Swahili Grammar and Workbook

Fidèle Mpiranya

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781138808263
• eBook ISBN: 9781317612919
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Lingue e linguistica
• Subtopic: Lingue

Swahili Grammar and Workbook provides a practical and comprehensive companion to Swahili grammar, filling in gaps left by other textbooks. Presenting the essentials of Swahili grammar in a highly accessible fashion, it reduces complex language topics to helpful rules and mnemonic aids, enabling maximum grammar retention and accurate usage. Grammar points are followed by multiple examples and exercises, allowing students to consolidate and practice their learning. No prior knowledge of linguistic terminology is required.

Key features include:

• Twenty five language notes covering key topics such as: personal pronouns; the Swahili noun class system; special class combinations; the imperative, the subjunctive, and the conditional moods; the use of comparatives; the use of monosyllabic verbs; the passive form and various other forms of verb extensions; the relative clause
• Clear, detailed and jargon-free grammatical explanations supported by an assortment of helpful diagrams, charts and tables and many relevant and up-to-date examples
• A wide range of communication-oriented exercises to reinforce learning and develop students' ability to use Swahili actively
• Audio files to support pronunciation practice, clearly linked to relevant sections of the book and available for free download at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138808263/
• Four appendices, Swahili-English and English-Swahili vocabulary lists, a bibliography and an index presented at the back of the book for easy access to information.

Written by a highly experienced instructor, Swahili Grammar and Workbook will be an essential resource for all students and teachers of Swahili. It is suitable for use both as a companion reference text in language courses and as a standalone text in independent grammar classes.

1 Swahili – key elements

1.1. The most popular language of Africa

Swahili is the most widely spoken language in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is spoken by approximately 50 million people in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, eastern Congo (DRC), the Comoros, and, marginally, in northern Mozambique, southern Somalia, northern Malawi, and northern Zambia (Map 1.1). Swahili is a national language in Tanzania, Kenya, and Congo (DRC). It also has official status in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda (along with English).

Map 1.1 Swahili speaking regions in East and Central Africa (circle indicates approximate extent) Credit: CIA 2013.

That said, Swahili is in most cases used as a second language, after local vernaculars. The majority of the people who speak Swahili as their primary language are concentrated along the East African coast, from northern Mozambique (city of Nacala) to southern Somalia (city of Barawa), and in the neighboring archipelagos of Zanzibar, Lamu, and the Comoros (Map 1.2).

Map 1.2 The Swahili Coast and neighboring places of the Indian Ocean Basin (Credit: Goldman 1996).

1.2. An authentic Bantu language

Swahili belongs to a family of languages called “Bantu” mostly spoken in Africa south of the Equator. Swahili has preserved a majority of the original Bantu terms and grammatical patterns (Guthrie 1967–1971, Whiteley 1969, Nurse and Spear 1985, and Nurse and Hinnebusch 1993).

However, due to its location in and along the Indian Ocean, Swahili has been exposed to a great number of cultures, languages, and ideas for a long time. As a result, the Swahili lexicon has increased through the creation of new terms and has incorporated numerous cultural terms from overseas languages like Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Turkish, and, more recently, English. In turn, these new terms have spread widely among continental African languages.

1.3. A relatively simple sound system

The Swahili sound system is characterized by five simple vowels /i e a o u/, as in simba “lion”, jengo “building”, mama “mother”, kopo “tin can”, and uhuru “freedom, independence”. (The pronunciation of different words listed in this section may be found online; see symbol

.) It is also characterized by 25 consonants, as shown in Table 1.1.

Like other Bantu languages, Swahili uses mostly a Consonant—Vowel—Consonant—Vowel syllable structure. In addition, Swahili does not use tones (variations in pitch height that distinguish word meanings) but rather accents most words on the second-to-last syllable. These different features make Swahili easy to pronounce, despite a relatively complex morphology.

Table 1.1 Swahili consonants illustrated

Table 1.1 gives a list of Swahili consonants with phonetic indications for their pronunciation in the case of difference with English and for consonants written with two letters. It is important to note that double vowels generally mean that two vowels are pronounced and not one long one (in this text, standard orthographic representations of individual sounds are given between slashes, while their phonetic representations are given between square brackets; sound representations between quotations marks are simple approximations). For a general presentation of the International Phonetic Alphabet used in square brackets in Table 1.1, and to hear the pronunciation of the different sounds, you may refer to this link: www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/flash.html (Ladefodged 2005). The next section provides indications about the articulation of particular consonants.

1.4. Articulation of the Swahili consonants: /j, gh, ng’/

1.4.1 The Swahili consonant /j/ [ɣ] vs. the semi-vowel /y/

To pronounce the Swahili consonant /j/ [ɣ], position the tongue as if you were to pronounce the semi-vowel /y/. In both cases, you hold the tongue tip behind the lower teeth and the body of the tongue to the roof of the mouth (or “palate”), as shown by the arrow in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Place of articulation for the Swahili sounds /j/ [ɣ] and /y/.

Figure 1.2 Place of articulation for the English sound /j/ [ʤ] and Swahili /nj/ [nʤ].

While the semi-vowel /y/ is pronounced with a very weak air release, the Swahili consonant /j/ [ɣ] is produced with a tight contact of the body of the tongue and the roof of the mouth, followed by a strong air release. For that reason, the Swahili sound /j/ [ɣ] appears as a combination of the consonant /g/ and the semi-vowel /y/, as you may notice by pronouncing successively the sounds /ga, ya, gya/. In linguistic jargon, it is called an “implosive voiced palatal stop” (Polomé 1967) or, more simply, a “palatal plosive” (you may refer to the following link for the pronunciation: www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter1/flash.html; Ladefodged 2005).

By contrast, the English sound /j/ [ʤ] and the complex Swahili sound /nj/ [nʤ] are pronounced by hold...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations and conventional signs
• Introduction
• 1 Swahili – key elements
• 2 Using basic vocabulary and markers
• 3 Personal pronouns
• 4 Swahili noun class system
• 5 Noun/adjective and pronoun agreement
• 6 The indicative mood and main verb tenses
• 7 Verb “be”/“have” in the main clause
• 8 Special class combinations and the reflexive pronoun
• 9 Prefix/stem contact rules vs. invariable adjectives/pronouns
• 10 Relative clauses and the use of reference pronouns
• 11 Imperative and subjunctive moods
• 12 Monosyllabic verb stems and the stem augment ku-
• 13 Auxiliary verbs and the expression of complex tenses
• 14 Expressing comparison
• 15 The passive form of the verb
• 16 Locative agreement and coordinated noun agreement
• 17 The conditional mood
• 18 The causative extension of the verb
• 19 Reciprocal, stative, and applicative verb extensions
• 20 Adverbs in a broad sense
• 21 Adjectives in a broad sense
• 22 Noun formation and augmentative/diminutive processes
• 23 Reduced forms and special uses of various pronouns
• 24 Subjunctive vs. infinitive/indicative in coordinated and subordinate clauses
• 25 Double object constructions and the use of “object markers”
• Appendix A: Greetings and other polite expressions
• Appendix B: Class agreements with all types of adjectives and pronouns
• Appendix C: Clause connectors and other transition words
• Appendix D: Use of verb tenses in Swahili proverbs
• Vocabulary list
• References
• Index