“SWAHILIZATION ” OF ETHNIC LANGUAGES IN TANZANIA: THE CASE OF MATENGO

ABSTRACT The “Swahilization ” of ethnic languages, rather than a clear “language shift, ” is taking place in Tanzania. This paper reports on the effects Swahilization has had on the Matengo language through examples of Swahili loanwords. The infl uence of Swahili can be seen in areas such as grammar and phonology in Matengo, one of the middle-sized ethnic languages of Tanzania. The most remarkable infl uence is in the lexicon. There are many Swahili words in today’s Matengo, especially that spoken by the young people. Some Swahili words are used as a result of unconscious code-mixing, but so far used as new vocabulary loaned from Swahili. This trend points to a language shift that will certainly grow stronger, given the overall impact of Swahili, the national language of Tanzania. Key Words: Swahilization; Tanzania; Swahili; Matengo; Ethnic languages