2. The Swahili alphabet, prononciation & stress.
- Aurelia Ferrari
- Nov 28, 2017
- 4 min read
THE SWAHILI ALPHABET
The basic principle which was retained to establish the Swahili alphabet, is that every distinct sound or phoneme should always be transcribed by the same distinct written form (either a single letter, or a cluster of letters), and conversely. The Swahili alphabet includes :
23 single letters ( among them 5 vowels) : a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, w, y, z.
8 digraphs : ch, dh, gh, kh, ng', ny, sh, th.
NB: The letters q and x are not used. The letter c, although present, is never used alone.
1. VOWELS :
Swahili contains 5 vowels. These are pronounced openly, without diphtongs, like in Spanish or in Italian. They must always be kept short.
A,a baba (father) like in : far, but cut short
E,e debe (gallon) like in bed
I,i kiti (chair) like in kit
O,o moto (fire) like in: off, lot
U,u kuku (chicken) like in too,to
2. CLUSTER OF VOWELS :
Unlike in English, two (or three) written vowels that follow each other never merge together to form a single sound. Each keeps its own sound. For example : ou is pronounced "o-oo" as in "go", au is pronounced "a-oo" as in "cow", ei is pronounced "e-ee" as in "bay", ai is pronounced "a-ee" as in "tie", etc. In theory, any vowel can be in succession with any other one. Two similar vowels in succession must be pronounced as one long vowel :
Naam ! (= Yes ? ) Juu (= on top) Kuu (= principal) Zii ! (= Down ! ) Mzee (= old) Jogoo (= cock)
3. SEMIVOWELS :
W,w wewe (you) like in : why, week
Y,y yeye (he, she) like in yes, you
4. SIMPLE CONSONANTS :
B,b baba (father) pronounced like in : bad
D,d dada (sister) like in : do
F,f kufaa (to suit) like in : far
G,g gari (car) like in : got
H,h haya ! (O.K. !) like in : hat
J,j juu (on top) like in : John ( DJ)
K,k kuku (chicken) like in : Kid, cat
L,l lala ! (sleep !) like in : lot
M,m Mama (mother) like in man
N,n na (and, with) like in : no
P,p papa (shark) like in : pot
R,r rangi (color) like in: rat
S,s saa (clock, time) like in: soap
T,t taa (lamp) like in: toy
V,v kuvaa (to wear) like in: very
Z,z nzuri (nice, good) like in: Zoo, easy
While most of the consonants are similar to the English ones and do not offer any difficulty, special care must be paid to :
f : it has always the sound of the "f" in "fat", never that of the "f" in "of".
g : it is always hard like in "got". It should never be pronounced soft like the "g" in "gin"
s : it has always the sound of the "s" in "sad", never that of the "s" in "is" or "easy".
5. COMBINATIONS OF CONSONANTS :
Ch,ch chai (tea) like in : chat, church
Dh,dh dhahabu (gold) like in: this, that
Gh,gh ghali (epensive) like in French : "race"
Kh,kh subalkheri like in Scottish : "loch"
Ng',ng' ng'ombe (cow) like in: singer
Ny,ny nyota (star) like in: new
Sh,sh shule (school) like in: shoe
Th,th thelathini (thirty) like in : think
Most of the real difficulties of Swahili are concentrated here. It is however important to try and pronounce these sounds correctly :
dh and th are both written "th" in English. dh is voiced as in "the", "this", "that", "with" ... While th is unvoiced as in "think", "thin", "both" ... stakabadhi (= a receipt), hadithi (= a story).
gh and kh are pronounced at the back of the throat. gh is voiced and close to the French "r" in "rare" : ghali (= expensive), shughuli (= affair, activity). kh is unvoiced and corresponds to a scraping of the throat : subalkheri (= good morning).
ng' although similar in sound to the English "ng" in "singing" poses a difficulty, for it usually occurs at the initial of words. It is luckily quite rare : ng'ambo (= foreign), ng'ombe (= a cow).
6. THE SYLLABIC CONSONANT "M" :
The syllable M corresponds to the class prefix MU- (Class 1 and Class 3) whose U has been dropped. However, the "m" doesn't merge with the following consonant and should be pronounced somewhat like "humm !". The M syllabic can be accentuated (stressed syllable) in short words such as : mtu (= a person), mti (= a tree), mji (= a town, a city), etc..
Mb Mbuyu - baobab
Mch Mchezo - game
Mf Mfano - example
Mg Mgeni - guest, foreigner
Ml Mlango - door
Mz Mzungu - white man
B - SYLLABLE, STRESS AND PRONUNCIATION :
The Swahili syllable is said to be open, for it always ends on a vowel sound. For example : KI-SWA-HI-LI (= Swahili) JA-MBO (= hello !) MZU-NGU (= a white man) NG'O-MBE (= a cow) TA-NZA-NI-A (= Tanzania)
NB: Each syllabe should have one and only one vowel expect in short words starting with m ou n: n-je, m-tu, m-ti where m or n form a syllable without vowel. An extra vowel is usually added in loanwords, in order to conform to the open syllable pattern. For example : O-I-LI (= oil) SHI-LI-NGI (= shilling) BE-NKI (= bank) PE-TRO-LI (= petrol) NA-NA-SI (= pineapple) SHA-TI (= shirt) The stress usually falls on the last but one syllabe of a word.
In the word pia "aldo", the stress falls on pi. In the word chukua " to take", the stress falls on ku. In the word Mwingereza "an english man/woman", the stress falls on re.
But in the word nje "outside", the stess falls on n.
There are however a small number of exceptions, on words of Arabic origin. For example : lazima (= it is necessary) : /'lazima/ . Compare also : barabara (= a road) : /bara'bara/ , and barabara (= very well) : /ba'rabara/ .
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MAZOEZI/ EXERCICES
1. Test yourself about the Swahili syllable
2. Test yourself about the Swahili stress.
3. Repeat the words of this video. Pay attention to syllabes and stress.
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