By: Derek Nurse and Thomas Spear - 1985
Much of the traditional view of the origins and status of Swahili is captured by the following extract from a Nairobi newspaper:
History has it very clearly that Swahili is a combination of more languages than one, the major one being none other than Arabic. When the Arabs came to the East Coast of Africa before the exploitation era and consequently colonized it, they had no way of communicating with the indigenous people they met. Gradually and inevitably they tactically (and rightly so) combined what of their language they could with the languages that were being spoken there. There were many and still are—Giriama, Banjuni [sic], Digo, etc., not to mention those spoken further north and south of the East Coast of Africa. The result—Swahili. Some of the most prominent words in the language owe their origin to Arabic: salamu, salama, chai, lakin, etc.
The first, and most obvious, fallacy here is that the most important feature of Swahili is its Arabic component. This feeling is widespread in both popular and academic writing and takes many forms. It is akin to saying that English, a Germanic language, is really a Romance language because of French influence during the centuries following the Norman invasion. This feeling is distorted because it fails to distinguish between what is inherited in a language and what is absorbed later. Swahili is clearly an African language in its basic sound system and grammar and is closely related to Bantu languages of Kenya, northeast Tanzania, and the Comoro Islands, with which it shared a common development long prior to the widespread adoption of Arabic vocabulary. Though some Arabic words were assimilated into Swahili before a.p. 1500, most are attributable to the post-Portuguese period. The Arabic material is a recent graft onto an old Bantu tree.
The second fallacy is that a single language arises in different places and, presumably, at different times: the Arabs “tactically ... combined what of their language they could with the languages that were being spoken there.” This view sees Arabic as a catalyst, which, on coming in contact with any available coastal language, ineluctably turned it into a form of Swahili. Another variant of this fallacy, while denying that Arabic was the catalyst, nevertheless sees Swahili as arising simultaneously at several different points along the coast. This polygenetic view of Swahili contradicts what we know from countless other languages in the world. A language arises in one place, over a period of time. Its speakers multiply, and the language starts to diversify internally. Its community splits up and some of its speakers move away, thus increasing the linguistic differentiation. It was during this stage in the history of Swahili that Arabic intervened. A language is created in a specific area and time, which is not to be confused with its subsequent development and differentiation.