Editing Swahili language (section)

====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.