Editing Comorian languages (section)

=== Shinzwani ===
Shinzwani was first noted by a South African missionary Reverend William Elliott in 1821 and 1822. During a 13-months' mission stay on the island of [[Anjouan]] he compiled a vocabulary and grammar of the language. Elliott included a 900-word vocabulary and provided 98 sample sentences in Shinzwani. He does not appear to have recognized noun- classes (of which there are at least six in Shinzwani) nor does he appear to have considered Shinzwani a Bantu language, only making a superficial connection to Swahili.<ref name=":1" />

The dialect was noted again in 1841 by Casalis, who placed it within Bantu, and by Peters, who collected a short word list. In 1875 Hildebrandt published a Shinzwani vocabulary and suggested in 1876 that Shinzwani was an older form of Swahili.

The idea of the distinctness of Shingazija and Shinzwani from Swahili finally gained prominence during the latter part of the 19th century and the early 20th century. In 1883, an analysis by Gust distinguished Shinzwani from Swahili. He discusses Shinzwani and Swahili as two separate languages which had contributed to the port-language which he referred to as Barracoon.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Richardson |first1=Irvine |date=1963 |title=Evolutionary Factors in Mauritian Creole |journal=Journal of African Languages |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=2–14 }}</ref>

In 1909 two publications reaffirmed and clarified the distinctiveness of Shinzwani, Shingazija and Swahili. Struck published a word list which appeared to have been recorded by a Frenchman in Anjouan in 1856, identified the words as belonging to Shinzwani and noted some influence from Swahili.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doke |first=Clement M. |title=Bantu: Modern Grammatical, Phonetical and Lexicographical Studies Since 1860 |year=1945 |isbn=9781138095816 |location=Oxford}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Heepe |first=Martin |title=Die Komorendialekte Ngazidja, Nzwani und Mwali |year=1920 |isbn=978-1361862162 |location=Hamburg |language=de |trans-title=The Comorian Dialects Shingazija and Shimwali}}</ref>

In his Swahili Grammar, Sacleux cautioned that although Swahili was spoken in the Comoros it must not be confused with the native languages of the Comoros, Shinzwani and Shingazija. He said that while Swahili was mostly spoken in cities, the Comorian languages were widely spoken in the countryside.<ref>Sacleux, Ch. (1909). Grammaire des Dialects Swahilis. Paris.{{pn|date=February 2024}}</ref>