Notes on Ki-Swahili as Spoken by the King's African Rifles

Undated but circa 1940. 24pp stitched booklet in thin red card covers. 8vo. Covers are rubbed and worn, partially cracked along spine. Previous owner's name across top of front cover. Internally, pages tanned, lightly spotted and marked, with a few pencil annotations. The King's Africa Rifles was a British East African regiment made up of natives of the area with officers drawn from the ranks of the British. Newall, a KAR Officer, conducted considerable research on the local languages and compiled these notes to guide British Officers in communications with the rank and file. Almost a dialect of its own, Swahili as spoken in the KAR has been held to be influential in the development of Swahili as a cohesive language and ultimately its adoption as a pan-regional language in several East African counties. Very hard to find.