The Sabaki languages are the
Bantu languages 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 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,
Mwiini (Brava, Somalia), Coastal Swahili (Lamu, Mombasa, Zanzibar), Pemba Swahili (Pemba, Mafia)
In addition, there are several Swahili creoles and pidgins:
Cutchi-Swahili,
Kisetla (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 (Katanga Swahili, Lubumbashi Swahili),
Ngwana (Congo Swahili),
Kikeya.
References
Northeast Coast Bantu languages
Swahili language
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