The Sabaki languages are the
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages.
The t ...
of the
Swahili Coast, named for the
Sabaki River
The Athi-Galana-Sabaki River is the second longest river in Kenya (after the Tana River). It has a total length of , and drains an area of . The river rises in the Gatamaiyo Forest as the Athi River and enters the Indian Ocean as the Galana Riv ...
. Sabaki is a
Pokomo word for Large Fish or Crocodile. In addition to
Swahili, Sabaki languages include
Ilwana (Malakote) and
Pokomo on the
Tana River in Kenya,
Mijikenda, spoken on the Kenyan coast;
Comorian, in the Comoro Islands; and
Mwani, spoken in northern Mozambique. 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.''
Languages
*
Ilwana (Malakote) (E.701)
*
Pokomo (E.71)
*
Mijikenda (E.72–73) (North (Nyika), Segeju,
Digo, Degere)
*
Comorian languages
Comorian (''Shikomori'', or ''Shimasiwa'', the "language of islands") is the name given to a group of four Bantu languages spoken in the Comoro Islands, an archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. It is name ...
,
[Maho (2009)] divided into two groups, Western (Shimwali and Shingazidja) and Eastern (
Shimaore
Maore Comorian, or ''Shimaore'' ( French ''Mahorais''), is one of the two indigenous languages spoken in the French-ruled Comorian islands of Mayotte; Shimaore being a dialect of the Comorian language, while ShiBushi is an unrelated Malayo-P ...
and Shindzwani)
*
Mwani (Mozambique)
*
Swahili:
Makwe (Mozambique),
Sidi
''Sidi'' or ''Sayidi'', also Sayyidi and Sayeedi, ( ar, سيدي, Sayyīdī, Sīdī (dialectal) "milord") is an Arabic masculine title of respect. ''Sidi'' is used often to mean "saint" or "my master" in Maghrebi Arabic and Egyptian Arabic. Wit ...
(Pakistan),
Tikulu (Bajuni Islands, Somalia),
Socotra Swahili
Socotra Swahili is an extinct variety of Swahili spoken on Socotra Island
Socotra or Soqotra (; ar, سُقُطْرَىٰ ; so, Suqadara) is an island of the Republic of Yemen in the Indian Ocean, under the ''de facto'' control of the UAE ...
,
Mwiini (Brava, Somalia), Coastal Swahili (Lamu, Mombasa, Zanzibar), Pemba Swahili (Pemba, Mafia)
In addition, there are several Swahili creoles and pidgins:
Cutchi-Swahili
Kutchi-Swahili, or Cutchi-Swahili, is a Swahili-based creole derived from the Kutchi language of the Kutch district in Gujarat and spoken among the Indian population of East Africa. It is the native language of some Gujarati families from Zanz ...
,
Kisetla
Settla (), or Settler Swahili, is a Swahili pidgin mainly spoken in large European settlements in Kenya and Zambia. It was used mainly by native English speaking European colonists for communication with the native Swahili speakers.
Origins
B ...
(Settler Swahili),
Engsh
Engsh is a cant that originated in Nairobi, Kenya in the 1980s. While Sheng developed in the poorer parts of Nairobi, Engsh evolved among the youth of the richer, more affluent neighbourhoods. Engsh is English based, but mixes Swahili, and other e ...
,
Sheng,
Shaba Swahili
Shaba may refer to:
Places
* Shaba, Kenya
* Shaba National Reserve, a protected area in northern Kenya
* Shaba Province, name of Katanga Province in present Democratic Republic of Congo between 1971 and 1997
* Shabo, Odesa Oblast, town in Ode ...
(Katanga Swahili, Lubumbashi Swahili),
Ngwana (Congo Swahili),
Kikeya
The talent was a unit of weight that was introduced in Mesopotamia at the end of the 4th millennium BC, and was normalized at the end of the 3rd millennium during the Akkadian-Sumer phase, divided into 60 minas or 3,600 shekels. In classical antiqu ...
.
References
Northeast Coast Bantu languages
Swahili language
{{Bantu-lang-stub