Languages of the Comoros

The official languages of the Comoros are Comorian, French and Arabic, as recognized under its 2001 constitution. Although each language holds equal recognition under the constitution, language use varies across Comorian society. Unofficial minority languages such as Malagasy and Swahili are also present on the island with limited usage. According to Harriet Joseph Ottenheimer, a professor of anthropology at Kansas State University, the linguistic diversity of the Comoros is the result of its rich history as part of the Indian maritime trade routes and its periods of Malagasy and French colonial rule.

Comorian, or Shikomoro is the most widely spoken language in the country, spoken by 96.9% of the population. As a Bantu language, Comorian is closely related to Swahili. Each island has its own dialect of Comorian. The Shingazija dialect is the most widely used variant of Comorian, spoken on Grande Comore (Ngazija) by about 312,000 people. Additionally, the Shimwali dialect is spoken by 29,000 people on Moheli (Mwali) and the Shinzwani dialect is spoken by about 275,000 people on Anjouan (Nzwani). Although the dialects have linguistic differences, they all share mutual intelligibility.

There is no accepted orthography in the Comorian language. Historically and informally, Comorian was written using a variant of Arabic script, called the Ajami script. Most early academic works written on Comorian are difficult or impossible to obtain because of the lack of written standard. According to John Mugane, professor of African languages at Harvard University, there were extended time gaps ranging from 25 to 30 years throughout the 1900s, which lacked new academic information on the Comorian languages. From the 1600s until the late 1990s, only two dozen publication have included the languages of the Comoros. Many academic publications have only been passing references in other language studies or the accounts of travelers.

When Comorian was first identified in the 1880s, there was much debate over whether it was a variant of Swahili or a separate language. But according to Martin Ottenheimer, a professor of anthropology at Kansas State University, grammatical and linguistic differences discovered by French linguists such as Charles Sacleux and Antoine Meillet, have affirmed the distinctiveness of Comorian as a separate language from Swahili. For example, although both languages share similar vocabularies, there is a consistent mutual unintelligibility between Swahili and Comorian.

Upon independence from France in 1975, Comorian was sought as an official language, and a Latin-based orthography was demanded by the Comorian government. In particular, both the government and the people of the Comoros sought for a writing system that was distinct from French, whilst resembling its nearby East African nations. Since the 1970s, attempts have been made by both the Comorian government and the University of the Comoros Department of Modern Languages to standardize the Comorian language and integrate it into the education system alongside French and Arabic. In 1976, two Latin-based orthographies were proposed by the country's president, Ali Soilihi and the linguist Mohamed Ahmed-Chamang. In 1986, a Swahili-based orthography was proposed by Comorian linguist Moinaecha Cheikh. However, the past attempts to introduce a Comorian orthography has failed to gain popularity. Political, historical and ethnic tensions regarding the different dialects of Comorian have been responsible for the failed attempts to provide a written standard for Comorian. For example, the orthography proposed by Cheikh was widely unpopular as the writing system was more suited towards the Shingazidja dialect rather than the Shinzwani dialect.

There has been significant debate over which variant of the Comorian language is considered as the national language. According to Martin-Luther University professor Iain Walker, this debate has been largely avoided in Comorian politics, which has contributed to an increasing sociolinguistic disunity between the speakers of each variant.

French is the second most spoken language in the Comoros. According to a 2018 report by the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, 216,174 people, or 25.97% of the population, spoke French in the Comoros. The language emerged as a result of French colonisation in the Comoros, lasting from 1841 until independence in 1975. French is considered the language of government and commerce and is acquired through formal, non-Qur’anic education. After independence, the use of the French language was propagated during the administration of the pro-French president, Ahmed Abdallah. The Abdallah administration had reinforced the use of French in education and provided official, French place names in the country. Internationally, the Comoros is recognised as a Francophone nation, and is a full member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie.

During the colonial period, French was the main language of instruction across society, including administration, education and trade. Higher education is also dependent on French language ability, as many Comorian students attend universities in France.