Languages of the Comoros

Last updated

Languages of the Comoros
Mayotte is Comorian (10896486873).jpg
Political poster in French in Moroni
Official Comorian, French and Arabic
Recognised Bushi, Malagasy, Maore
Vernacular Français populaire africain
Minority Swahili
Foreign English
Signed American Sign Language
Keyboard layout
French AZERTY
KB France.svg

The official languages of the Comoros are Comorian, French and Arabic, as recognized under its 2001 constitution. [1] Although each language holds equal recognition under the constitution, language use varies across Comorian society. [2] Unofficial minority languages such as Malagasy and Swahili are also present on the island with limited usage. [3] According to Harriet Joseph Ottenheimer, a professor of anthropology at Kansas State university, the linguistic diversity of the Comoros is the result of its rich history as part of the Indian maritime trade routes and its periods of Malagasy and French colonial rule. [3]

Contents

Official Languages

Comorian

Comorian, or Shikomoro is the most widely spoken language in the country, spoken by 96.9% of the population. [4] [5] As a Bantu Language, Comorian is closely related to Swahili. [6] Each island has its own dialect of Comorian. [7] The Shingazija dialect is the most widely used variant of Comorian, spoken on Grande Comore (Ngazija) by about 312,000 people. Additionally, the Shimwali dialect is spoken by 29,000 people on Moheli (Mwali) and the Shinzwani dialect is spoken by about 275,000 people on Anjouan (Nzwani). [7] [8] Although the dialects have linguistic differences, they all share mutual intelligibility. [7]

There is no accepted orthography in the Comorian language. [9] Historically and informally, Comorian was written using a variant of Arabic script, called the Ajami script. [4] Most early academic works written on Comorian are difficult or impossible to obtain because of the lack of written standard. [10] According to John Mugane, professor of African languages at Harvard University, there were extended time gaps ranging from 25 to 30 years throughout the 1900s, which lacked new academic information on the Comorian languages. [11] From the 1600s until the late 1990s, only two dozen publication have included the languages of the Comoros. [7] Many academic publications have only been passing references in other language studies or the accounts of travelers. [7]

When Comorian was first identified in the 1880s, there was much debate over whether Comorian was a variant of Swahili rather than a standalone language. [10] But according to Martin Ottenheimer, a professor of anthropology at Kansas State University, grammatical and linguistic differences discovered by French linguists such as Charles Sacleux and Antoine Meillet, have affirmed the distinctiveness of Comorian as a separate language from Swahili. [7] For example, although both languages share similar vocabularies, there is a consistent mutual unintelligibility between Swahili and Comorian. [7]

Upon independence from France in 1975, Comorian was sought as an official language, and a Latin-based orthography was demanded by the Comorian government. [9] In particular, both the government and the people of the Comoros sought for a writing system that was distinct from French, whilst resembling its nearby East African nations. [9] Since the 1970s, attempts have been made by both the Comorian Government and the University of the Comoros Department of Modern Languages to standardize the Comorian Language and integrate Comorian into the education system alongside French and Arabic. [12] [9] In 1976, two Latin-based orthographies were proposed by the country's president, Ali Soilihi and the linguist Mohamed Ahmed-Chamang. [10] [11] In 1986, a Swahili-based orthography was proposed by Comorian linguist Moinaecha Cheikh. [7] However, the past attempts to introduce a Comorian orthography has failed to gain popularity. Political, historical and ethnic tensions regarding the different dialects of Comorian have been responsible for the failed attempts to provide a written standard for Comorian. [7] [2] For example, the orthography proposed by Cheikh was widely unpopular as the writing system was more suited towards the Shingazidja dialect rather than the Shinzwani dialect. [3]

There has been significant debate over which variant of the Comorian language is considered as the national language. [2] According to Martin-Luther University professor Iain Walker, this debate has been largely avoided in Comorian politics, which has contributed to an increasing sociolinguistic disunity between the speakers of each variant. [2]

A 1906 Comorian postage stamp in French. The Comoros was a colony of France at the time. Stamp Moheli 1906 2c.jpg
A 1906 Comorian postage stamp in French. The Comoros was a colony of France at the time.

French

The French language is the second most spoken language in the Comoros. According to a 2018 report by the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, 216,174 people speak French in the Comoros or 25.97% of the population. [13] The language emerged as a result of French colonisation in the Comoros, lasting from 1841 until independence in 1975. [2] French is considered the language of government and commerce and is acquired through formal, non-Qur’anic education. [4] After independence, the use of the French language was propagated during the administration of the pro-French president, Ahmed Abdallah. [4] The Abdallah administration had reinforced the use of French in education and provided official, French place names in the country. [4] Internationally, the Comoros is recognised as a Francophone nation, and is a full member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.

During the colonial period, French was the main language of instruction across society, including administration, education and trade. [4] Higher education is also dependent on French language ability with many Comorian students attending universities in France. [14]

Arabic

Comorian passport with text in French and Arabic Comorian Passport.png
Comorian passport with text in French and Arabic

Although an official language, Arabic is a minority language in the Comoros Islands. Arabic functions as a liturgical language for the country's dominant religion, Islam, with 95% of the population adhering to the Sunni Muslim faith. [15] Despite being an official language, Arabic is not widely used in the Comoros and it is not reported as a first language (L1) amongst the population. [8]  

Historically, Arabic was a language of commerce, used for trade in the Comoros for over fifteen hundred years. [4] [10] Arabic was first introduced as a result of increased Arabian maritime contact during the slave trade from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century. [4] These influences had persisted with the spread of various Arabic publications such as Al Falaq in neighbouring Tanzania and the Comoros. [16] This led to the emergence of Islam, and the creation of the Koranic School in the 16th century which instructed children in the practices and beliefs of Islam and propagated the use of the Arabic language. [4] [6]

From the 1970s, the use of Arabic gradually began to separate from religious purposes. [4] The teaching of Arabic as a secular subject and at an advanced level started to gain popularity. [8] [4] Arabic languages skills came to be regarded as privilege in Comorian society. [4] But, Arabic language use remains largely assigned to religious purposes. This is primarily due to the lasting importance of the Quranic School in the Comorian education system, existing in Comoros for more than four centuries. [4]

The Comoros participates in international delegations tied to promoting Arabic language use. [14] Six Arabo-Islamic colleges and an Institute for Arabic Language were constructed with financial support from the World Islamic League and Kuwait. [4] Similar to French, higher education in the Comoros is tied Arabic language usage, with many Comorian students receiving tertiary education in Arabic-speaking countries. [14] The Comoros is also a member of the Arab League. [4]

Minority Languages

Malagasy

According to Ethnologue, Malagasy is a minority language spoken in the Comoros. [17] A dialect of Malagasy called Shibushi is spoken by an estimated 39,000 people in the Comoros Islands. [18] Traces of Malagasy speakers predominantly reside in the islands of Mayotte and Moheli manifesting as small populations of Malagasy-speaking villages [6]

The small Malagasy-speaking communities originated from the late 18th century to the early 19th century, with migrants from Madagascar settling in the Comoros. This was the result of the slave trades in Madagascar occurring at this time, as well as the periods of Malagasy rulers on the islands. [6] The presence of the Malagasy language has also influenced the surrounding languages in the archipelago. [3] For example, there is a variant of the Shimwali dialect in Moheli that heavily borrows Malagasy vocabulary. [3]

Swahili

Historically, Swahili served as the lingua franca of the Comoros, used for trade with the Arabic Peninsula, the East African Coast. [7] As a Bantu language, Swahili shares similarities with the Comorian language and is estimated to be spoken by 1% of the population. [7] [19] Much of the early history of the Comoros is written in Swahili, using the Arabic script. [4] Many ancient Comorian poems and songs written in Swahili detail key historical events such as the slave trade, and the various battles between the Sultans who once ruled the Comoros. [4] Swahili played a major role for the struggle for independence in the 1960s when Comorians living in Tanzania would support independence by broadcasting messages via radio in Comorian and Swahili to Comorians living in French-colonised Comoros. [19]

Kiunguja, a dialect of Swahili, is also spoken in the Comoros, particularly in Grande Comore Islands. This was the result of the migration to the Comoros from Zanzibar in Tanzania during the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. [6]

Uses

A tourist exit stamp of the Comoros in French Comoros exit stamp.jpg
A tourist exit stamp of the Comoros in French

In government and commerce, French is the most widely used language. [6] Since colonisation, education in the Comoros largely modelled the French model where French was used as the language of instruction. [4] A strict French monolingual policy was historically enforced for public schools. [4] Arabic is largely confined to religious, Qur’anic Education and is introduced as early as the age of four or five. [4] In Comorian society, religious parents often insist on their children learning Arabic in Quranic Schools before learning French in the public school system. [4] The national education policy has also reinforced the role of French and Arabic as languages of instruction from primary through tertiary education, while Comorian is permitted at the preschool level. [4] French and Arabic are also featured on the Comorian Franc, the official currency of the Comoros.

The language of media is predominantly French and Arabic. [16] Newspapers are only published in two languages, as in the Arabic language Al Watany, and the independent, French language, l’Archipel. [16] On social media, French is the predominant language, with 100% of Comorians in 2014 reported to have used French as their language on Facebook. [20] Historically, French colonial planters and government officials used French to write personal and place names. This has influenced the spelling of place names on maps in the Comoros, many streets using French signage. [4] Each island also holds a French and a Comorian name. [4]

The Language Situation

Outside of administration, education and commerce, French and Arabic are not widely spoken. [11] Instead, Comorian is the most widely spoken language, confined largely to informal and oral purposes. [2] This is because, during the French colonial period, Comorian language use was forbidden in schools as it was not considered a suitable medium of instruction. [4] Under the French model of education, Comorian language use by students were often met with severe punishments. [4] The use of Comorian is also restricted by the lack of stable writing form that has complicated Comorian language use in education. [12]

Despite the lack of written standard, Comorian is still used for administrative purposes to a limited extent. [4] In October 1974, the French National Assembly passed a resolution, requiring that the referendum bill be published in both French and Comorian and the Arabic script was used for the Comorian documentation. [4] Comorian is also becoming increasingly present in education, with many schools teaching grammar on the local Comorian dialects. [4] In January 1978, the Comorian Government had reformed primary schools to cater to religious education in Arabic and nursery education in Comorian. [4] Since 2009, there has been an ongoing debate in the Comorian Government for Comorian as a language of instruction alongside French and Arabic. [12]

Amongst the different variants of Comorian, the Shingazidja is considered the most commonly used dialect, due to the population of Grande Comore Island being the largest in the archipelago. [3] Shingazidja was used for the 1974 French and Comorian language referendum bill. [3] The preference towards Shingazidja however, has contributed to the growing language disunity amongst the Comorian variants. [9] [2]

Multilingualism

Multilingualism is prevalent in the Comoros with a diverse language repertoire. [19] [21] The potential language repertoire of a Comorian can consist of at least one of the Comorian dialects, French, Arabic, Malagasy and Swahili. [19] Most of the population speaks at least two of the three official languages in addition to the minority languages. [22] Code-switching is frequently used for socialising purposes, in particular, with the Comorian youth. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comoros</span> African island country in the Indian Ocean

The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni. The religion of the majority of the population, and the official state religion, is Sunni Islam. Comoros proclaimed its independence from France on 6 July 1975. A member of the Arab League, it is the only country in the Arab world which is entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a member state of the African Union, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, and the Indian Ocean Commission. The country has three official languages: Shikomori, French and Arabic.

The history of the Comoros extends to about 800–1000 AD when the archipelago was first inhabited. The Comoros have been inhabited by various groups throughout this time. France colonised the islands in the 19th century, and they became independent in 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of the Comoros</span>

The Comoros archipelago consists of four main islands aligned along a northwest–southeast axis at the north end of the Mozambique Channel, between Mozambique and the island of Madagascar. Still widely known by their French names, the islands officially have been called by their Swahili names by the Comorian government. They are Grande Comore (Njazidja), Mohéli (Mwali), Anjouan (Nzwani), and Mayotte (Mahoré). The islands' distance from each other—Grande Comore is some 200 kilometers from Mayotte, forty kilometers from Mohéli, and eighty kilometers from Anjouan—along with a lack of good harbor facilities, make transportation and communication difficult. Comoros are sunny islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of the Comoros</span>

The Comorians inhabiting Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Mohéli share African-Arab origins. Islam is the dominant religion, and Quranic schools for children reinforce its influence. Although Islamic culture is firmly established throughout, a small minority are Christian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayotte</span> Overseas department of France in the Indian Ocean

Mayotte, officially the Department of Mayotte, is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is located in the northern part of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeastern Africa, between Northwestern Madagascar and Northeastern Mozambique. Mayotte consists of a main island, Grande-Terre, a smaller island, Petite-Terre, as well as several islets around these two. Mayotte is the most prosperous territory in the Mozambique Channel, making it a major destination for immigration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swahili language</span> Bantu language spoken mainly in East Africa

Swahili, also known by its local name Kiswahili, is a Bantu language originally spoken by the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique. The number of current Swahili speakers, be they native or second-language speakers, is estimated to be over 200 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Africa</span>

The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated at between 1,250 and 2,100, and by some counts at over 3,000. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages, one of the greatest concentrations of linguistic diversity in the world. The languages of Africa belong to many distinct language families, among which the largest are:

Comorian is the name given to a group of four Bantu languages spoken in the Comoro Islands, an archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. It is named as one of the official languages of the Union of the Comoros in the Comorian constitution. Shimaore, one of the languages, is spoken on the disputed island of Mayotte, a French department claimed by Comoros.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comoro Islands</span> Archipelago in the Indian Ocean

The Comoro Islands or the Comoros are an archipelago of volcanic islands situated off the southeastern coast of Africa, to the east of Mozambique and northwest of Madagascar. The islands are politically divided between the Union of the Comoros, a sovereign country, and Mayotte, an Overseas Department of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohéli</span> Autonomous Island of the Union of the Comoros

Mohéli, also known as Mwali, is an autonomous island that forms part of the Union of the Comoros. It is the smallest of the three major islands in the country. It is located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa and it is the smallest of the four major Comoro Islands. Its capital and largest city is Fomboni.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grande Comore</span> Autonomous island in Comoros

Grande Comore is an island in Comoros off the coast of Africa. It is the largest island in the Comoros nation. Most of its population is of the Comorian ethnic group. Its population as of 2006 is about 316,600. The island's capital is Moroni, which is also the national capital. The island is made up of two shield volcanoes, with Mount Karthala being the country's highest point at 2,361 m (7,746 ft) above sea level. According to the 2009 revision of the constitution of 2002, it is governed by an elected Governor, as are the other islands, with the federal government being much reduced in power. The name Ngazidja is sometimes seen in the now nonstandard form Njazidja.

Maore Comorian, or Shimaore, is one of the two indigenous languages spoken in the French-ruled Comorian islands of Mayotte; Shimaore being a dialect of the Comorian language, while ShiBushi is an unrelated Malayo-Polynesian language originally from Madagascar. Historically, Shimaore- and ShiBushi-speaking villages on Mayotte have been clearly identified, but Shimaore tends to be the de facto indigenous lingua franca in everyday life, because of the larger Shimaore-speaking population. Only Shimaore is represented on the local television news program by Mayotte La Première. The 2002 census references 80,140 speakers of Shimaore in Mayotte itself, to which one would have to add people living outside the island, mostly in metropolitan France. There are also 20,000 speakers of Comorian in Madagascar, of which 3,000 are Shimaore speakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in the Comoros</span> Religion in the Comoros

Islam is the largest religion in the Comoros. According to the 2006 estimate by the U.S. Department of State, roughly 98% of the population in the Comoros is Muslim. Virtually all Muslims in the Comoros are Sunni belonging to Shafi'i school of jurisprudence. Most adherents are Arab-Swahili, but there are also people of Indian, largely Gujarati, descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the Comoros</span> Political elections for public offices in the Comoros

Elections in the Comoros take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a presidential system. The President and the majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Union are directly elected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Bank of the Comoros</span> Monetary Authority of Comoros

The Central Bank of the Comros is the central bank of the Comoros, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of the Comoros</span> Overview of and topical guide to Comoros

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Comoros:

The Sabaki languages are the Bantu languages of the Swahili Coast, named for the Sabaki River. In addition to Swahili, Sabaki languages include Ilwana (Malakote) and Pokomo on the Tana River in Kenya, Mijikenda, spoken on the Kenyan coast; Comorian, in the Comoro Islands; and Mwani, spoken in northern Mozambique. In Guthrie's geographic classification, Swahili is in Bantu zone G, whereas the other Sabaki languages are in zone E70, commonly under the name Nyika.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in the Comoros</span>

The predominant religion in the Comoros is Islam, with a small Christian minority. Although the constitution, as revised in 2018, removed the reference to a state religion in the 2009 constitution, stating simply that Sunni Islam is the source of national identity, a 2008 law promulgated in January 2013 outlawed the practice of other forms of Islam in the country. Propagation of non-Islamic religions is prohibited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Madagascar</span> Languages of the country and its peoples

The Malagasy language, of Austronesian origin, is generally spoken throughout the island. The official languages of Madagascar are Malagasy and French. Madagascar is a Francophone country, and in 2022, French is spoken by around a quarter of the population in Madagascar, i.e. 7.7 million people out of 29.1 million (26.5%).

Air Comores SA was the flag carrier of the Comoros that operated from 1966 to 1995. The airline was 49% owned by Air France, with the remaining 51% owned by the Comorian state.

References

  1. ↑ "Comoros's Constitution of 2001 with Amendments through 2009"(PDF). Retrieved 18 May 2020
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Walker, Iain (2011). "What Came First, The Nation or the State? Political Process in the Comoro Islands". Africa. 77 (4): 586. doi:10.3366/afr.2007.77.4.582. ISSN 0001-9720.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Joseph Ottenheimer, Harriet (2001). "Spelling Shinzwani: Dictionary construction and orthographic choice in the Comoro Islands". Written Language & Literacy. 4 (1): 15–29. doi:10.1075/wll.4.1.03jos. ISSN   1387-6732.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Bakar, Abdourahim Said (1988). "Small Island Systems: a case study of the Comoro Islands". Comparative Education. 24 (2): 181–191. doi:10.1080/0305006880240203. ISSN   0305-0068.
  5. ↑ "Union des Comores". Tlfq.ulaval.ca. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ottenheimer, M. (1971). Domoni: Formal Analysis And Ethnography Of A Comoro Island Community (Order No. 7120225). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (302537456).
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Ottenheimer, Martin; Ottenheimer, Harriet Joseph (1976). "The Classification of the Languages of the Comoro Islands". Anthropological Linguistics. 8 (9): 405-406.
  8. 1 2 3 Falola, Toyin; Jean-Jacques, Daniel (2016). Africa : an encyclopedia of culture and society. Santa Barbara, California. pp. 260–264. ISBN   978-1-59884-665-2. OCLC   900016532.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Ottenheimer, Harriet J. (2012). "Ideology and Orthography". Études Océan Indien (48). doi:10.4000/oceanindien.1521. ISSN 0246-0092
  10. 1 2 3 4 Ottenheimer, Martin; Ottenheimer, Harriet Joseph (1976). "The Classification of the Languages of the Comoro Islands". Anthropological Linguistics. 8 (9): 408-409.
  11. 1 2 3 The linguistic typology and representation of African languages. Mugane, John M., Annual Conference on African Linguistics (33rd : 2002 : Ohio University). Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press. 2003. ISBN   1-59221-155-0. OCLC   53881176.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. 1 2 3 The impact of language policy and practice on children’s learning: Evidence from Eastern and Southern Africa (PDF) (Report). UNICEF. p. 26.
  13. ↑ Estimation des populations francophones dans le monde en 2018 (PDF) (in French). ODSEF. 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2020
  14. 1 2 3 Sellström, Tor (2015-05-26). "Africa In the Indian Ocean. Islands Ebb and Flow". doi10.1163/9789004292499 ISBN   978-90-04-29249-9.
  15. ↑ Full, W. (2006), "Comoros: Language Situation", Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, Elsevier, pp. 685–686, doi:10.1016/b0-08-044854-2/04879-3, ISBN   978-0-08-044854-1 , retrieved 2020-05-18
  16. 1 2 3 Arab media : globalization and emerging media industries. Mellor, Noha, 1969-, ʻĀyish, Muḥammad ʻIṣām., Dajani, Nabil H., Rinnawi, Khalil. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. 2011. ISBN   978-0-7456-4534-6. OCLC   731216190.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  17. ↑ Comoros at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
  18. ↑ Frawley, William (2003). International encyclopedia of linguistics. Frawley, William, 1953- (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 113. ISBN   0-19-513977-1. OCLC   51478240.
  19. 1 2 3 4 Waldburger, Daniela (2013). The Plurilingual Repertoire of the Comorian Community in Marseille: Remarks on Status and Function Based on Selected Sociolinguistic Biographies (PDF). pp. 262–263. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  20. ↑ "Citizen Engagement and Public Services in the Arab World: The Potential of Social Media" (PDF). Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government. 25 June 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-16. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  21. 1 2 Ottenheimer, Harriet, 1941- (January 2018). The anthropology of language : an introduction to linguistic anthropology. Pine, Judith M. S. (Fourth ed.). Boston, MA. ISBN   978-1-337-57100-5. OCLC   1020345071.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ↑ Frawley, William (2003). International encyclopedia of linguistics (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-513977-1. OCLC   51478240.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.