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Kiswahili: how a standard version of the east African language was formed – and spread across the world

Kiswahili originated in east Africa, spreading around the continent and the globe. It’s been adopted as a working language at the African Union and there’s a push for it to become Africa’s lingua franca or common language. Morgan J. Robinson is a historian of east Africa with a research focus on language who has published a book on Kiswahili called A Language for the World. We asked Morgan J. Robinson, of Mississippi State University how today’s accepted standard version of Kiswahili came into being.