Editing Swahili language (section)

===Noun classes {{anchor|Noun classes}}===
Swahili nouns are separable into [[noun class|classes]], which are roughly analogous to [[Grammatical gender|gender]]s in other languages. In Swahili, [[prefix]]es mark groups of similar objects: {{angbr|m-}} marks single human beings ({{lang|sw|mtoto}} 'child'), {{angbr|wa-}} marks multiple humans ({{lang|sw|watoto}} 'children'), {{angbr|u-}} marks abstract nouns ({{lang|sw|utoto}} 'childhood'), and so on. And just as adjectives and pronouns must agree with the gender of nouns in some languages with grammatical gender, so in Swahili adjectives, pronouns and even verbs must agree with nouns. This is a characteristic feature of all the [[Bantu languages]].

====Semantic motivation====
The ''ki-/vi-'' class historically consisted of two separate genders, artefacts (Bantu class 7/8, utensils and hand tools mostly) and diminutives (Bantu class 12/13), which were conflated at a stage ancestral to Swahili. Examples of the former are ''kisu'' "knife", ''kiti'' "chair" (from ''mti'' "tree, wood"), ''chombo'' "vessel" (a contraction of ''ki-ombo''). Examples of the latter are ''kitoto'' "infant", from ''mtoto'' "child"; ''kitawi'' "frond", from ''tawi'' "branch"; and ''chumba'' (''ki-umba'') "room", from ''nyumba'' "house". It is the diminutive sense that has been furthest extended. An extension common to diminutives in many languages is ''approximation'' and ''resemblance'' (having a 'little bit' of some characteristic, like ''-y'' or ''-ish'' in English). For example, there is ''kijani'' "green", from ''jani'' "leaf" (compare English 'leafy'), ''kichaka'' "bush" from ''chaka'' "clump", and ''kivuli'' "shadow" from ''uvuli'' "shade". A 'little bit' of a verb would be an instance of an action, and such ''instantiations'' (usually not very active ones) are found: ''kifo'' "death", from the verb ''-fa'' "to die"; ''kiota'' "nest" from ''-ota'' "to brood"; ''chakula'' "food" from ''kula'' "to eat"; ''kivuko'' "a ford, a pass" from ''-vuka'' "to cross"; and ''kilimia'' "the [[Pleiades]]", from ''-limia'' "to farm with", from its role in guiding planting. A resemblance, or being a bit like something, implies marginal status in a category, so things that are marginal examples of their class may take the ''ki-/vi-'' prefixes. One example is ''chura'' (''ki-ura'') "frog", which is only half terrestrial and therefore is marginal as an animal. This extension may account for disabilities as well: ''kilema'' "a cripple", ''kipofu'' "a blind person", ''kiziwi'' "a deaf person". Finally, diminutives often denote contempt, and contempt is sometimes expressed against things that are dangerous. This might be the historical explanation for ''kifaru'' "[[rhinoceros]]", ''kingugwa'' "[[spotted hyena]]", and ''kiboko'' "[[hippopotamus]]" (perhaps originally meaning "stubby legs").<ref>Ellen Contini-Morava (1994) ''Noun Classification in Swahili.''</ref>

Another class with broad semantic extension is the ''m-/mi-'' class (Bantu classes 3/4). This is often called the 'tree' class, because ''mti, miti'' "tree(s)" is the prototypical example. However, it seems to cover vital entities neither human nor typical animals: trees and other plants, such as ''mwitu'' 'forest' and ''mtama'' 'millet' (and from there, things made from plants, like ''mkeka'' 'mat'); supernatural and natural forces, such as ''mwezi'' 'moon', ''mlima'' 'mountain', ''mto'' 'river'; active things, such as ''moto'' 'fire', including active body parts (''moyo'' 'heart', ''mkono'' 'hand, arm'); and human groups, which are vital but not themselves human, such as ''mji'' 'village', and, by analogy, ''mzinga'' 'beehive/cannon'. From the central idea of ''tree'', which is thin, tall, and spreading, comes an extension to other long or extended things or parts of things, such as ''mwavuli'' 'umbrella', ''moshi'' 'smoke', ''msumari'' 'nail'; and from activity there even come active instantiations of verbs, such as ''mfuo'' "metal forging", from ''-fua'' "to forge", or ''mlio'' "a sound", from ''-lia'' "to make a sound". Words may be connected to their class by more than one metaphor. For example, ''mkono'' is an active body part, and ''mto'' is an active natural force, but they are also both long and thin. Things with a trajectory, such as ''mpaka'' 'border' and ''mwendo'' 'journey', are classified with long thin things, as in many other languages with noun classes. This may be further extended to anything dealing with time, such as ''mwaka'' 'year' and perhaps ''mshahara'' 'wages'. Animals exceptional in some way and so not easily fitting in the other classes may be placed in this class.

The other classes have foundations that may at first seem similarly counterintuitive.<ref>See Contini-Morava for details.</ref> In short,
*Classes 1–2 include most words for people: kin terms, professions, ethnicities, etc., including translations of most English words ending in ''-er.'' They include a couple of generic words for animals: ''mnyama'' 'beast', ''mdudu'' 'bug'.
*Classes 5–6 have a broad semantic range of groups, expanses, and augmentatives. Although interrelated, it is easier to illustrate if broken down:
**Augmentatives, such as ''joka'' 'serpent' from ''nyoka'' 'snake', lead to titles and other terms of respect (the opposite of diminutives, which lead to terms of contempt): ''Bwana'' 'Sir', ''shangazi'' 'aunt', ''fundi'' 'craftsman', ''kadhi'' 'judge'
**Expanses: ''ziwa'' 'lake', ''bonde'' 'valley', ''taifa'' 'country', ''anga'' 'sky'
***from this, mass nouns: ''maji'' 'water', ''vumbi'' 'dust' (and other liquids and fine particulates that may cover broad expanses), ''kaa'' 'charcoal', ''mali'' 'wealth', ''maridhawa'' 'abundance'
**Collectives: ''kundi'' 'group', ''kabila'' 'language/ethnic group', ''jeshi'' 'army', ''daraja'' ' stairs', ''manyoya'' 'fur, feathers', ''mapesa'' 'small change', ''manyasi'' 'weeds', ''jongoo'' 'millipede' (large set of legs), ''marimba'' 'xylophone' (large set of keys)
***from this, individual things found in groups: ''jiwe'' 'stone', ''tawi'' 'branch', ''ua'' 'flower', ''tunda'' 'fruit' (also the names of most fruits), ''yai'' 'egg', ''mapacha'' 'twins', ''jino'' 'tooth', ''tumbo'' 'stomach' (cf. English "guts"), and paired body parts such as ''jicho'' 'eye', ''bawa'' 'wing', etc.
***also collective or dialogic actions, which occur among groups of people: ''neno'' 'a word', from ''kunena'' 'to speak' (and by extension, mental verbal processes: ''wazo'' 'thought', ''maana'' 'meaning'); ''pigo'' 'a stroke, blow', from ''kupiga'' 'to hit'; ''gomvi'' 'a quarrel', ''shauri'' 'advice, plan', ''kosa'' 'mistake', ''jambo'' 'affair', ''penzi'' 'love', ''jibu'' 'answer', ''agano'' 'promise', ''malipo'' 'payment'
***From pairing, reproduction is suggested as another extension (fruit, egg, testicle, flower, twins, etc.), but these generally duplicate one or more of the subcategories above
*Classes 9–10 are used for most typical animals: ''ndege'' 'bird', ''samaki'' 'fish', and the specific names of typical beasts, birds, and bugs. However, this is the 'other' class, for words not fitting well elsewhere, and about half of the class 9–10 nouns are foreign loanwords. Loans may be classified as 9–10 because they lack the prefixes inherent in other classes, and most native class 9–10 nouns have no prefix. Thus they do not form a coherent semantic class, though there are still semantic extensions from individual words.
*Class 11 (which takes class 10 for the plural) are mostly nouns with an "extended outline shape", in either one dimension or two:
**mass nouns that are generally localized rather than covering vast expanses: ''uji'' 'porridge', ''wali'' 'cooked rice'
**broad: ''ukuta'' 'wall', ''ukucha'' 'fingernail', ''upande'' 'side' (≈ ''ubavu'' 'rib'), ''wavu'' 'net', ''wayo'' 'sole, footprint', ''ua'' 'fence, yard', ''uteo'' 'winnowing basket'
**long: ''utambi'' 'wick', ''utepe'' 'stripe', ''uta'' 'bow', ''ubavu'' 'rib', ''ufa'' 'crack', ''unywele'' 'a hair'
***from 'a hair', [[singulative]]s of nouns, which are often class 6 ('collectives') in the plural: ''unyoya'' 'a feather', ''uvumbi'' 'a mote of dust', ''ushanga'' 'a bead'.
*Class 14 are abstractions, such as ''utoto'' 'childhood' (from ''mtoto'' 'a child') and have no plural. They have the same prefixes and concord as class 11, except optionally for adjectival concord.
*Class 15 are verbal infinitives.
*Classes 16–18 are locatives. The Bantu nouns of these classes have been lost; the only permanent member is the Arabic loan ''mahali'' 'place(s)', but in Mombasa Swahili, the old prefixes survive: ''pahali'' 'place', ''mwahali'' 'places'. However, any noun with the locative suffix ''-ni'' takes class 16–18 agreement. The distinction between them is that class 16 agreement is used if the location is intended to be definite ("at"), class 17 if indefinite ("around") or involves motion ("to, toward"), and class 18 if it involves containment ("within"): ''mahali pazuri'' 'a good spot', ''mahali kuzuri'' 'a nice area', ''mahali muzuri'' (it's nice in there).

====Borrowing====
Borrowings may or may not be given a prefix corresponding to the semantic class they fall in. For example, Arabic {{lang|ar|دود}} ''dūd'' ("bug, insect") was borrowed as ''mdudu'', plural ''wadudu'', with the class 1/2 prefixes ''m-'' and ''wa-'', but Arabic {{lang|ar|فلوس}} ''fulūs'' ("fish scales", plural of {{lang|ar|فلس}} ''fals'') and English ''sloth'' were borrowed as simply ''fulusi'' ("[[mahi-mahi]]" fish) and ''slothi'' ("[[sloth]]"), with no prefix associated with animals (whether those of class 9/10 or 1/2).

In the process of naturalization<ref>See pp. 83–84 in [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] (2020), ''[[Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond]]'', [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revivalistics-9780199812790 Oxford University Press] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125062747/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revivalistics-9780199812790?cc=us&lang=en& |date=25 November 2020 }} {{ISBN|9780199812790}} / {{ISBN|9780199812776}}.</ref> of borrowings within Swahili, loanwords are often reinterpreted, or reanalysed,<ref name=LCLE>See pp. 11 and 52 in [[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] (2003), ''[[Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew]]'', [https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403917232 Palgrave Macmillan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143416/https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403917232 |date=12 June 2018 }} {{ISBN|9781403917232}} / {{ISBN|9781403938695}}.</ref> as if they already contain a Swahili class prefix. In such cases the interpreted prefix is changed with the usual rules. Consider the following loanwords from Arabic:
#The Swahili word for "book", ''kitabu'', is borrowed from Arabic {{lang|ar|كتاب}} ''kitāb(un)'' "book" (plural {{lang|ar|كتب}} ''kutub''; from the Arabic root ''k.t.b.'' "write"). However, the Swahili plural form of this word ("books") is '''''vi'''tabu'', following Bantu grammar in which the ''ki-'' of '''''ki'''tabu'' is reanalysed (reinterpreted) as a nominal class prefix whose plural is ''vi-'' (class 7/8).<ref name=LCLE/> 
#Arabic {{lang|ar|معلم}} ''muʿallim(un)'' ("teacher", plural {{lang|ar|معلمين}} ''muʿallimīna'') was interpreted as having the mw- prefix of class 1, and so became ''mwalimu'', plural ''walimu''. 
#Arabic {{lang|ar|مدرسة}} ''madrasa'' school, even though it is singular in Arabic (with plural {{lang|ar|مدارس}} ''madāris''), was reinterpreted as a class 6 plural ''madarasa'', receiving the singular form ''darasa''.

Similarly, English ''wire'' and Arabic {{lang|ar|وقت}} ''waqt'' ("time") were interpreted as having the class 11 prevocalic prefix ''w-'', and became ''waya'' and ''wakati'' with plural ''nyaya'' and ''nyakati'' respectively.