Communication and Culture:

Swahili (Kiswahili)

Patrick Massey

Tara O’Connor

Sami Schwalbe

Gina Stetter

James Madison University

School-Age Language and Literacy Disorders CSD 640

Dr. G. Timler

September 27, 2021

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Communication and Culture:

Swahili (Kiswahili)

Swahili is the official language of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda but is also commonly

used in the Comoros Islands and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition, it is present in

numerous other countries as a less common language, and often as a Lingua Franca (Gutman and

Avanzati, 2013). There are about six million speakers who speak Swahili as their native language

and between 50 to 100 million people who use it as either a first or second language (Gutman

and Avanzati, 2013). Swahili is heavily influenced by Arabic and has 15 main dialects with

many other pidgin forms (Britannica, 2014).

Phonetic Inventory and Phonotactic Constraints

This phonemic inventory groups sounds in Swahili and General American English (GAE) into

three categories: those that exist only in one of the languages and those that are found in both.

ASHA (2021) states that “it is common for the phonemic system (of an EL individual’s) first

language to influence the production of sounds in English.”

In Swahili, there are 5 vowels and 36 consonant phonemes.

Consonant and Vowels Shared Consonant and Consonant and Vowels

unique to Swahili (L1) Vowels (L1 and L2) unique to GAE (L2)

Vowels iɛauɔ ɪɛæʌəɝɚ

ʊoɑ e

Stops Voiceless plain & aspirated ʔ

p pʰ , t tʰ , k kʰ

Voiced implosive b dɡ
bɗ ɠ

Voiced prenasalized
ᵐb ᵑd ᵑɟ ᵑg
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Fricatives Voiceless Voiceless

x fθsʃh

Voiced Voiced Voiced

ɣ vðz ʒ

prenasalized
ᶬv ᵑz

Affricate Voiceless aspirated Voiceless plain

tʃʰ tʃ
Voiced implosive Voiced
ʄ dʒ

Nasals ɲ m n ŋ

Liquid l ɹ

Flap or trill r

Approximant w j ʍ
(Glides)

Gutman, A. (2013)., Polome, E.C. (1967)., Swahili Language - Structure, Writing & Alphabet, 2018.

While there may be sounds which exist in both languages, ASHA (2021) reminds speech

pathologists that they may not be used the same way. Phonotactic Constraints are the set of

rules which exist for a given language which permits particular, allowable combinations of letter

sounds which speakers of the language abide.

VOWELS (Poleme, 1967).

● Simple syllable structure with syllables typically ending in a vowel.

● There are no diphthongs. However, vowel sequences exist. With double vowels, both

sounds are produced, not one long one.

● Vowels are never reduced regardless of stress. Therefore, there is no schwa.

(Multicultural Topics in Communication Sciences & Disorders - Swahili, 2021).

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CONSONANTS (Swahili Language - Structure, Writing & Alphabet, 2018) unless otherwise

noted.

● Swahili consonants are implosive sounds. They are produced when air is being inhaled,

rather than expelled (explosive) from the lungs.

○ /ɓ, ɗ, ʄ, ɠ/ are implosive stops that have no equivalents in English.

● The voiced /x/ and voiceless / ɣ / fricatives have no equivalents in English.

● Consonants/ clusters do not occur in the word-final position.

● In words of Bantu origins, there are two common types of consonant clusters

○ nasal + consonant

○ consonant + glide

● In words of non-Bantu origins there can be a variety of consonant sequences and clusters.

A vowel is added to loanwords that end in a consonant.

○ The English bank becomes benki in Swahili.

● Prenasalized consonants that are produced as phonological units combine

○ nasal + stop; or

○ nasal + fricative

● Phonemes /mb/, /nd/, /nj/, /ng/, /ng’/, /ny/, and /nz/ are mostly supposed to be

pronounced as part of the same syllable.

○ Iribemwangi (2015) goes on to state that there are situations (depending on noun/

adjective class) in which the first sound in the pair is pronounced in a syllable

separate from the first.

■ Mbaya “bad” (m-ba-ya) e.g. for singular form noun classes

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■ Mbaya “bad” (mba-ya) e.g. for uncountable nouns or nouns formed from

adjectives noun classes

○ The other pronunciation example provided by Iribemwangi (2015) provides for

monosyllabic and polysyllabic words. In an otherwise monosyllabic word, the

first sound of the pair becomes a syllable. In polysyllabic words, both sounds

combine:

■ Nje “outside” (n-nje) two syllables

Nj aa “hunger” (nja-a) /n/ and /j/ are one sound

■ Nge “centipede” (n-nge) two syllables

Ngazi “ladder” (nga-z) /n/ and /g/ are one syllable

Influence of L1 on GAE Speech Production

Sound production in Swahili varies from English. This could be due to the differences in

phonemes and syllable structure. It could also vary based on the unusual qualities of Swahili, and

differences in stress and tone, and other features of the language. In Swahili, there are 5 vowel

phonemes and 36 consonant phonemes (Swahili Language, 2018). These vowels are simple a, e,

i, o, u. “as in simba “lion”, jengo “building”, mama “mother”, kopo “tin can”, and uhuru

“freedom, independence” (Mpiranya, 2015). In Swahili, vowels serve to differentiate words'

meaning. In Swahili, there are no diphthongs; however, consonant sequencing is allowed

(Swahili Language, 2018). In English there are 20 vowel phonemes, including 8 diphthongs, and

24 consonant phonemes (Speech Active, 2019). Based on this, native Swahili speakers may

struggle with vowel sounds, including diphthong sounds, in English because English has

significantly more vowel sounds. They may also struggle or omit final consonants because words
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in Swahili typically end in vowels. Swahili “has a simple syllable structure with syllables

typically ending with no consonant clusters and no final consonants” (Swahili Language, 2018).

For example, “a vowel is added to loanwords that end in a consonant… [the] English [word]

bank becomes benki in Swahili” (Swahili Language, 2018).

Swahili has some unusual features that do not occur in English. For example, “the most

unusual feature of Swahili consonants are implosive sounds that are produced with the air being

inhaled, rather than being expelled from the lungs” (Swahili Language, 2018). “Another unusual

feature are prenasalized consonants that are produced as phonological units that combine a nasal

with a stop or fricative” (Swahili Language, 2018). Because these features don’t occur in

English, there are many sounds in Swahili with no English equivalents. Because of these major

differences, native Swahili speakers may struggle with word pronunciation while learning

English. They might accidentally produce these unique sounds and struggle to get out of the

habit of using them.They may also struggle to eliminate these sounds while speaking English,

leading to errors.

Further difficulties may occur due to the differences in stress and tone. “Stress in Swahili

words normally falls on the penultimate (one before last) syllable [and] unlike other Bantu

languages, Swahili doesn’t have tones”(Swahili Language, 2018). In “tone languages”, or

languages with tone, the meaning of a word changes depending on how it is said (Britannica,

2016). In English, putting inflection at the end of the statement changes it to a question. For

example, “that’s your car” changes to “that’s your car?”. Because of this, Swahili speakers may

not understand how inflection affects meaning and they may not change their tone of voice when

trying to differentiate between statements and questions. They also may have difficulties with
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comprehension, because they won’t understand context when someone is speaking to them and

using different tones.

There are some other features of Swahili that might affect speech production. In Swahili,

all consonants are pronounced and there are no “silent letters” (except for only one expectation)

(Iribemwangi, 2010). This would make reading and pronunciation difficult while learning

English because there are often extra letters that aren’t pronounced. Further, consonants like /b/,

/d/, /g/, and /j/ are pronounced softly, which could cause pronunciation issues. Also, Swahili has

different moods/tenses, and they conjugate their verbs differently depending on the context of the

conversation (Iribemwangi, 2010). Conjugating English verbs can be difficult, especially when

someone already has the conjugations of another language in their brain. SLP’s should keep

these differences and potential difficulties in mind. They can also go to the website

http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=234&menu=raising to

hear how native Swahili speakers may sound while speaking English.

Influence of L1 on GAE Grammar

Swahili is an agglutinative language or mnemonically speaking it is an a-“glue”-tinative

language. Unpacking this esoteric term is helpful in understanding the morphological make-up of

Swahili. Swahili is generally a language made up of “glued” together morphemes. Some

languages may tend toward bound morphemes to provide multiple meanings for a word, but

Swahili uses fairly consistent free morphemes to piece together larger words. For example,

verbs consist of a good number of consistent morphemes often including a pronoun subject

prefix, as well as a tense morpheme such as in the phrase “Mwalimu anasema” (Mpiranya,

2015). In this phrase, meaning “The teacher speaks…'' the verb holds the prefix /a/ meaning s/he

and the infix morpheme /na/, indicating present tense. We can see the morphemic make-up easily
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when we change the phrase to “you spoke,” which changes the pronoun and tense resulting in

“ulisema” breaking down to the prefix /u/ for “you” and infix /li/, indicating a past tense

(Mpiranya, 2015). There is a good amount of information instilled in one word. Since the subject

information is present in the verb, it is not necessary just as in Spanish, to use the actual subject

in the phrase. For example, one would not need to use “ninyi” (you) or “wewe” (we) as this

would be represented in the verb such as “ulisema” which inherently possess the “you” prefix

(Mpiranya, 2015). Understanding this agglutinative nature of Swahili affixes may help identify

potential strengths and weaknesses when learning English. There may be strength in Latin or

Greek based words that are riddled with morphological affixes that highlight the agglutinative

nature of some English lexicons such as “pre” (before), “path” (feel) or “photo” (light). This

agglutinative nature may present issues with subject inclusion particularly in writing as subject

information is included in the verb, but in English the subject is usually separate and necessary

when not implied, such as in imperative statements.

Looking further into verb creation we can see the potential for subject-object-indirect

object confusion in English. In verb construction, the affixes generally take the order of

subject-tense-object-verb ( Mpiranya, 2015). For example, “tu-na-wa-ona” (we see them) can be

broken down to “we-now-them-see.” To clarify further, we can redistribute objects and subjects

to make “wa-na-tu-ona” (They see us) to (they-now-us-see) demonstrating the contrast of the

English subject-verb-object general structure. Morphological placement patterns are particularly

difficult hurdles to restructure when learning a second language.

One distinctive feature that Swahili has in contrast with English is the presence of noun

classes. A noun class is “ is a grammatical system that some languages use to overtly categorize

nouns” is a grammatical system that some languages use to overtly categorize nouns (SIL,
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2016).” Languages that delineate feminine and masculine nouns are utilizing a noun class

system. Swahili does not use gender as a noun class, but it does use nine categorical noun classes

that take on singular and plural forms to make eighteen noun classes in all (University of Kansas,

nd). These noun classes fall under general categorizations such as abstract concepts, animated

objects, fruits, countries, etc (University of Kansas, nd). Each of these noun classes will take on a

specific prefix such as /m/, which indicate the noun class of trees, plants, and body parts among

other things. Some examples words that fall into this noun class would be “mti/miti” [tree(s)],

“mdomo/midomo” [mouth(s)], and “mnazi/minazi” [coconut tree(s)] (University of Kansas, nd).

These noun class prefixes further entrench Swahili in the agglutinative nature of its

morphological make-up. English does have noun classes, but they are not in general linked to

any pattern of morphemes as in Swahili (Lund University, 2014). With the absence of a

comparable systematic morphemic noun structure, it may be difficult for Swahili speakers to

organize and formulate nouns due to the sheer diverse and un-patterned noun construction in

English.

The grammatical features presented here in this paper are by no means comprehensive,

but they do provide insight into the systematic nature of Swahili. Moving from the highly

organized and straightforward morphological and grammatical structures of Swahili to the

complexity of the English language is sure to present syntactic difficulties when ESLs attempt to

speak in GAE. One must be aware of subject-verb-object orders as well as word level

morphemic order to better understand the potential hurdles Swahili speakers may experience

when learning English.

Influence of L1 Culture on GAE Language Use

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It is incredibly important to keep in mind the differences between Swahili culture and

GAE culture when assessing language use and implementing treatment for a Swahili child.

Some important aspects of the Swahili culture include the emphasis on education, gender, and

religion. Swahili children often start school at 3 or 4 years of age and gender roles begin to be

emphasized even earlier (Gearhart, 2013). Young Swahili boys often accompany their fathers on

outings into the community while young girls and women are traditionally expected to stay

inside the home. Males, starting at a very young age, are expected to be the liaisons between

their female family members and other families in the community, as well as be able to

effectively interact with the community members on a daily basis (Gearhart, 2013). In addition,

traditional Swahili households can include an immediate family, as well as many family

members beyond the immediate, potentially resulting in a household much larger than a typical

American one (2021). It is important to note how these differences may result in a difference in

the expectation and perceived importance of language skills for young girls and boys in a

traditional Swahili household.

Regardless of gender, academics and religion are both highly valued in the Swahili

culture and are often integrated together in educational settings. It is important to note that

traditional Swahili education was solely Islamic training and, while that is no longer the case,

there is still a heavy importance put on religion (Gearhart, 2013). It is more common now for

Swahili schools to put emphasis on both academics and religion, resulting in a lack of time for

children to partake in creative or imaginative play (Gearhart, 2013). This may result in a priority

being put on academic and religious language use, and creative language skills being seen as less

of a priority.
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References

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: ASHA (2021). Phonemic Inventories and

Cultural and Linguistic Information Across Languages.

https://www.asha.org/Practice/multicultural/Phono/

This ASHA practice brief provides general information on the relevance of phonetic

inventories and phonotactic constraints to speech-language pathologists and audiologists.

The document notes, “ASHA's policy documents state that SLPs and audiologists must

consider the sound systems of all the languages used by a client in order to provide

appropriate assessment and treatment services.” While this Practice Brief has extensive

information on a range of world languages, information on Swahili is not available.

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2016, April 10). African music. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/art/African-music/additional-info#contributors

This article discusses the differences in tone and stress in Swahili compared to English.

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2014, August 27). Swahili language. Encyclopedia

Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Swahili-language

This article dives into a bit of the history behind the Swahili language and looks into

some of the cultures that influence it the most. It also touches on the varieties within the

language and the geographic locations where it is spoken.

Gearhart, R. (2013, January 20). Seeing life through the eyes of Swahili children of Lamu, kenya:

A VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY APPROACH. AnthropoChildren. Retrieved September 20,

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2021, from https://popups.uliege.be/2034-8517/index.php?id=1676#tocto2n4.

This article provides an in depth look into the expectations and experiences involved in

being a child in a traditional Swahili community. It highlights some of the gender roles,

academic expectations, and religious priorities traditionally present in the life of a

Swahili child.

Gutman, A. and Avanzati, B . (2013). Swahili. http://www.languagesgulper.com/eng/Swahili.html

The Language Gulper site provides information on over a hundred world languages and

several dozen Families/ Branches. This site addresses phonology, geographical

distribution and accents, and extensive morphology information and examples.

Iribemwangi, P.I. . (2010, January 25). Kiswahili Phonology and Pronunciation Guidelines.

[Paper presentation].. Rosetta Stone, Harrisonburg, VA.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324730793_Kiswahili_Phonology_and_Pronun

ciation_Guidelines

This document, located on Research Gate, was created as a conference paper for a

Rosetta Stone Language Workshop. Iribemwangi is an Associate Professor and Chairman

of the Department of Kiswahili at the University of Nairobi. He holds B.Ed, M.A and

PhD degrees in Kiswahili and linguistics. A leading translation and communication

consultant, Prof. Iribemwangi is a linguist who specializes in Kiswahili phonology,

morphology and sociolinguistics. This paper provides pronunciation guidelines including

phonemic analysis, grammar (consisting of verb conjugation, mood, and inflection

features).

Lund University. (2014). Academic writing in English. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from
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https://awelu.srv.lu.se/grammar-and-words/selective-mini-grammar/noun-phrases/classes-

of-nouns/

Mpiranya, F. (2015). Swahili grammar and workbook. London, England: Routledge, Taylor &

Francis Group.

This textbook gives a detailed overview of Swahili. It provides information about the

essentials of grammar and language. The book contains many examples and exercises, to

help with learning Swahili.

Multicultural Topics in Communication Sciences & Disorders - Swahili (2021).

https://sites.google.com/pdx.edu/multicsd/languages/swahili?authuser=0

This site is a link off of the ASHA Practice Brief (2021) which provides information on

the history of Swahili and detailed features of the language including orthography, noun

classes, semantics and syntax. It also provides implication considerations for the

speech-language pathologist especially during assessment.

Polome, E. C. (1967). Swahili Language Handbook. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied

Linguistics. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED012888.pdf.

This is one handbook from a larger Language Handbook series which provides a

thorough introduction to Swahili. While no longer in print, it is a source referenced by

other sites on the phonology, morphology, syntax and vocabulary of Swahili.

SIL. (2016, June 01) Noun class. Retrieved September 25, 2021, from
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https://glossary.sil.org/term/noun-class

SpeechActive. (2019). IPA English Vowel Sounds Examples & Exercises.

https://www.speechactive.com/english-vowels-ipa-international-phonetic-alphabet/

This website discusses the different consonant and vowel phonemes in English.

Swahili Language - Structure, Writing & Alphabet (2018).

https://www.mustgo.com/worldlanguages/swahili/

On the About World Languages section of the MustGo Travel website, there is extensive

information on over a hundred world languages, including information on Language by

Family/ Branch This site provides information on the geographical locations where the

language is spoken, structure, dialects, and writing. Information cross referenced with

other sites was consistent with information provided with the most detailed information

on phonology being found on this site.

Swahili people -7 facts you should know: Swahili language &. Swahili Language & Cultural

Awareness for Family, Business and Corporate. (2021, March 27). Retrieved September

20, 2021, from

https://learnkiswahili202.com/swahili-people/swahili-people-7-facts-you-should-know/

This website includes some basics of Swahili culture including language, cuisine, art and

family life.

University of Kansas. (nd). Lesson 9: Swahili Noun class Retrieved from

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https://kiswahili.ku.edu/sites/kiswahili.ku.edu/files/docs/lessons/Lesson_09.pdf