Socotra Swahili is an extinct variety of Swahili, a Bantu language, that was formerly spoken on the island of Socotra in Yemen.[1] It was reported to be spoken by a fifth of the island (c. 2,000 people) in 1962.[2]
The Swahili group as a whole is treated as a single language with ISO639-3 code swh and glottocode swah1253, covering both mainland and insular varieties.[4]
Status and coding
A mid-20th-century account estimated that Socotra Swahili was spoken by about 2,000 people, around one fifth of Socotra's population at the time.[2]
Socotra Swahili does not have a separate ISO 639-3 or Glottolog code; instead it falls under the general Swahili entry (ISO639-3 swh).[4] In the ISO 639-2 and ISO 639-1 standards, the macrolanguage Swahili is assigned the alpha-3 code swa and alpha-2 code sw, respectively, without distinguishing Socotra Swahili.[5] In Guthrie-based Bantu classifications, however, Socotra Swahili is explicitly identified as G.411, marking it as a distinct Swahili lect associated specifically with Socotra.[1][3]
12Freeman-Grenville (1965). The French at Kilwa Island. cited in Ruete; van Donzel (1993). An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds: Memoirs, Letters Home, Sequels to the Memoirs. p.172, fn. 48.
12Hammarström, Harald (2019). "An inventory of Bantu languages". In Van de Velde, Mark; Bostoen, Koen; Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gérard (eds.). The Bantu Languages. Routledge Language Family Series (2nded.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp.17–78. doi:10.4324/9781315755946-2.
12"Swahili". Glottolog 5.2. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Retrieved 24 November 2025.
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