Shimaore or Maore Comorian is one of the two indigeneous languages spoken in the French-ruled Comorian islands of Mayotte; Shimaore being a dialect of the Bantu Swahili language, while Bushi is an unrelated Malayo-Polynesian language originally from Madagascar. Historically, Shimaore- and Kibushi-speaking villages on Mayotte have been clearly identified, but Shimaore tends to be the de facto indigeneous lingua franca in everyday life, because of the larger Shimaore-speaking population.

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  • Shimaore or Maore Comorian is one of the two indigeneous languages spoken in the French-ruled Comorian islands of Mayotte; Shimaore being a dialect of the Bantu Swahili language, while Bushi is an unrelated Malayo-Polynesian language originally from Madagascar. Historically, Shimaore- and Kibushi-speaking villages on Mayotte have been clearly identified, but Shimaore tends to be the de facto indigeneous lingua franca in everyday life, because of the larger Shimaore-speaking population. Only Shimaore is represented on the local television news program by RFO. The 2002 census references 80,140 speakers of Shimaore in Mayotte itself, to which one would have to add people living outside the island, mostly in metropolitan France. There are also 20,000 speakers of Comorian in Madagascar, some of which are Shimaore speakers. The same 2002 census indicates that 37,840 persons responded as knowing how to read or write Shimaore. However this number has to be taken with caution, since until a few years ago Shimaore did not have a standard writing system. From a sociolinguistic perspective, French tends to be regarded by many Shimaore speakers as the language of higher education and prestige, and there is a temptation by native Mahorans to provide an all-French education to their children. This puts a lot of pressure on Shimaore and the language may become endangered in the next future if nothing is done. Although French remains the official language in Mayotte, Shimaore will probably be taught in Mahoran schools starting in the next few years, and a pilot project began in fall 2004. As in many parts of France where local languages are introduced in the school system, this has led to tensions between partisans of a French-centered education system and administrations, versus those promoting a more diversified approach. Shimaore's position in this regard is however different from other French regions, since the language is locally spoken by a majority of the population. The project in Mayotte has been inspired by similar projects involving Swahili in eastern Africa countries. Mayotte is a geographically small territory, but frequent exchanges between villages have not started until the last quarter of the twentieth century. As of 2004, linguistic differences between the east and west part of the island, and between the main city of Mamoudzou and the remote villages, are still noticeable, especially when it comes to phonological differences. One typical example is the word u-la (to eat), notably pronounced this way in the city due to the influence of a brand of yogurt bearing the same name, but pronounced u-dja in other parts of the island.
  • Le mahorais (ou shimaore dans la langue) est une des deux principales langues indigènes parlées sur l'île de Mayotte. C'est un dialecte swahili, alors que le shibushi est une langue austronésienne proche des langues parlées à Madagascar. Si historiquement le shimaore - comme le shibushi - était la langue rurale de Mayotte, elle devient de facto la lingua franca indigène pour un usage au quotidien, notamment en raison de l'augmentation de la population parlant le shimaore. Le shimaore est présent dans les nouveaux programmes télévisés de la RFO. Le recensement de 2002 a relevé 80 140 individus parlant le shimaore sur l'île de Mayotte. Le shimaore est clairement aujourd'hui sous l'influence du français. En effet, outre que certains locuteurs de Mayotte parlent le français, celui-ci est la langue d'éducation, du savoir et de l'emploi. Pour cette raison des associations culturelles tentent de réanimer la flamme et de redonner au shimaore ses lettres de noblesse, telle l'association SHIME. L'intercompréhension entre le mohélien, l'anjouanais et le mahorais est presque totale; seules quelques différences phonétiques mineures, et quelques particularités lexicales les distinguent, elle l'est un peut moins avec le grand-comorien tandis que la compréhension est partiel, et à sens unique, vis à vis des autres swahili. La régionalisation de Mayotte fait donc entrer le shimaore dans les langues régionales. Comme de nombreux Comoriens sont en métropole et sont locuteurs shimaore, l'application de la Charte européenne des langues régionales fait que des fonctionnaires parlant shimaore sont obligatoires aux guichets des administrations de nombreuses villes de métropole (Marseille, l'Ile de France, Dunkerque, Lyon, Bordeaux pour ne citer que les principales). L'édition avec mise à disposition du public des CERFA rédigés en shimaore sont également obligatoires dans ces mêmes villes.
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  • Niger-Congo
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  • bnt
  • swb
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  • Shimaore
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  • 80140 (xsd:integer)
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  • Shimaore or Maore Comorian is one of the two indigeneous languages spoken in the French-ruled Comorian islands of Mayotte; Shimaore being a dialect of the Bantu Swahili language, while Bushi is an unrelated Malayo-Polynesian language originally from Madagascar. Historically, Shimaore- and Kibushi-speaking villages on Mayotte have been clearly identified, but Shimaore tends to be the de facto indigeneous lingua franca in everyday life, because of the larger Shimaore-speaking population.
  • Le mahorais (ou shimaore dans la langue) est une des deux principales langues indigènes parlées sur l'île de Mayotte. C'est un dialecte swahili, alors que le shibushi est une langue austronésienne proche des langues parlées à Madagascar. Si historiquement le shimaore - comme le shibushi - était la langue rurale de Mayotte, elle devient de facto la lingua franca indigène pour un usage au quotidien, notamment en raison de l'augmentation de la population parlant le shimaore.
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  • Shimaore dialect
  • Mahorais
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  • Shimaore
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