Lewa Conservancy. Mining activity is also expected to pick up once the ongoing exploratory works on the iron-ore deposits in Tharaka are completed. The Meru wield a lot of political influence in Kenya, due to their astute and strategic political organization. No Meru has been president of Kenya . However, members of the community have always held some key and strategic positions in

3268-490: The Ngaa ) are a Bantu ethnic group that inhabit the Meru region of Kenya . The region is situated on the fertile lands of the north and eastern slopes of Mount Kenya in the former Eastern Province . The word Meru means 'shining light' in the Meru language . In Kiswahili , the Meru are called Ng'aa , a word meaning 'Dazzling or Shinning' in both languages Ameru in the Meru language means 'the shining ones' or 'the children of

3354-473: The Sabaki language . In fact, while taking account of daily vocabulary, using lists of one hundred words, 72–91% were inherited from the Sabaki language (which is reported as a parent language) whereas 4–17% were loan words from other African languages. Only 2–8% were from non-African languages, and Arabic loan words constituted a fraction of that. According to other sources, around 40% of the Swahili vocabulary comes from Arabic. What also remained unconsidered

3440-522: The Sultanate of Zanzibar . There are Swahili-based slangs, pidgins and creoles: In 1870, Edward Steere published Swahili Tales as Told by Natives of Zanzibar , a collection of 23 Swahili tales with facing-text English translation, along with a selection of proverbs and riddles. Some of the tales included are: " Kisa cha Punda wa Dobi, " "The Story of the Washerman's Donkey," also known as " The Heart of

3526-513: The Tanganyika African National Union used Swahili as a language of mass organisation and political movement. This included publishing pamphlets and radio broadcasts to rally the people to fight for independence. After gaining independence, Swahili was adopted as the national language. To this day, Tanzanians carry a sense of pride when it comes to Swahili, especially when it is used to unite over 120 tribes across Tanzania. Swahili

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3612-448: The Wameru of northern Tanzania , other than both being avid farming Bantu communities. The Meru speak the Meru language, also known as Kimîîrú. Kimîîrú , Kikamba , Kiembu , Kimbeere and Kikuyu share critical language characteristics. The Meru language is not uniform across the Meru lands, but comprises several mutually intelligible dialects which vary geographically. Each dialect

3698-420: The Arabic script (an unmodified version as opposed to proposals such as that of Mwalimu Sikujua) was relatively high. There were also differences in orthographic conventions between cities and authors and over the centuries, some quite precise but others different enough to cause difficulties with intelligibility. Thus despite a lack of official governmental backing, attempts at standardization and Swahilization of

3784-482: The Arabic script continued into the 20th century. Swahili nouns are separable into classes , which are roughly analogous to genders in other languages. In Swahili, prefixes mark groups of similar objects: ⟨m-⟩ marks single human beings ( mtoto 'child'), ⟨wa-⟩ marks multiple humans ( watoto 'children'), ⟨u-⟩ marks abstract nouns ( utoto 'childhood'), and so on. And just as adjectives and pronouns must agree with

3870-568: The Arabic script that were sent to the Portuguese of Mozambique and their local allies. The original letters are preserved in the Historical Archives of Goa, India . Various colonial powers that ruled on the coast of East Africa played a role in the growth and spread of Swahili. With the arrival of the Arabs in East Africa, they used Swahili as a language of trade as well as for teaching Islam to

3956-699: The British East Africa government carried out a punitive expedition upon the Kipsigis for having undertaken a raid upon the Maasai. The expedition dubbed Sotik expedition resulted in a massacre of about 1800 ethnic Kipsigis and their cattle confiscated. The same year, after the murder of Koitalel arap Samoei , like the Nandi , the Kipsigis were devastated. Meru people Modern ethnicities Diaspora Performing arts Government agencies Television Radio Newspapers The Meru or Amîîrú (including

4042-525: The British. It was thereby decided as per the heritage of the Kipsigis that they should make a declaration under a custom that all would abide by, the custom of Mumma . In what is today Kipkelion town in Kericho, the community and British party congregated to make the treaty. A dog was severed in two halves with the two parties burying their half and making the proclamation to uphold mutual trust not to fight or harm.

4128-552: The East African Kiswahili Commission (EAKC) which began operations in 2015. The institution currently serves as the leading body for promoting the language in the East African region , as well as for coordinating its development and usage for regional integration and sustainable development. Swahili is among the first languages in Africa for which language technology applications have been developed. Arvi Hurskainen

4214-669: The Greater Meru vote for candidates based more on individual merit than on the basis of the sponsoring political party. This particularly manifested itself in the general elections of 2013 , where the Orange Democratic Movement captured two seats, Igembe Central and Tigania East , in Meru County despite the predominance of the Jubilee Party in the larger region. The elections also saw the historic election of Rahim Dawood ,

4300-440: The Kipsigis being known to the British as Lumbwa, and the treaty being between the Kipsigis and the British, the treaty was thus named Lumbwa and the place it took place, a rail station being named Lumbwa town. Leading up to the treaty on 13 October 1889, The Kipsigis led by Kipchomber Araap Koilegen had proven hostile to the British contact and along with the Nandi, had managed to persistently inflict raids upon white outposts. This

4386-541: The Njuri Ncheke are carefully selected and comprise mature, composed, respected and incorruptible members of the community. This is necessary as their work requires great wisdom, personal discipline, and knowledge of the traditions. The Njuri Ncheke is also the apex of the traditional Meru judicial system and their edicts apply to the entire community. The functions of the Njuri Ncheke are to make and execute community laws, to hear and settle disputes, and to pass on community knowledge and norms across generations in their role as

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4472-414: The Swahili vocabulary is derived from loan words, the vast majority Arabic , but also other contributing languages, including Persian , Hindustani , Portuguese , and Malay . Omani Arabic is the source of most Arabic loanwords in Swahili. In the text "Early Swahili History Reconsidered". However, Thomas Spear noted that Swahili retains a large amount of grammar, vocabulary, and sounds inherited from

4558-454: The Thuci River, on the border with Embu County , in the south to the border with Isiolo County in the north. The Ameru have been governed by elected and hierarchical councils of elders since the 17th century . These extend from the clan level up to the supreme Njuri Ncheke council. Membership of the Njuri Ncheke is the highest social rank to which a Meru man can aspire. The elders forming

4644-460: The academic year 2005/2006. Kiswahili is now used widely in Burundi but is not recognised as an official language; only French, Kirundi, and English have this distinction. Since 2013, Swahili has been included in the all Burundian education system. Uganda adopted Kiswahili as one of its official languages (alongside English ) in 2022, and also made it compulsory across primary and secondary schools in

4730-468: The area, making Greater Meru a key education hub in Kenya The Meru are primarily agrarian, growing a variety of crops and keeping livestock. Greater Meru is endowed with soils and climatic conditions that allow for the production of a variety of commodities including wheat, barley, potatoes, millet, sorghum and maize. High grade tea, coffee, bananas and miraa ( khat ) are the key cash crops. The Meru were

4816-459: The central idea of tree , which is thin, tall, and spreading, comes an extension to other long or extended things or parts of things, such as mwavuli 'umbrella', moshi 'smoke', msumari 'nail'; and from activity there even come active instantiations of verbs, such as mfuo "metal forging", from -fua "to forge", or mlio "a sound", from -lia "to make a sound". Words may be connected to their class by more than one metaphor. For example, mkono

4902-463: The country. The Swahili language is not widespread in Somalia and has no official status nationally or regionally. Dialects of Swahili are spoken by some ethnic minorities on the Bajuni islands in the form of Kibajuni on the southern tip of the country and in the town of Brava in the form of Chimwiini ; both contain a significant amount of Somali and Italian loanwords. Standard Swahili

4988-749: The court system. With the Germans controlling the major Swahili-speaking region in East Africa, they changed the alphabet system from Arabic to Latin. After the First World War, Britain took over German East Africa, where they found Swahili rooted in most areas, not just the coastal regions. The British decided to formalise it as the language to be used across the East African region (although in British East Africa [Kenya and Uganda] most areas used English and various Nilotic and other Bantu languages while Swahili

5074-421: The custodians of traditional culture. Local disputes will invariably first be dealt with by lower ranks of the elders (Kiama), then the middle rank (Njuri) and finally the Njuri Ncheke. However, the Njuri Ncheke does not handle matters involving non-Meru people, or those that are expressly designated as being under Kenya's common law. The determination of cases by the Njuri Ncheke, just like is for common law, relies

5160-544: The east coast of Africa, which was also the time period when Swahili emerged as a lingua franca in the region. Due to concerted efforts by the government of Tanzania , Swahili is one of three official languages (the others being English and French) of the East African Community (EAC) countries, namely Burundi , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Kenya , Rwanda , Somalia , South Sudan , Tanzania , and Uganda . It

5246-481: The entire world over". Although other bodies and agencies can propose new vocabularies, BAKITA is the only organisation that can approve its usage in the Swahili language. Tanzanians are highly credited for shaping the language to appear the way it is now. In Kenya, Kiswahili has been the national language since 1964 and is official since 2010. Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa (CHAKITA) was established in 1998 to research and promote Kiswahili language in Kenya. Kiswahili

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5332-459: The establishment of the Meru College of Science and Technology and donated 641 acres of community land in 1983 for its development. In 2008, the college was upgraded to a University College of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology . In early 2013, the college was awarded a charter by President Mwai Kibaki and renamed to Meru University of Science and Technology . The Njuri Ncheke

5418-512: The first Africans to grow coffee in Kenya, which they began in the early 1930s upon the implementation of the Devonshire White Paper of 1923. Other crops include groundnuts and a wide range of legumes, vegetables and fruits. The Meru also keep livestock, both for subsistence and commercial purposes. These include dairy and beef cattle, goats, sheep, poultry and honey bees. The Meru lands have huge potential for tourism by virtue of hosting

5504-500: The following: Maho (2009) considers these to be distinct languages: The rest of the dialects are divided by him into two groups: Maho includes the various Comorian dialects as a third group. Most other authorities consider Comorian to be a Sabaki language, distinct from Swahili. In Somalia , where the Afroasiatic Somali language predominates, a variant of Swahili referred to as Chimwiini (also known as Chimbalazi)

5590-442: The former are kisu "knife", kiti "chair" (from mti "tree, wood"), chombo "vessel" (a contraction of ki-ombo ). Examples of the latter are kitoto "infant", from mtoto "child"; kitawi "frond", from tawi "branch"; and chumba ( ki-umba ) "room", from nyumba "house". It is the diminutive sense that has been furthest extended. An extension common to diminutives in many languages is approximation and resemblance (having

5676-431: The gender of nouns in some languages with grammatical gender, so in Swahili adjectives, pronouns and even verbs must agree with nouns. This is a characteristic feature of all the Bantu languages . The ki-/vi- class historically consisted of two separate genders, artefacts (Bantu class 7/8, utensils and hand tools mostly) and diminutives (Bantu class 12/13), which were conflated at a stage ancestral to Swahili. Examples of

5762-530: The government. In the early years of Kenya's independence, the Meru were in the Gikuyu, Embu, and Meru Association , a political mobilization outfit formed during the reign of Jomo Kenyatta . GEMA was formally banned in 1980, but since the advent of plural politics in Kenya in 1992, the Meru have largely voted with the Kikuyu and Embu in subsequent presidential elections. In non-presidential elections, most constituencies in

5848-456: The language continues to have a tradition of being written in Arabic script. Starting from the later half of the 19th century, continuing into the 20th century, and going on in the 21st century, a process of "Swahilization" of the Arabic Script has been underway by Swahili scribes and scholars. The first of such attempts was done by Mwalimu Sikujua , a scholar and poet from Mombasa . However,

5934-563: The leading body for promoting the language in the East African region , as well as for coordinating its development and usage for regional integration and sustainable development. In recent years South Africa , Botswana , Namibia , Ethiopia , and South Sudan have begun offering Swahili as a subject in schools or have developed plans to do so. Shikomor (or Comorian ), an official language in Comoros and also spoken in Mayotte ( Shimaore ),

6020-575: The local Bantu peoples . This resulted in Swahili first being written in the Arabic script. The later contact with the Portuguese resulted in the increase of vocabulary of the Swahili language. The language was formalised in an institutional level when the Germans took over after the Berlin conference . After seeing there was already a widespread language, the Germans formalised it as the official language to be used in schools. Thus schools in Swahili are called Shule (from German Schule ) in government, trade and

6106-405: The original emphatic consonants /dˤ, sˤ, tˤ, ðˤ/ and the uvular /q/ , or lengthening a vowel, where aspiration would be used in inherited Bantu words. Swahili is now written in the Latin alphabet. There are a few digraphs for native sounds, ch , sh , ng ' and ny ; q and x are not used, c is not used apart from the digraph ch , unassimilated English loans and, occasionally, as

6192-626: The other classes may be placed in this class. The other classes have foundations that may at first seem similarly counterintuitive. In short, Borrowings may or may not be given a prefix corresponding to the semantic class they fall in. For example, Arabic دود dūd ("bug, insect") was borrowed as mdudu , plural wadudu , with the class 1/2 prefixes m- and wa- , but Arabic فلوس fulūs ("fish scales", plural of فلس fals ) and English sloth were borrowed as simply fulusi (" mahi-mahi " fish) and slothi (" sloth "), with no prefix associated with animals (whether those of class 9/10 or 1/2). In

6278-668: The other hand, the Datoga Kalenjin are known to have had a mutual and peaceful correlation with the Iraqw. These communities and their interaction can be considered in a major part as the Stone Bowl cultural complex . These two communities would by the 19th century be replaced in territory by the Maasai , Nandi and Kipsigis . As the Europeans arrived and surveyed the region, the Kipsigis unlike

6364-507: The people and the region, which for many years was the only administrative unit. In 1992, "Greater" Meru District was divided into three administrative units: Meru Central, Meru North , and Tharaka-Nithi (Tharaka and Meru South). After the promulgation of a new constitution in Kenya on 27 August 2010, Greater Meru was further re-defined and now consists of the twin counties of Tharaka-Nithi and Meru . The Greater Meru covered approximately 13,000 km (5,000 sq mi), stretching from

6450-521: The process of naturalization of borrowings within Swahili, loanwords are often reinterpreted, or reanalysed, as if they already contain a Swahili class prefix. In such cases the interpreted prefix is changed with the usual rules. Consider the following loanwords from Arabic: Similarly, English wire and Arabic وقت waqt ("time") were interpreted as having the class 11 prevocalic prefix w- , and became waya and wakati with plural nyaya and nyakati respectively. Swahili phrases agree with nouns in

6536-407: The region. While the Arabs were mostly based in the coastal areas, European missionaries went further inland spreading Christianity. As the first missionary posts in East Africa were in the coastal areas, missionaries picked up Swahili and used it to spread Christianity, since it contained many similarities with other indigenous languages in the region. During the struggle for Tanganyika independence,

6622-602: The shining one'. The word Miiru was also used to refer to the nearby forests of Mount Kenya, thus the name Amiiru , meaning 'people of the forest'. The Ameru people comprise nine subgroups: the Igoji, Imenti, Tigania, Mitine, Igembe, Mwimbi, Muthambi, Chuka and Tharaka. The Tharaka live in the semi-arid part of Greater Meru and they, along with the Mwimbi, Muthambi and Chuka, form the Tharaka-Nithi County . The Ameru are unrelated to

6708-534: The spread of a standardized indigenous variation of Arabic script for Swahili was hampered by the colonial takeover of East Africa by the United Kingdom and Germany . The usage of Arabic script was suppressed in German East Africa and to a lesser extent in British East Africa . Nevertheless, well into the 1930s and 1940s, rural literacy rate in Arabic script as well as a local preference to write Swahili in

6794-452: The vicinity of Mount Kenya . The exact place that the ancestors of the Meru migrated from after the initial Bantu expansion is uncertain. Some authorities suggest that they arrived in their present Mount Kenya homeland from earlier settlements to the north and east, while others argue that the Meru, along with their closely related Eastern Bantu neighbors moved into what is now Kenya from points further south. The name "Meru" refers to both

6880-401: The voiced consonants have devoiced, though they are still written mb, nd etc. The /r/ phoneme is realised as either a short trill [ r ] or more commonly as a single tap [ ɾ ] by most speakers. [x] exists in free variation with h, and is only distinguished by some speakers. In some Arabic loans (nouns, verbs, adjectives), emphasis or intensity is expressed by reproducing

6966-665: The yore and transmitted through generations. Swahili language Swahili , also known by its local name Kiswahili , is a Bantu language originally spoken by the Swahili people , who are found primarily in Tanzania , Kenya , and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent littoral islands). Estimates of the number of Swahili speakers, including both native and second-language speakers, vary widely. They generally range from 60 million to 150 million; with most of its native speakers residing in Tanzania. Swahili has

7052-450: Was as a result and implication of Kimnyole Araap Turukat's prophecies and partly because the Kipsigis were exasperated by Indian coolies taking Kipsigis girls to their base in Kericho town. The British sought to reprise the Kipsigis by way of intimidation where they displayed the fire power of their arsenal in Belgut; as a result, and as advised by Koilegen, the Kipsigis decided to make peace with

7138-581: Was mostly restricted to the coast). In June 1928, an inter-territorial conference attended by representatives of Kenya , Tanganyika , Uganda , and Zanzibar took place in Mombasa . The Zanzibar dialect was chosen as standard Swahili for those areas, and the standard orthography for Swahili was adopted. Estimates of the total number of first- and second-language Swahili speakers vary widely, from as low as 50 million to as high as 200 million, but generally range from 60 million to 150 million. Swahili has become

7224-568: Was that a good number of the borrowed terms had Bantu equivalents. The preferred use of Arabic loan words is prevalent along the coast, where local people, in a cultural show of proximity to, or descent from Arab culture, would rather use loan words, whereas the people in the interior tend to use the Bantu equivalents. It was originally written in Arabic script . The earliest known documents written in Swahili are letters written in Kilwa , Tanzania , in 1711 in

7310-551: Was the first to be established in the area in 2006. Three chartered public universities, Chuka University and Tharaka University in Tharaka-Nithi County and Meru University of Science and Technology in Meru County, have been established. Other institutions of higher learning, including the University of Nairobi , Egerton University , Kenyatta University , Co-operative University College, Nazarene University and Mount Kenya University have established satellite campuses in

7396-566: Was used to strengthen solidarity within the nation, and remains to be a key identity of the Tanzanian people. Standard Swahili has five vowel phonemes : /ɑ/ , /ɛ/ , /i/ , /ɔ/ , and /u/ . According to Ellen Contini-Morava , vowels are never reduced , regardless of stress . However, according to Edgar Polomé , these five phonemes can vary in pronunciation. Polomé claims that /ɛ/ , /i/ , /ɔ/ , and /u/ are pronounced as such only in stressed syllables. In unstressed syllables, as well as before

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