al-Athar al-ʻArabī fī al-Lughah wa-al-Adab al-Sawāḥilī: Dirāsah Waṣfīyah Taḥlīlīyah Muqāranah - Sharjīyah, Farīdah bint Saʻīd ibn Sulaymān; Muʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur (2026) (Mumbāsā) (Mumbāsā : Jamʻīyat al-Istiqāmah al-Khayrīyah al-Islāmīyah al-ʻĀlamīyah, 2026)
This research treats the Arabic imprint on Swahili language and literature. Swahili is among the most prominent languages of East Africa, formed in the context of a long civilizational interaction between Arabs and the inhabitants of the African coast — an interaction that contributed to introducing Arabic linguistic and literary elements which affected its structure and its modes of expression. This imprint appears clearly in the abundance of Arabic words used in Swahili, in the ways they were adapted phonetically, morphologically and semantically, and in the reflection of Arabic literature within Swahili literature, particularly in stories, proverbs, poetry and homiletic writing. The problem of the research lies in the need for a focused analytical study clarifying the nature of this Arabic imprint, the patterns of total and partial linguistic borrowing, and the extent to which Arabic literature is reflected in Swahili texts.
Permanent citation identifier: MHF-MOMBASA2026-016.
Conference theme (in Arabic): المحور الثالث: الأثر العربي في السواحلية.
Text in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English.
Keywords: Arabic imprint; Swahili literature; Loanword adaptation; Comparative study; Proverbs; East Africa