Tanzania’s National Language Policy and the Rise of Swahili Political Culture

Abstract

The political decision to adopt Swahili as the national and official language of Tanzania has created linguistic and sociolinguistic trends with few parallels in the rest of Africa. Notwithstanding the radical nature of this decision, the choice will be found to be a logical one when viewed in the context of Tanzania's political and social history and her modern political thought. An extra-linguistic factor which has given Swahili its great assimilating power in East Africa is its Bantu-based culture. Original Swahili culture in the coastal and island settlements grows as a result of continued contact between Bantu and Arab-Islamic Cultures. This chapter discusses the main historical, socio-cultural, political, and linguistic factors that have favoured the diffusion of Swahili and its wide acceptance as the national language. Swahili political culture in Tanzania has brought about a situation where mother-tongue sentiments have a harmonious inclusive relationship with the aspirations to build a new Tanzanian nation with an identifiable culture and ethos.

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