Bravanese, also called Chimwiini (ChiMwini, Mwiini, Mwini) or Chimbalazi,[3] is a related to Swahili spoken by the Bravanese people, who are the predominant inhabitants of Barawa or Brava, in Somalia.
[5] However, it strongly distinguishes itself from standard Swahili under all linguistic considerations.
[6] Due to the ongoing Somali Civil War, most speakers have left the region and are scattered throughout the world in ex-refugee immigrant communities in places such as Columbus and Atlanta in the United States, London and Manchester in the United Kingdom, and Mombasa, Kenya.
[7] Bravanese may have once served as a regional lingua franca due to the key coastal location of Barawa.
For example, it has a three-way tense system, which is simpler than that of neighboring Bantu dialects historically spoken in Somalia.