A
loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated
from one language into another language. According to some estimates, Kiswahili
contains about 40% of its lexical catalogue, mostly nouns, from loanwords. The loan languages
being English, Arabic, Portuguese, Persian, Turkish, Hindi, French, and even Greek
and Latin. In comparison, according to estimates, English contains over 80% of
its lexical catalogue from loanwords. Despite this, hardly is public opinion in
debate about the “authenticity” and “nativity” of English.
A
loanword differs from a cognate. Cognates are words in two or more languages
that are similar because they share an etymological origin. For example,
thousands of cognates exist between Kiswahili and other languages in Africa
that share the same origin, for example Kipokomo, Mijikenda langauges, Kikuria,
Gĩkũyũ, Luhya, Chimakonde,
Kimwani, Dawida, Ekegusii, Kĩikamba, Kiembu, Kimeru, and so
forth.
Since
loanwords into Kiswahili are usually nouns, they have to be assimilated into
one or the other of the noun-classes (Ngeli). If the first syllable of the
loanword is similar in shape to one of the class prefixes, then very often it
serves as a prefix and guides a concord like any other word in the same class
would do. This means that the corresponding word in the plural of the class
will follow the rules of that class. For example, the word ‘Kitabu’ in the
noun-class ‘Ki-Vi’:
|
Kiswahili |
Arabic |
|
Kitabu (book) |
Kitab (book) |
|
Vitabu (books) |
Alkutub (books) |
As
shown, the Kiswahili word ‘kitabu’ is assimilated from Arabic ‘kitab’ but once
assimilated, it follows the rules of concord in the Kiswahili noun-class to
form a plural and not that of Arabic. The same applies to any other example
from any other language where the first prefixes are shaped the same.
Other
times, the prefixes may be different. In this case, the loanword will be
assimilated into an associated noun-class (e.g. class of plants) by the
addition of an appropriate prefix like ‘m-‘ or ‘mu-‘. For example, the word ‘Mdalasini’
in the noun-class ‘U-I’ which uses the prefixes ‘M-Mi’ in singular and plural:
|
Kiswahili |
Persian |
|
Mdalasini (cinnamon) |
Dârčin
(cinnamon) |
|
Midalasini (cinnamons) |
Darçınlar
(cinnamons) |
The
third type, which are quite common, are loanwords with non-corresponding prefix
which get assimilated into noun-classes with zero prefix. Most especially, the
noun-class ‘I-Zi’. For example, the word ‘Rupia’ in the above-mentioned
noun-class.
|
Kiswahili |
Hindi |
|
Rupia (rupee) |
Rupaya (rupee) |
|
Rupia (rupees) |
Rupaye (rupees) |
The
examples in these three categories are reproducible across board. it is evident
that the assimilated loanwords follow the rules of concord of Kiswahili once
assimilated and thus Kiswahili is a language on its own standing and not “a
mixture or mongrel” as wrongly claimed in various discussions.
Reference
Guthrie, Malcolm (1970). Collected Papers on Bantu
Linguistics
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