Swahili language

Name

Kiswahili is the word speakers of Swahili use for their language. 'Ki-' is a prefix attached to nouns of the class that includes languages (see Noun classes below), 'Swahili' being the main noun stem from which comes the more common English term for the language. See Bantu languages for a more detailed discussion. When speaking English, some hold that Kiswahili is a more respectful or politically-correct term than Swahili. Others argue that calling the language Kiswahili when speaking English only makes sense if you would also habitually refer to European languages as Deutsch, Russki, Svenska, Magyar, and so forth (in preference to German, Russian, Swedish and Hungarian).

Related Topics:
Prefix - Noun - Class - Noun classes - Bantu languages

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