What follows is Mobhare Matinyi’s critique of the use of the term ‘Kiswahili’ instead of ‘Swahili’ in the English language /Ifuatayao ni hoja ya Mobhare Matinyi dhidi ya matumizi ya neno ‘Kiswahili’ badala ya ‘Swahili’ katika lugha ya Kiingereza:

When one communicates in English, the name of our language is not Kiswahili, for God’s sake; it’s Swahili. Kiswahili becomes the name when we communicate in Swahili. That’s it!

Let me ask: What is the word for English in French? Is it English? No! The word for the English language in French is Anglais and the word for the French language in French is Français.

English speakers refer to the language of Germany as German, while French speakers call German Allemand, and the Germans themselves call it Deutsch.

Languages have different names in different languages, whether it’s Chinese, Hausa, etc. The name of our language in the language itself is KISWAHILI while in English is SWAHILI. In no way can English structure use the Swahili structure in which the name of the language starts with a prefix “Ki-” like in Kiarabu or Kiganda.

Calling our language Kiswahili in English communication is a common mistake in Kenya, including in the new constitution; it’s grammatically incorrect. I think for a Tanzanian to repeat such a mistake is extremely irresponsible.

Kwenye mawasiliano ya Kiingereza lugha hii huitwa “SWAHILI,” basi!

Ni nchini Kenya ndiko kuna uzembe wa kukiita Kiswahili hivyo hivyo hata wanapowasiliana kwa Kiingereza; ni sawa kwao, kwani hii si lugha yao. Lakini kwa Mtanzania kukiita Kiswahili eti “Kiswahili” hata kwenye mawasiliano ya Kiingereza, ni ujuha.

Lugha zina majina yake, na huwezi kujichanganyia tu kama mtu anayepika chakula cha Irio cha Wakikuyu ama Matoke kwa Waganda au Pure kwa Wapare. Kwa muundo wake, Kiingereza hakiwezi kutumia kiambishi awali cha “Ki-“ ili kujenga jina la lugha.

Ni sisi Waswahili ndiyo tuna muundo huo, mathalani tunaposema Kiarabu ama Kikurya ama Kinyasa. Ukichukulia kwa mfano, lugha za Kibantu za Waganda, wao huita lugha ya kabila lao kuu la Waganda, kuwa ni “Luganda.” Hii ina maana neno mzizi ni “-ganda” na kiambishi awali “Lu-“ kinamaanisha “lugha ya -.”

Ukichukua Kikurya mathalani, kinatumia kiambishi awali “Ghi-“ ili kuunda jina la lugha; hivyo wakati Waganda wanastahili (hata kama hawafanyi hivyo) kukiita Kiswahili “Luswahili,” Wakurya wanastahili kukiita “Ghiswahili” na ndivyo wanavyofanya.

Kwa mantiki hii basi, swali linakuja, Waingereza wao wanafanyaje? Jibu ni kwamba kwa lugha za Kibantu wanachukua mzizi wa neno na kuutumia kama jina kamili; hawana kiambishi awali cha kuundia jina la lugha. Hii ndiyo sababu Kiswahili huitwa SWAHILI, Kizulu huitwa ZULU, Kihausa huitwa HAUSA, Kitigrinya cha Eritrea huitwa TIGRINYA, n.k.

Kwa kuheshimu majina ya lugha, ndiyo maana pia Wafaransa huiita lugha ya Wajerumani ALLEMAND, wakati Waingereza wao huiita GERMAN, Waswahili tunaiita KIJERUMANI, na wao wenyewe Wajerumani wanaiita DEUTSCH. Lugha zina majina yake; siyo kutwanga tu.

Source: The Citizen (28 July 2011) and Majira (31 July 2011) Respectively

Photo: http://osx-e.org/img/rosetta-stone-v2-swahili-level-1_182747_500.jpg