Linguistic Borrowing from Arabic into Swahili: Motives and Patterns
al-Iqtirāḍ al-Lughawī min al-ʻArabīyah ilá al-Sawāḥilīyah: al-Dawāfiʻ wa-al-Anmāṭ
الاقتراض اللغوي من العربية إلى السواحيلية: الدوافع والأنماط
Abstract
This research treats the phenomenon of linguistic borrowing from Arabic into Swahili as one of the most prominent forms of linguistic and civilizational interaction between Arabs and the inhabitants of the East African coast. It aims to reveal the principal motives that contributed to the passage of Arabic vocabulary into Swahili, to analyse the patterns of that borrowing at the lexical, semantic, phonetic and morphological levels, and to set out its effect in shaping the Swahili language and its cultural and expressive functions. The study proceeds from a set of research questions, foremost among them: what are the motives of linguistic borrowing from Arabic into Swahili? What are its patterns? And how did this borrowing contribute to the development of Swahili? The importance of the research lies in bringing out the linguistic dimension of Arab-African civilizational interaction and offering an extended analytical treatment that goes beyond descriptive presentation.
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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 $6 — the standard treatment for non-English resources.
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=LDR 00000naa a2200000 a 4500 =001 MHF-MOMBASA2026-025 =003 OM-MaHAFIL =008 260905s2026 ke o 1 ara d =040 \\$aOM-MaHAFIL$beng$erda$cOM-MaHAFIL =041 0\$aara$beng =100 1\$6100-01$aṬāhir, Muḥammad Muḥammad ʻAlī,$eauthor. =245 13$6245-02$aal-Iqtirāḍ al-Lughawī min al-ʻArabīyah ilá al-Sawāḥilīyah: al-Dawāfiʻ wa-al-Anmāṭ /$cMuḥammad Muḥammad ʻAlī al-Ṭāhir ; Jābir al-Zarrūq Jābir. =242 10$aLinguistic Borrowing from Arabic into Swahili: Motives and Patterns$yeng =264 \1$6264-03$aMumbāsā :$bJamʻīyat al-Istiqāmah al-Khayrīyah al-Islāmīyah al-ʻĀlamīyah,$c2026. =300 \\$a1 online resource. =336 \\$atext$btxt$2rdacontent =337 \\$acomputer$bc$2rdamedia =338 \\$aonline resource$bcr$2rdacarrier =500 \\$aPermanent citation identifier: MHF-MOMBASA2026-025. =520 3\$aThis research treats the phenomenon of linguistic borrowing from Arabic into Swahili as one of the most prominent forms of linguistic and civilizational interaction between Arabs and the inhabitants of the East African coast. It aims to reveal the principal motives that contributed to the passage of Arabic vocabulary into Swahili, to analyse the patterns of that borrowing at the lexical, semantic, phonetic and morphological levels, and to set out its effect in shaping the Swahili language and its cultural and expressive functions. The study proceeds from a set of research questions, foremost among them: what are the motives of linguistic borrowing from Arabic into Swahili? What are its patterns? And how did this borrowing contribute to the development of Swahili? The importance of the research lies in bringing out the linguistic dimension of Arab-African civilizational interaction and offering an extended analytical treatment that goes beyond descriptive presentation. =546 \\$aText in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English. =653 \0$aLinguistic borrowing =653 \0$aArabic and Swahili =653 \0$aLanguage contact =653 \0$aPhonology =653 \0$aMorphology =653 \0$aCultural interaction =700 1\$6700-04$aJābir, Jābir al-Zarrūq,$eauthor. =711 2\$6711-05$aMuʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur$d(2026)$c(Mumbāsā) =773 0\$6773-06$tMuʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur$dMumbāsā : Jamʻīyat al-Istiqāmah al-Khayrīyah al-Islāmīyah al-ʻĀlamīyah, 2026$gpaper no. 25$wMHF-MOMBASA2026-025 =856 40$uhttp://app.mahafil.co/p/arch-mombasa-2026/25$yLanding page (Arabic) =856 40$uhttp://app.mahafil.co/p/arch-mombasa-2026/25/en$yLanding page (English) =880 1\$6100-01/(3/r$aالطاهر، محمد محمد علي،$eمؤلف. =880 13$6245-02/(3/r$aالاقتراض اللغوي من العربية إلى السواحيلية: الدوافع والأنماط /$cمحمد محمد علي الطاهر، جابر الزروق جابر. =880 \1$6264-03/(3/r$aممباسا :$bجمعية الاستقامة الخيرية الإسلامية العالمية،$c2026. =880 1\$6700-04/(3/r$aجابر، جابر الزروق،$eمؤلف. =880 2\$6711-05/(3/r$aمؤتمر الاستقامة الدولي الثاني: العُمانيون والسواحلية بين التأثير والتأثر =880 0\$6773-06/(3/r$tمؤتمر الاستقامة الدولي الثاني: العُمانيون والسواحلية بين التأثير والتأثر