Kutchi-Swahili, or Cutchi-Swahili, is a

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

-based creole derived from the

Kutchi language Kutchi (; કચ્છી, , ڪڇّي, ) or Kachhi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Kutch region of Gujarat, and some parts of Rajasthan, India and Sindh, Pakistan. The Jadeja rulers of Cutch and Rajputs of Kutch, speak Kutchi lan ...

of the

Kutch district Kutch district (), officially spelled Kachchh is a district of Gujarat state in western India, with its headquarters (capital) at Bhuj. Covering an area of 45,674 km2, it is the largest district of India. The area of Kutch is larger than ...

in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

and spoken among the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

population of East Africa. It is the native language of some Kutchi families from

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

that have settled in the larger cities of mainland

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

and

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, and is used as a second language by others of the Indian community. In these areas of East Africa, the language is typically only used by Muslim groups, whereas Hindu groups use Gujarati instead. In the language, words that are taken from Swahili are often modified to fit Kutchi pronunciation patterns; for instance, the Swahili word , meaning "plate", becomes in Kutchi-Swahili. Maho (2009) assigns different codes to Kutchi-Swahili and Asian Swahili (''Kibabu''), and ''Ethnologue'' also notes that these may not be the same.

References

Asian-Kenyan culture Asian diaspora in Tanzania Gujarati diaspora Indian-Kenyan culture Indian diaspora in Tanzania Swahili-based pidgins and creoles Culture of Zanzibar Languages attested from the 2nd millennium {{Swahili-stub