Two African ladies chat animatedly in this morning bus.
“How is wak, by the way?”
The word “work” in standard English would be pronounced “werek”- but here, it is WAK.
“Wak is fine, Agnes. How is your gal doing?” Again, instead of “gayl” it is GAL.
“She is doing well, thanks God. How are the boys?”
You instinctively, recognise East African English. Agnes and Marina (not real names) are probably Ugandan or Kenyan. Tanzanians do not say WAK. It is WEK. Phonetics, dear reader. According to the English dictionary phonetics is: Physical, acoustic and “perception of human speech sounds.”
London phonetics are almost cinematic. Over 200 hundred languages spoken here; subsequently, hundreds of “interesting” zigzagging English accents.
Agnes repeats her question.
“How are your boys?”
Marina hesitates.
Sensing other passengers are listening Marina switches to Ki-Swahili:
“Jamaa bado ako kwa mapombe tu. Kazi hakuendi.”
Agnes covers her mouth:
“Ati? Juzi nilimwona kwa barabara. Kalewa. Hakuniongelesha.”
Now the subject settles around this sensitive theme. An alcohol loving husband. And. Typical Kenyan Swahili. Our lovely neighbours. Kenyans handling of conjunctions IN, AT and ON – usually changed to BY. Instead of NYUMBANI (at home) or BARABARANI (on the road) – it is KWA NYUMBA (by house), KWA BARABARA (by road). I have Kenyan friends who would say NYUMBANI when speaking to us Tanzanians, then flip to KWA NYUMBA or KWA BARABARA with fellow Kenyans.
This interesting shift shows you how languages spin and rotate to suit specific regional users. Statistically, eleven countries speak Swahili, with Tanzania and Kenya prioritising it as the official lingo.
There exists varieties and types (“Lahaja” or “dialect”) of Standard (fanisi/ fasaha) Swahili in media, education and government. Kimrima (Dar es Salaam), Pwani (Zanzibar, Mombasa, Tanga, South Somali and Oman); Ngazija (Comoro Islands), Kimvita (East coast Kenya where that famous Kiswahili scholar and writer, Abdilatif Abdalla hails), Kingwana & Lake Region (Congolese, Rwanda), plus Kenyan mainland and Shenge (Swanglish). Like tropical clouds, Swanglish is spreading among elite Tanzanians.
Coastal Kenyans, ironically, use the preposition AT and ON (ni, katika, kwenye, ndani ya, juu ya) correctly. Like all languages Kiswahili resemble those long meandering African rivers: Limpopo, Nile, Congo, etc.
Mambo Pikipiki, if you speak Kiswahili.
