al-Taḥawwulāt al-Lughawīyah fī Jazīrat Lāmū: Muqārabah Sūsyūlisānīyah fī Ḍawʼ al-Taʼthīrāt al-Tārīkhīyah wa-al-ʻAwlamah al-Muʻāṣirah - Mādī, Mādaghīs; 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)
Lamu Island is among the oldest coastal towns on the eastern coast of Africa, having been for centuries a vital centre of linguistic and cultural interaction between Swahilis and Arabs, and Omanis in particular, within the commercial and religious network of the Indian Ocean. In recent decades, however, the island has witnessed deep linguistic change as a result of tourism and globalisation, directly affecting the standing of Swahili and of its traditional dialect, Ki-Amu. The research rests on a central question concerning the nature of the linguistic changes occurring on Lamu Island and the extent to which Swahili continues as a symbol of identity amid the growing dominance of English as the language of economy, tourism and education. It further seeks to understand how these changes have reshaped speakers' attitudes towards their own language, in a balance between cultural belonging and practical pragmatism, and includes analysis of shifts in the lexicon.
Permanent citation identifier: MHF-MOMBASA2026-008.
Conference theme (in Arabic): المحور الأول: التأثير العُماني في السواحلية.
Text in Arabic; title also romanized (ALA-LC); abstract and keywords in English.
Keywords: Sociolinguistics; Lamu; Ki-Amu dialect; Language shift; Globalisation; Swahili identity