The Arabic Imprint on Swahili: Linguistic Borrowing between Lexicon and Syntax in the Light of Civilizational Interaction

Abū al-Ḥasan, Ṣalāḥ Muḥammad

The Arabic Imprint on Swahili: Linguistic Borrowing between Lexicon and Syntax in the Light of Civilizational Interaction

al-Athar al-ʻArabī fī al-Lughah al-Sawāḥilīyah: al-Iqtirāḍ al-Lughawī bayna al-Muʻjam wa-al-Tarkīb fī Ḍawʼ al-Tafāʻul al-Ḥaḍārī

الأثر العربي في اللغة السواحلية: الاقتراض اللعوي بين المعجم والتركيب في ضوء التفاعل الحضاري

Ṣalāḥ Muḥammad Abū al-Ḥasan

أ.د. صلاح محمد أبو الحسن

Conference: The Second Istiqama International Conference: Omanis and the Swahili World — Influence and Interaction — Mombasa, 2026

Romanized conference title: Muʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur

Language of the paper: Arabic — this page presents the English metadata layer.

Permanent citation ID: MHF-MOMBASA2026-013

Abstract

This study turns on the question of how far the extended linguistic and civilizational contact between Arabic and Swahili has shaped the lexical and syntactic structure of the Swahili language, and on the nature of the linguistic borrowing that resulted from this interaction: was it confined to direct lexical borrowing, or did it pass beyond that to deeper syntactic and semantic patterns reflecting a structural transfer within the Swahili linguistic system? The study aims to record the manifestations of Arabic influence on Swahili and to reveal the volume of lexical borrowing from Arabic in the Swahili lexicon, particularly in the semantic fields associated with religion, administration, commerce and social life, in addition to analysing the aspects of influence at other levels of the language.

Keywords

Language contactLexical borrowingSyntaxArabic and SwahiliSemantic fieldsLinguistics

How to cite

Abū al-Ḥasan, Ṣalāḥ Muḥammad. "al-Athar al-ʻArabī fī al-Lughah al-Sawāḥilīyah: al-Iqtirāḍ al-Lughawī bayna al-Muʻjam wa-al-Tarkīb fī Ḍawʼ al-Tafāʻul al-Ḥaḍārī" [The Arabic Imprint on Swahili: Linguistic Borrowing between Lexicon and Syntax in the Light of Civilizational Interaction]. Paper presented at Muʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur, Mumbāsā, 2026. MHF-MOMBASA2026-013

Catalog record

Romanization follows the ALA-LC Arabic table used by the Library of Congress and the British Library. The original Arabic is carried in the parallel MARC 880 fields, linked by subfield $6 — the standard treatment for non-English resources.

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=245  13$6245-02$aal-Athar al-ʻArabī fī al-Lughah al-Sawāḥilīyah: al-Iqtirāḍ al-Lughawī bayna al-Muʻjam wa-al-Tarkīb fī Ḍawʼ al-Tafāʻul al-Ḥaḍārī /$cṢalāḥ Muḥammad Abū al-Ḥasan.
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=500  \\$aConference theme (in Arabic): المحور الثالث: الأثر العربي في السواحلية.
=520  3\$aThis study turns on the question of how far the extended linguistic and civilizational contact between Arabic and Swahili has shaped the lexical and syntactic structure of the Swahili language, and on the nature of the linguistic borrowing that resulted from this interaction: was it confined to direct lexical borrowing, or did it pass beyond that to deeper syntactic and semantic patterns reflecting a structural transfer within the Swahili linguistic system? The study aims to record the manifestations of Arabic influence on Swahili and to reveal the volume of lexical borrowing from Arabic in the Swahili lexicon, particularly in the semantic fields associated with religion, administration, commerce and social life, in addition to analysing the aspects of influence at other levels of the language.
=546  \\$aText in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English.
=653  \0$aLanguage contact
=653  \0$aLexical borrowing
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=653  \0$aSemantic fields
=653  \0$aLinguistics
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