Kiswahili

Kiswahili or Swahili Much has been said about calling the Swahili language as Kiswahili, but foreigners be they English or French or Arabs do not call other peoples' languages as they should be called by the native speakers of those languages. We, therefore, hear many people referring to the Swahili language as Kiswahili language, though this is linguistically wrong. The Swahili people call their language "Kiswahili", because grammatically language falls under Ki-class, and therefore they would say: Lugha ya Kiswahili for Swahili language, and lugha ya Kiingereza for English language, and lugha ya Kiarabu for Arabic language and so on and so forth. On the other hand, Arabs call their language "al-'Arabiyyah", and call the Swahili language "as-Sawaahiliyyah", and English as "al-Ingliziyyah". Also, the English people call their language "English", Kiswahili as "Swahili" and al-'Arabiyyah as Arabic, and this is true for all other people all over the world, who use a certain system of grammar for their different languages. As we would not expect the Swahili people to call the English language "lugha ya English", we therefore, would not expect the English people to call the Swahili language as "the Kiswahili language" and the Arabic language as "Al-Arabia language, as this would go against their system of grammar. Salim Elhaj http://www.geocities.com/salimelhaj/swahili.htm http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/profiles/profs04.htm \n#REDIRECT Swahili language simple:Kiswahili