المستخلص: |
The missionary movement is a product of both Christian Crusade and colonization whose effects in different aspects of life are far reaching. Our concern here is the Arabic Language which occupied a central place before the advent of missionaries, as history shows clearly. The Arabic language had a direct impact on various languages and dialects in Africa and Asia. More importantly, the Swahili language and all its dialects were overwhelmingly influenced by Arabic, both in their terms and structures. With the advent of missionaries under the Church Mission Society in 1844, the missionaries started to eliminate the Arabic influence in the central language used in East Africa, namely, the Swahili language, which was written with Arabic scripts. The first setback of Arabic language took place when the missionaries deliberately used Latin in their communication in place of Arabic. In addition, whilst Africans were fond of using African dialects in worship, attempts were made to translate the Bible into a Swahili free from Arabic-related words. Furthermore, attempts were made to remove Arabic-related words from Swahili dictionaries. In contrast, Swahili scholars attempted to stop the elimination of Arabic impacts on the Swahili language, and wrote extensively against such elimination. Finally, the future of Swahili in East African is looming. It is considered as not only a language but also a mode of civilization duly accepted by members of East African communities
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