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Swahili Language
Kiswahili
Spoken natively inFile:Flag of Burundi.jpg Burundi
 DR Congo
File:Flag of the Comoros.png Comoros (as Comorian)
 Kenya
File:Flag of Mozambique.png Mozambique
 Oman
File:Flag of the Seychelles.png Seychelles (as Shimaore)
 Mauritius
File:Flag of Rwanda.png Rwanda
 Tanzania
 Uganda
 Malawi[1]
Native speakersFirst language: 5–10 million
First and second language: 50+ million[2]  (date missing)
Language family
Niger-Congo
  • Swahili Language
Writing systemLatin, Arabic
Official status
Official language in African Union
 Kenya
 Tanzania
 Uganda
Regulated byBaraza la Kiswahili la Taifa (Tanzania)
Language codes
ISO 639-1sw
ISO 639-2swa
ISO 639-3swainclusive code
Individual codes:
swc – Congo Swahili
swh – Coastal Swahili
Linguasphere99-AUS-m
[[File:
  Coastal areas where Swahili or Comorian is the indigenous language,
  official or national language,
  and trade language. As a trade language, Swahili extends some distance further to the northwest.
|300px]]
  1. Ethnologue list of countries where Swahili is spoken
    Thomas J. Hinnebusch, 1992, "Swahili", International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Oxford, pp. 99–106
    David Dalby, 1999/2000, The Linguasphere Register of the World's Languages and Speech Communities, Linguasphere Press, Volume Two, pg. 733–735
    Benji Wald, 1994, "Sub-Saharan Africa", Atlas of the World's Languages, Routledge, pp. 289–346, maps 80, 81, 85
  2. Lutz Marten, "Swahili", Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd ed., 2006, Elsevier