Comorian (''Shikomori'', or ''Shimasiwa'', the "language of islands") is the name given to a group of four

Bantu language 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 ...

s spoken in the Comoro Islands, an archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. It is named as one of the official languages of the Union of the Comoros in the Comorian constitution. Shimaore, one of the languages, is spoken on the disputed island of Mayotte, a French department claimed by Comoros. Like

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

, the Comorian languages are Sabaki languages, part of the Bantu language family. Each island has its own language, and the four are conventionally divided into two groups: the eastern group is composed of ''Shindzuani'' (spoken on Ndzuani) and ''

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-Po ...

'' (Mayotte), while the western group is composed of ''Shimwali'' ( Mwali) and ''Shingazija'' ( Ngazidja). Although the languages of different groups are not usually

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

, only sharing about 80% of their lexicon, there is mutual intelligibility between the languages within each group, suggesting that Shikomori should be considered as two language groups, each including two languages, rather than four distinct languages. Historically, the language was written in the Arabic-based

Ajami script Ajami ( ar, عجمي, ) or Ajamiyya ( ar, عجمية, ), which comes from the Arabic root for ''foreign'' or ''stranger'', is an Arabic-derived script used for writing African languages, particularly those of Mandé, Hausa and Swahili, although ...

. The French colonial administration introduced the Latin script, of which a modified version was officially decreed in 2009. Many Comorians now use the Latin script when writing the Comorian language although the Ajami script is still widely used, especially by women. It is the language of '' Umodja wa Masiwa,'' the national anthem.

Phonology

The consonants and vowels in the Comorian languages:

Vowels

Consonants

The consonants ''mb'', ''nd'', ''b'', ''d'' are phonetically recognized as ranging from , , , .

References

Works cited

* * 2 vols. * *

External links