al-Ḥuḍūr al-Muʻjamī al-ʻArabī fī al-Lughah al-Sawāḥilīyah: Ālīyāt al-Iqtirāḍ al-Dalālī wa-Tamaththulātuhu al-Ḥaḍārīyah - Abū Ghalyūn, ʻAṭwah; د. عطوة أبو غليون (Muʼtamar al-Istiqāmah al-Duwalī al-Thānī: al-ʻUmānīyūn wa-al-Sawāḥilīyah bayna al-Taʼthīr wa-al-Taʼaththur, 2026)
This research investigates the Arabic lexical presence in the Swahili language through an analysis of the mechanisms of semantic borrowing and their civilizational representations, situated within the context of linguistic and cultural interaction between Arabic and Swahili. The study proceeds from the hypothesis that Arabic influence on Swahili was not merely a transient lexical borrowing but constituted a profound sociolinguistic and civilizational phenomenon, intrinsically linked to the spread of Islam, the movement of religious education, and commercial and cultural exchange along the coasts of East Africa. The study identifies selected models of Swahili lexemes of Arabic origin and analyses the pathways of their semantic evolution — whether through narrowing and specialisation, broadening and generalisation, or semantic shift — while elucidating how these developments reflect the civilizational contact between the two languages and the social conditions in which the borrowed vocabulary was received and reshaped.
This research aims to investigate the Arabic lexical presence in the Swahili language through an analysis of the mechanisms of semantic borrowing and their civilizational representations, situated within the context of linguistic and cultural interaction between Arabic and Swahili. The study proceeds from the hypothesis that Arabic influence on Swahili was not merely a transient lexical borrowing, but rather constituted a profound sociolinguistic and civilizational phenomenon, intrinsically linked to the spread of Islam, the movement of religious education, and commercial and cultural exchange along the coasts of East Africa. The study seeks to identify selected models of Swahili lexemes of Arabic origin and to analyze the pathways of their semantic evolution—whether through narrowing (specialization), broadening (generalization), or semantic shift—while elucidating how these lexemes have been adapted within the morphological and syntactic structures of Swahili. Furthermore, the research examines the civilizational dimensions of this borrowing process, characterizing it as a reflection of an Islamic value system and cultural framework transmitted through language, which contributed to shaping the social and religious consciousness of Swahili-speaking communities. Methodologically, the research employs a descriptive linguistic approach for the corpus compilation of linguistic data, an analytical semantic approach for interpreting meaning shifts, and a civilizational-cultural approach that situates the linguistic phenomenon within its historical and religious context. The study concludes that the Arabic lexical presence in Swahili represents a living model of positive civilizational interaction: Arabic lexemes have been functionally integrated into the Swahili linguistic system while retaining their cultural and religious referentiality. Consequently, the study affirms the centrality of language as an active civilizational medium, rather than merely a communicative tool. Keywords: (Semantic Borrowing, Swahili Language, Language Contact, Semantic Evolution, Civilizational Interaction) المُقَدِّمَةُ الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي جَعَلَ اللُّغَاتِ جُسُورًا لِلتَّعَارُفِ،
Keywords: conference publication; Arabic loanwords; Swahili lexicon; Semantic borrowing; Language contact; East Africa; Sociolinguistics