Language Policy in East Africa under the Būsaʿīdī Dynasty
al-Siyāsah al-Lughawīyah fī Sharq Ifrīqiyā fī ʻAhd al-Būsaʻīdīyīn
السياسة اللغوية في شرق إفريقيا في عهد البوسعيديين
Abstract
After the retreat of Portuguese colonialism, Omani rule extended to East Africa from Somalia along the African coasts as far as the island of Zanzibar, and this political and cultural ascendancy over these ports created a unique linguistic reality whose effects remain in place to this day. That new linguistic reality took the form of a local language which in many cases mingled with Arabic to form the Swahili language, and in other cases coexisted alongside it, within a cultural awareness that shaped the scene and a language policy that contributed to forming it — a policy that may have been explicit in a limited range of practices and implicit in many others. Despite the importance of this language policy, explicit and implicit alike, in shaping that linguistic reality, it has not yet received sufficient research attention in recording and describing its dimensions and features. The research aims to describe the linguistic reality in East Africa during Omani rule.
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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 $6 — the standard treatment for non-English resources.
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=LDR 00000naa a2200000 a 4500 =001 MHF-MOMBASA2026-028 =003 OM-MaHAFIL =008 260905s2026 ke o 1 ara d =040 \\$aOM-MaHAFIL$beng$erda$cOM-MaHAFIL =041 0\$aara$beng =100 1\$6100-01$aFārisī, ʻAlī ibn Ḥamad,$eauthor. =245 13$6245-02$aal-Siyāsah al-Lughawīyah fī Sharq Ifrīqiyā fī ʻAhd al-Būsaʻīdīyīn /$cʻAlī ibn Ḥamad al-Fārisī ; Aḥmad ibn Nāṣir al-Ṣubḥī ; Yūsuf al-Kāsbī. =242 10$aLanguage Policy in East Africa under the Būsaʿīdī Dynasty$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-MOMBASA2026-028. =500 \\$aConference theme (in Arabic): المحور الأول: التأثير العُماني في السواحلية. =520 3\$aAfter the retreat of Portuguese colonialism, Omani rule extended to East Africa from Somalia along the African coasts as far as the island of Zanzibar, and this political and cultural ascendancy over these ports created a unique linguistic reality whose effects remain in place to this day. That new linguistic reality took the form of a local language which in many cases mingled with Arabic to form the Swahili language, and in other cases coexisted alongside it, within a cultural awareness that shaped the scene and a language policy that contributed to forming it — a policy that may have been explicit in a limited range of practices and implicit in many others. Despite the importance of this language policy, explicit and implicit alike, in shaping that linguistic reality, it has not yet received sufficient research attention in recording and describing its dimensions and features. The research aims to describe the linguistic reality in East Africa during Omani rule. =546 \\$aText in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English. =653 \0$aLanguage policy =653 \0$aBūsaʿīdī dynasty =653 \0$aEast Africa =653 \0$aZanzibar =653 \0$aSwahili formation =653 \0$aColonial history =700 1\$6700-04$aṢubḥī, Aḥmad ibn Nāṣir,$eauthor. =700 1\$6700-05$aKāsbī, Yūsuf,$eauthor. =711 2\$6711-06$aMuʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur$d(2026)$c(Mumbāsā) =773 0\$6773-07$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. 28$wMHF-MOMBASA2026-028 =856 40$uhttp://app.mahafil.co/p/arch-mombasa-2026/28$yLanding page (Arabic) =856 40$uhttp://app.mahafil.co/p/arch-mombasa-2026/28/en$yLanding page (English) =880 1\$6100-01/(3/r$aالفارسي، علي بن حمد،$eمؤلف. =880 13$6245-02/(3/r$aالسياسة اللغوية في شرق إفريقيا في عهد البوسعيديين /$cعلي بن حمد الفارسي، أحمد بن ناصر الصبحي، يوسف الكاسبي. =880 \1$6264-03/(3/r$aممباسا :$bجمعية الاستقامة الخيرية الإسلامية العالمية،$c2026. =880 1\$6700-04/(3/r$aالصبحي، أحمد بن ناصر،$eمؤلف. =880 1\$6700-05/(3/r$aالكاسبي، يوسف،$eمؤلف. =880 2\$6711-06/(3/r$aمؤتمر الاستقامة الدولي الثاني: العُمانيون والسواحلية بين التأثير والتأثر =880 0\$6773-07/(3/r$tمؤتمر الاستقامة الدولي الثاني: العُمانيون والسواحلية بين التأثير والتأثر