Editing Swahili language (section)

===Dialects===
Modern standard Swahili, written in Latin, is based on ''Kiunguja,'' the dialect spoken in [[Zanzibar City]].<ref name="Lambert10"/>

Swahili literature and poetry, traditionally written in [[Swahili Ajami]], is based on ''Kiamu'', the dialect of [[Lamu]] on the Kenyan Coast.<ref name="Mulokozi"/><ref name="Mutiua">Mutiua, Chapane. “Swahili Ajami: An Introduction.” Hypotheses, October 7, 2020. [https://ajami.hypotheses.org/1089 https://ajami.hypotheses.org/1089] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20230429043729/https://ajami.hypotheses.org/1089 Archive].</ref>

But there are numerous other dialects of Swahili, some of which are mutually unintelligible, such as the following:<ref name="Lambert10">H.E.Lambert 1956, 1957, 1958</ref>

====Old dialects====
Maho (2009) considers these to be distinct languages:
*''[[Kimwani]]'' is spoken in the Kerimba Islands and northern coastal Mozambique.
*''[[Bravanese dialect|Chimwiini]]'' is spoken by the ethnic minorities in and around the town of [[Barawa]] on the southern coast of Somalia.
*''[[Kibajuni dialect|Kibajuni]]'' is spoken by the [[Bajuni people|Bajuni]] minority ethnic group on the coast and islands on both sides of the Somali–Kenyan border and in the [[Bajuni Islands]] (the northern part of the Lamu archipelago) and is also called ''Kitikuu'' and ''Kigunya''.
*[[Socotra Swahili]] (extinct)
*[[Sidi language|Sidi]], in Gujarat, India (possibly extinct)
The rest of the dialects are divided by him{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} into two groups:
*Mombasa–Lamu Swahili
**Lamu
*** The dialects of the Lamu group (especially Kiamu, Kipate, Kingozi) are the linguistic base of the oldest ({{Circa|1600 CE}}) Swahili manuscripts and poems that reached us.<ref name="Mulokozi">{{cite book |title=History of Kiswahili Poetry, A.D. 1000–2000: A Report | isbn=9789976911220 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XWPE1-OpxF4C |access-date=11 November 2022| last1=Mulokozi | first1=Mugyabuso M. | last2=Sengo | first2=Tigiti S. Y. | year=1995 | publisher=Institute of Kiswahili Research, University of Dar es Salaam }}</ref> They are sometimes described as "literary" dialects but they were also used for everyday life and are still spoken today except Kingozi.
***''Kiamu''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mathieu Roy |url=http://archive.org/details/9783838179438 |title=KIAMU, archipel de Lamu (Kenya): Analyse phonétique et morphologique d'un corpus linguistique et poétique |date=2013|edition=French }}</ref> is spoken in and around the island of [[Lamu]] (Amu) and have an important corpus<ref name="SOAS Swahili manuscripts">{{cite web |title=SOAS Swahili manuscripts |url=https://digital.soas.ac.uk/swahili |website=SOAS Swahili manuscripts |publisher=varia |access-date=11 November 2022 |ref=SOAS}}</ref> of classical poems of the 18th and 19th centuries written in Arabic script (Kiajemi).
***''Kipate'' is a local dialect of [[Pate Island]], considered{{by whom|date=November 2022}} to be closest to the original dialect of Kingozi{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}. It has also an important classical corpus<ref name="SOAS Swahili manuscripts"/> of poems from the 18th and 19th centuries.
***''Kingozi'' is an extinct dialect spoken on the Indian Ocean coast between Lamu and Somalia and is sometimes still{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} used in poetry. It is often considered{{by whom|date=November 2022}} the source of Swahili{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}. Academic theories about Kingozi as an old literary dialect are conflicting. It is sometimes linked to [[Fumo Liyongo|the epics of Liongo]]. For Sacleux,<ref>{{cite book |last1=SACLEUX |first1=Charles |title=Grammaire des dialectes swahilis |date=1909 |publisher=Procure des PP. du Saint-Esprit |location=Paris |page=IX}}</ref> it's and old and "an exclusively literary, arcane dialect". It varies depending on the authors whose will to return to a pure form of the old language make them use Kigunya mainly (Kipate is a subdialect of Kigunya) and secondarily Kiamu and Kimvita. Knappert,<ref>{{cite book |last1=KNAPPERT |first1=Jan |title=Four centuries of Swahili verses |date=1979 |publisher=DARF PUBLISHERS |location=London}}</ref> on the contrary, states the existence of a literary [[Koiné language|koine]] in the 18th century based on the Kingozi as a prestigious and widespread dialect. The 2009 New Updated Guthrie List, a referential classification of the Bantu languages, considers kiOzi as a dialect in itself.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Maho |first1=Jouni Filip |title=The online version of the New Updated Guthrie List, a referential classification of the Bantu languages |url=https://brill.com/fileasset/downloads_products/35125_Bantu-New-updated-Guthrie-List.pdf |website=brill.com |publisher=Brill |access-date=11 November 2022 |ref=2009}}</ref> It is not the ancestor language of Kiswahili but a member of the Lamu group (code G42a) with Kiamu, Kipate and Kisiu. This brief overview indicates that the state of research is fragmented and uncertain on the history of the kingozi.   
**Mombasa
***''Chijomvu'' is a subdialect of the Mombasa area.
***''Kimvita'' is the major dialect of Mombasa (also known as "Mvita", which means "war", in reference{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} to the many wars which were fought over it, the other major dialect alongside Kiunguja. It has an important classical corpus written in Arabic script from the 18st and 19st century.<ref>{{cite web |title=SOAS Swahili manuscripts |url=https://digital.soas.ac.uk/swahili |website=SOAS Swahili manuscripts |publisher=varia |access-date=11 November 2022}}</ref>
***''Kingare'' is the subdialect of the Mombasa area.
**''Kimrima'' is spoken around [[Pangani]], [[Vanga]], [[Dar es Salaam]], [[Rufiji District|Rufiji]] and [[Mafia Island]].
**''Kiunguja'' is spoken in [[Stone Town|Zanzibar City]] and environs on [[Zanzibar|Unguja (Zanzibar) Island]]. Kitumbatu (Pemba) dialects occupy the bulk of the island.
**Mambrui, Malindi
**''Chichifundi'', a dialect of the southern Kenya coast.
**Chwaka
**''Kivumba'', a dialect of the southern Kenya coast.
**[[Nosy Be|Nosse Be]] (Madagascar)
*Pemba Swahili
**''Kipemba'' is a local dialect of the [[Pemba Island]].
**''Kitumbatu'' and ''Kimakunduchi'' are the countryside dialects of the island of Zanzibar. Kimakunduchi is a recent renaming of "Kihadimu"; the old name means "serf" and so is considered pejorative.
**Makunduchi
**Mafia, Mbwera
**Kilwa (extinct)
**''Kimgao'' used to be spoken around [[Kilwa District]] and to the south.

Maho includes the various [[Comorian language|Comorian]] dialects as a third group. Most other authorities consider Comorian to be a [[Sabaki languages|Sabaki]] language, distinct from Swahili.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7uJmgsq37dMC&pg=PA65|title=The Swahili: Reconstructing the History and Language of an African Society, 800–1500|page=65|author1=Derek Nurse|author2=Thomas Spear|author3=Thomas T. Spear|isbn=9780812212075|year=1985|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |access-date=15 June 2016|archive-date=30 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330035233/https://books.google.com/books?id=7uJmgsq37dMC&pg=PA65|url-status=live}}</ref>