Languages in contact
– the case of Czech and Swahili
Langauge Centre Week
24. 1. 2024
Corona Cermak
Linda Krahula Doleží

Swahili
- Swahili (Bantu language spoken either as a mother tongue or as a fluent second language
on the east coast of Africa. Swahili speakers spread over more than 14 countries: Tanzania,
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South
Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Comoros, and as far as Oman and Yemen
in the Middle East
- current speakers are estimated to be 200 million
Obrázek – zdroj: https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~kkasongo/LinguisticMap.htm

- Tanzania has atleast 120 tribes and dialects around
130
- Swahili language is the uniting language and most
popular African language in the word
- Example in The Lion King, Rafiki, Simba, Shenzi,
Kovu, Pumbaa
- Apple products, Safari, Siri
- Games, Ubongo, Jenga
- United national
- African Union
- Swahili is taught in many universities around the
world

Teaching Swahili to Czech students
- information on the course - what areas or topics are covered in one semester, authentic
language - travelling, hospitals, food, culture, greetings, simple grammar, in the office, family,
emergency services etc.
- typical mistakes, interference
- pronunciation (examples) Watu- Vatu, Wewe- Veve, Jana- Yana, ( Letter W and J, Y)
- borrowings Englsih - piča=picture, kunde- type of beans, Nakunda to love), Italian- BendieraBendera, German- Schule- Shule) , Arabic -Qareeb- karibu, Salaam, Habari,baba, adui,bariki
- Corona´s experience with Czech – Names changes -Pepa, Pepik ) Cermakova – are all these
relatives end with OVA
- cultural differences? - flowers, Time keeping, religion, walk, weather, travelling, eating using
hands, fat,
- černý pasažér/ Black passanger , grandpa and grandma in the trolly bus
- positive racism- Mzungu in Tanzania

Using Swahili in a research
- coincidence
- Hidden Languages in our Minds
- Swahili as an unknown language
- unknown versus forgotten
- word-detection task
- hypothesis
- linguistic profiles
- fMRI

Translations
toy (36 s): My room isn’t big, but it is nice. I have a table here, a lamp, a closet, a bed and my toys (6 s). I need to tidy up the
toys (8 s) when the room is messy. Mommy doesn’t like it and gets very angry then. When the room is tidied up, mommy
praises me. My favourite toy (17 s) is a teddy bear.
Vitu vya kuchezea (36 s): Chumba changu si kikubwa, lakini ni kizuri. Nina meza, taa, kabati, kitanda na vitu vya kuchezea
(sek 6). Napanga vizuri sana vitu vya kuchezea (sekunde 8) pale vinapozagaa, kwani Mama huwa hapendi na ukasirika sana.
Chumba kikiwa kisafi, mama unisifu. Kati ya vitu vya kuchezea (sek 16) ninampenda Dubu.
vitu=things, kuchezea=playing, vya=connector (things for playing)
Can you detect the word?
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1QQYNIQoDO1l16gbn5s1cad4kJ89SHX1U

VITABU

BAISKELI
SAFARI

Děkujeme moc!
Thank you very much!
Asante sana!