Abstracts
Aurelia Ferrari
French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Uses of Sheng in Political Discourses
Kenya is a multilingual country with 42 tribes/ communities, Kiswahili is the national language and English the official one. In Kenya where the urbanization rate is high (24% in 2011) and in constant growth (4, 36% per year) and where the average age of the population is only 19 years, Sheng, the language spoken by the urban youth has a special position. Sheng, popularly defined as an acronym for “Swahili-English slang”, emerged in the 1960s in the multicultural environment of Nairobi. It is an urban language which combines mainly Kiswahili and English but also other Kenyan languages such as Kikuyu, Luyia, Dholuo and Kamba. Originally used as a vehicular language between people from different regions, it is becoming a vernacular language, some people born in the 1980s or later having Sheng as their first language. Sheng is now heard in the media and in political discourses especially during presidential campaigns because Sheng has an interethnic entity and it has the ability to attract votes of young people. During 2013 political campaign, some politicians chose a nickname or a slogan in Sheng (Rachel Shebesh chose the nickname Manzi wa Nai “a woman from Nairobi” and Peter Kenneth’s slogan was “ tunawesmake”, we can make it.) This paper will attempt to analyze the uses of Sheng in political discourses through different Medias in order to identify political strategies associated with Sheng.
Steffen Lorenz
University of Cologne, Germany
Youth Language and the Applicability of Demographic Categories
Over the past decades, studying youth and youth language has become a major focus in contemporary anthropology and linguistics and the term “youth culture” has become a fix staple in popular media worldwide. What keeps troubling researchers, especially in anthropology, though is the essential question what youth actually is. While the definitions in official or institutional circles still tends to focus on age being the main characteristic, contemporary academic models view it rather as a transitional phase bridging adolescence and adulthood. Regardless of the validity of this characterization in general, it appears that the use of youth languages is not restricted to speakers fitting these descriptions. These communicative practices, usually observed in urban areas, don’t appear to occur on the simple basis of age or stage of life. This talk will demonstrate the discrepancy between those conceptualizations of youth using the communicative practice Leb pa Bwulu, literately translating to “Language of the Youth”, which is mainly spoken in the Northern Ugandan city of Gulu. Here we see a linguistic practice used by people in various stages of their life, with vastly different social backgrounds and with completely different motivations, crossing superficial demographic categories as speakers seem to share other, more complex characteristics.
Phephani Gumbi
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Technological Innovations in Africa: Indigenous African languages and Technology in the South African Education Sector
The integration of information and communication technology (ICT) and indigenous African languages in the education sector is an important and strategic shift that should be considered and embraced. Such an imperative is bound to positively fast-track various efforts targeted towards the elevation and promotion of indigenous African languages. These languages have been suffering marginalization for a number of years, since the era of colonization and Apartheid South Africa. Despite all the attempts by the new democratic government, coupled with transformative legislative frameworks that seek to elevate the status of these languages, African languages are still undermined as languages of medium of communication in higher domains of life such as the education sector, among others. Institutions of learning have developed multilingual language policies yet their implementation remains a major problem and a pipedream for a majority of South African. This study seeks firstly, to investigate the language problems that are associated with the low profile of indigenous African languages in the South African education system. Secondly, the study seeks to foreground the various opportunities available for the integration of ICT and indigenous African languages within this particular domain, and finally, to establish the challenges posed to such an initiative. The study seeks to establish if the linguistic problems does contribute to the continued low profile of indigenous languages in education.
Adebayo Adegbembo
Genii Games
Indigenous African Languages and Technology: Yoruba101 Example
In 2015, Genii Games Limited demonstrated an innovative approach to the learning of Yoruba language using its Yoruba101 app. Yoruba, a major language with over 30 million speakers worldwide has not been left out of the challenges facing other indigenous African languages as it struggles to gain relevance among many youths today especially Nigerians home and abroad. Using the concept of gamification, leveraging the mobile platform and social media trends, the Yoruba101 app led to some interesting developments that validated the company’s belief that a sustainable way to make African languages appealing to the youths and children is to make them fun and engaging. Yoruba101 is built on a quest where users have to learn, play and unlock special symbols that demonstrate their understanding of the language. Furthermore, the app includes social share features, which enable users share their progress with others across social media. This led to a popular run over a period of time where users shared their progress in a bid to have their pictures drawn alongside symbols unlocked from the app as captured in the post: Selfies with African Deities. Another interesting spin was a challenge involving a social media influencer who generated interests by publicly showing off her experience with the app as captured in the post: How a British native became the first user to complete my Yoruba language learning app challenge. What the foregoing indicates is that addressing enlightened African youths within the context of our African languages requires tapping into their fad.
Reuben Kiyondi Ondara
Kisii University, Kenya
The ‘XAXA’ Phase of Sheng: A Looming Linguistic Revolution in Kenya
Sheng’ emerged in Nairobi in 1960s and it has moved through phases which have continuously shaped it to date. The four phases, arbitrarily drawn, basing on the political history of the country include: the ‘Inception’ Phase (1960-1980), the ‘Daring’ Phase (1980-2000), the ‘Free Airwaves’ Phase (2000-2010) and the ‘Xaxa’ Phase (2010 – to date). The current phase is exceptional due to its high degrees of dynamism, astronomical growth, political, social, economic, academic, religious and societal acceptance, contrary to the preceding ones. Thanks to the ever changing face of technology and the advent of social media. A self-declared ‘Xaxa Generation’ cadre of youths has emerged in this phase made up of learned youths especially in tertiary level institutions like Universities. These, have reinvented the use of Sheng to ‘advanced levels’, hence coming up with a new version branded the ‘Xaxa–Pouwa’ Sheng. Its uniqueness is in its phonology, morphology, syntax and even orthography in comparison with the preceding versions. The alarming rate at which the ‘Xaxa-Pouwa’ Sheng is moving, threatens and seems determined to revolutionalise the linguistic sphere in Kenya as far as the use of Sheng is concerned. This paper will highlight the development of Sheng through the phases, with emphasis on the Xaxa Phase, its uniqueness, its distinct linguistic features, agents of its expansion, the threat it poses to the language sphere and the ramifications of this new form of Sheng to the linguistic space in Kenya, among other concerns.
Joseph Rotumoi and Jacqueline Kandagor
University of Kabianga, Kenya
Language Choice on Social Media and Emerging Issues in Writing in African Languages: Case of Tugen Sub-Dialect of the Kalenjin
Patterns of language choice reflect language attitudes. In the recent past, there has been an increase in the use of vernacular by Kenyans on various social media platforms. Most of these Kenyans often the youth and the middle class, hitherto accused of having a preference for English and Kiswahili, do write in their mother-tongues in spite of having never formally learnt to write in them. This paper examines the emerging issues in writing in an indigenous African language: Tugen, a sub-dialect of the Kalenjin. Like most indigenous African languages, Tugen is a tone language whereby voice pitch can be used to distinguish between words with the same spelling but different meanings. Equally, its phonetic alphabet hasn’t been developed and consequently has no regulated orthography which can impede comprehension in written communication. The paper equally attempts to establish the reasons for this language shift in certain contexts. To achieve these objectives, data from Facebook conversations would be analyzed and interviews carried out to establish the reasons for choosing to write in vernacular in certain contexts. The outcome of the study would be resourceful in tackling the imminent challenge of language death in Africa.
Hezekiel Gikambi Peter
Moi University and Multimedia University, Kenya
Leveraging Language Technology in the Research of Use of Kiswahili among Young Social Media Users in East Africa: A Corpus Linguistic Approach
Language technology for African Languages like Swahili is still a distant dream yet to be archived. Despite the progress that has been seen through the efforts of some institutions in South Africa, West Africa, a few individual scholars in Europe and USA, there is still a lot to be done by the indigenous African scholars themselves in establishing reliable digital archives for African languages and devising tools to research the resources. East Africa, the home of the only official African language in the AU-Kiswahili- has lagged behind in investing in the development of this language that boosts of close to 150 million speakers and now among if not the leading African language of study in the universities globally. Ironically, the biggest digital resource is the Helsinki Corpus of Swahili, the most reliable computational environment for the language so far, available at the University of Helsinki in Finland, thanks to Emeritus Prof Arvi Hurskainen who founded Swahili Language Manager (SALAMA) in 1985. Kiswahili should be doing better than this owing to its strategic, constitutional, economic and even aesthetic status in the world. This presentation will try to address the various ways that language technology which utilizes free and open source software like Ant Conc 3.4.0, Ubuntu Linux 14.04, Google Goggles, etc. can rejuvenate the study of Kiswahili and its varieties- through building and analysis of a text corpus harvested from social media platforms of leading East African Swahili newspapers, news websites and their social media platforms. The paper aims to basically show a corpus linguistic analysis of the use of Kiswahili on social media among the youth in Kenya and Tanzania.
Sylvia Kadenyi Amisi
Freelance Professional Conference Interpreter, Nairobi, Kenya
Informal Speak Propelled by Social Media: The Case of Engsh in Kenya
This paper examines the central role that social media plays in the development of slang among young Kenyans. It highlights the versatility of informal speak, in this case Engsh, that manifests itself in the dynamic use of acronyms, neologisms, emoticons and stickers to communicate both trivial and more complex issues. The high technology penetration rate among young Kenyans goes hand in hand with the fast evolving slang used across the board, which transcends socio-cultural and political barriers. By its very nature, social media favors more direct communication in relation to the conventional channels, and reaches a broader audience, requiring dexterity and the willingness to “bend the rules” on the part of the communicator and recipient.
The paper broaches the debate on language enrichment and impoverishment, while providing insights into social media being fertile ground for innovation and accuracy, albeit at the expense of more formal language.
Abednego Mandlenkosi Maphumulo
University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
A Sociolinguistic Analysis of a Contemporary Tsotsitaal Poem Titled: “Ekhoneni” by Siyabonga Sikhakhane
The aim of this paper is to prove that tsotsitaal is not static, but dynamic and involves inherent changes. It appears that change is the very law of its existence. What today may be regarded as new-founded lexicon or expression of tsotsitaal may change in future. Some tsotsitaal of today may fall into desuetude in a few generations to come. Concerning the statement of the problem of tsotsitaal is that it keeps on changing. One problem is that tsotsitaal is rooted in a generation gap. Another problem of tsotsitaal change is that old traditional words are giving way to the new ones. The context of old tsotsitaal words is fast disappearing. The meaning of a traditional tsotsitaal word may shift to a contemporary or modern situation. This help the users to perpetuate the nature of an tsotsitaal as a secret language in order to exclude unwanted person from the conversation. Concerning the theoretical approach, the paper is analyzed within the framework of existing sociolinguistic theories. Concerning the nature of the tsotsitaal poem the speaker will discuss semantic twist which is used in the poem; “Ekhoneni”. The paper will conclude with the main findings, i.e. tsotsitaal language is a vibrant language variety that is accepted by its speakers because it facilitates expression in certain social contexts.
Emuobonuvie M. Ajiboye
Delta State University, Abraka
Forms and Function of Wafi Slangs
“Pidgin English” as previously used to describe Nigerian Pidgin (Naija) was once the language of the uncouth, crude, rugged and vile person. It has become a language of communication among the high and low in the society. It is adjudged a leveler. Although the language policy of Nigeria recognizes three major indigenous languages as the national languages, these three languages do not have institutional support to make them viable in a globalized world. They do not also dominate informal domains such as petty trading, religion and social interaction beyond their geographical domain. The language policy has not been able to accord them official status within key institutions of governance, commerce and education especially because of power relations. The result is that most Nigerians prefer to use Naija. There are different varieties of Naija across the nation. Wafi, is the variety of Nigerian Pidgin spoken mainly by the youth in Warri metropolis of Delta State, Nigeria. This variety is highly fluid and full of slangs and the lexical items unstable in their forms and function. The paper aims at describing the forms and functions of these slangs and to ascertain the linguistic and sociocultural significance of these lexical items. Data would be sourced from in an available sample of undergraduate speakers who are resident in Warri metropolis.
Sheila P. Wandera-Simwa
Laikipia University, Kenya
Mbao! Mbao! Stage Zote: An Analysis of Sheng in the ‘Matatu’ Industry in Nairobi City
Sheng is a new variety of language in the urban centers of Kenya that is associated with the youth. It is neither English nor Kiswahili, but a culmination of words from the two languages, as the main contributors, as well as other indigenous Kenyan languages found in the particular locality. The youth use Sheng for many reasons including identity, recognition, belonging and sometimes entertainment, a situation that puts them in a world of their own. Sheng has spread to almost all spheres of the Kenyan youth life including spiritual, political, education and business. In the Public service transport commuter industry, the youths serve as either drivers, touts or passengers, and Sheng is the main language of communication. Using the ‘Matatu’ Industry as our case study, we argue that this new variety of language is so entrenched among the youth, such that if it is not accepted and developed as the ‘other language’, it might threaten the youths’ proficiency in Kiswahili and English Languages, as they search for their identity. The study will use Myers Scotton’ s sociological theory and Giles’ accommodation theory to ground its arguments. Using the qualitative research approach, the researcher will purposively sample two busy organized Matatu routes in Nairobi and data will be collected using interviews and observation methods.
Bosire Mokaya
University of Oregon, Oregon
From Unbwogable to Tunawesmake: Sheng as a Language of Political Mobilization in Kenya
When the musicians Gidi Gidi and Maji Maji released their single ‘Who Can Bwogo Me?’ In September, 2002, it was at the height of a very high-stakes political campaign by the populist opposition National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) seeking to unseat the long-time ruling party, Kenya African National Union (Kanu). The lyrics of the song had a line “I am unbwogable” which was a Sheng-like phrase meaning variously “I am unbeatable, unstoppable, unshakable” that caught the imagination of young people, became so popular, making the single to be known by “Unbwogable”. This phrase was subsequently taken up by the NARC Coalition as a popular, in your-face rallying cry for its unstoppable match to election victory (Nyairo & Ogude, 2005; Hillawaert, 2006). In the subsequent election cycles politicians have continued using Sheng as a language for reaching out to the youth who make up more than 60% of the electorate. In 2012/2013 cycle, two presidential aspirants, Peter Kenneth and Raphael Tuju went all out in Sheng, with Kenneth’s campaign slogan being Tunawesmake ‘We can make it’ and Tuju announcing his presidential bid in Sheng. Sheng has been a stigmatized and officially unrecognized code in the Kenyan linguistic mosaic. Using a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach, this paper will argue that the appropriation and use of Sheng by the political class is a backdoor legitimization of Sheng that lays bare the dynamics of language and power in Kenya.
Mungai Mutonya
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
New Swahili Varieties: Transcending Uncharted Boundaries in Nairobi
Blended Swahili varieties have emerged at different stages in the transformation of Nairobi city. Growing from an unsophisticated linguistic environment to an African metropolis teeming with diverse languages, Nairobi has experienced an increasingly complex linguascape. Navigating the evolving, contested terrain demand innovative ways of defining emerging realities. The youth, versatile and yet vulnerable to vagaries of such environments, revert to Swahili and other languages in contact to help transcend the restrictive boundaries and to mitigate other emerging risks. The presentation explores the intersection of societal attitudes, media and popular culture in the emergence and growth of new Swahili varieties in Nairobi. Beginning with a brief look at KiKAR (Newell 1933; Mutonya and Parson 2004), then the street Swahili of the 1950s (Gower 1952), the study discusses an ongoing survey to determine symbolic boundaries and perceptions within the city’s Sheng community. Nairobi youth has elevated a peer language, previously deemed antithetical to the attainment of aspired identity, into a powerful symbol of urban sophistication and prestige. Understanding the use of Swahili varieties in transcending uncharted boundaries may reveal the dynamics of the aforementioned intersection.
Lydiah Kiramba
University of Nebraska, Nebraska
Language Purism in Education at the Globalizing Times
Historically teachers have been the keepers of language purism in classrooms for excellence in school languages. However, research is continuously showing that multilingual speakers do not consider the linguistic boundaries but rather use their multiple communicative repertoires as an integrated system to maximize the communicative potential. This study adopts a multilingual perspective to interrogate bilingualism and/or multilingualism and show agentive ways in which the learners and the teachers are bridging the gap between institutional monolingualism and their lived realities of everyday classroom practices. Through ethnographic research methods, this paper reports on the discursive practices of a fourth grade classroom during English language arts and science lessons. Through analysis of student’s talk and written texts, I argue that restrictive language policies that push for fixity in the globalizing times disconnect learners from their daily realities, and could be detrimental in their learning process. The findings indicate the importance of multilingual literacies in literacy learning among multilingual children. I call for reconstruction of multilingual pedagogy in order to capitalize on the strength of the learners, teachers and linguistic communities, through heteroglossic multilingual education that embraces students’ languages and language varieties in language learning and literacy development.
Mwenda Mukuthuria
Mount Kenya University, Kenya
Sheng’ No Longer Sheng’ but a Powerful Tool of Communication Influencing Development in Urban Settlements in Kenya and Beyond
For a long time Sheng’, a slang widely spoken in Kenyan urban settlements and cosmopolitan areas, has borne the brunt of accusations because of its effect in the mainstream standard Kiswahili language spoken in Kenya. Poor performance in language examinations has been blamed on this variety which is commonly used by the youth. However, this has not deterred the growth and development of sheng’. In fact, in cosmopolitan areas in Kenya, children acquire the style of spoken language and vocabulary in sheng’ before any other language. The use of this slang is widespread in Kenya; it is used in family domains; it dominates the youth language in all the domains of their discourse outside classroom setting; it is used fully in transport business and informal industry in Kenya; and, above all in Nairobi today, it is a medium of communication in the famous Ghetto Radio with popular following in Nairobi and the peripheral areas targeting the majority in the slums of Nairobi. Therefore, the importance of this slung cannot be gainsaid since it commands the social and economic domain of Kenya. It is in this view that this paper advances a debate to interrogate whether it is necessary to demonize sheng’ or instead harness it as a tool of wider communication in Kenya.
Deborah Agboola
University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Language Varieties and the Media: Pidgin English in Jingles
The importance of language for effective communication that enhances harmonious living and development cannot be underestimated particularly in the Media. The media, with the primary aim of educating, informing, entertaining, enlightening and even mobilizing the public for a course must employ the language of the people for the desired results. The television for example has various programs designed for its diverse and teaming audience to retain their viewership and impact them on all spheres of life using suitable language: especially the variety that gives a sense of belonging. Altogether the use of language variety is capable of threatening official languages if not properly monitored and controlled. It is however capable of attracting and engaging its user especially where sensitization and mobilization is concerned. Pidgin English is being used for advertisements related to Boko Haram. Similarly, during the Lassa fever and the Ebola pandemic, Pidgin English was used in addition to indigenous languages to reach people including the youth and the illiterates with slogans like ‘wash your hand with snap and water’ promoting personal hygiene. This paper will focus on how the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) uses various kinds of promotional advertising jingles made in Pidgin English to sensitize Nigerians about the Boko Haram insurgency and what people need to do in case of terror attacks. It would also examine how the society especially the youth react to such jingles. Our primary source of data would be from NTA Ilorin, in Kwara State which is in a part of Northern Nigeria that is less affected by Boko Haram. I would also conduct interviews among university of Ilorin students towards a qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of the Pidgin English jingles.
Elias J. Magembe
American University, Washington DC
The Use of Catchy Kiswahili Phrases and Musical Ringtones in Enhancing a Cut-Throat Competition in Mobile Phone Communication: The Case of Tanzania
The last three decades of free market economy practice in Tanzania has seen a dramatic increase in cut-throat competition among private sector business enterprises, marketing and technology based service deliveries. One major area of profound competition has been in the telecommunication industry, which has seen a mushrooming of mobile phone services in both urban and rural areas. It is estimated that every six out ten adults in Tanzania own a mobile phone, with various uses such as messaging, emailing, talking, banking and money transfer. The rapid growth of the sector has become a new gold mine for operating mobile phone companies. Yet, given the expansive geography of the country, it has also presented a big challenge to their marketing strategies. An innovative way of meeting this challenge has been the use of various powerful forms of Kiswahili language to promote business, get new customers and retain them. This paper examines the way three major mobile phone companies in Tanzania have been able to use competing catchy Kiswahili language words, phrases and popular culture such as ring tones from bongo flava hit songs to accomplish their goals. The paper looks specifically at how Vodacom, Airtel and Tigo mobile phone companies have used traditional (pure) and contemporary (slang) forms of Kiswahili language and popular culture (music) to be able to hook millions of mobile phone users. It also highlights how such Kiswahili phrases have been used to coax clients to part away with their hard earned meagre incomes and become royal costumers.
Patrick Iribe Mwangi
University of Nairobi, Kenya
A River from Rivulets? A Study of Sheng Vis-à-vis Indigenous Kenyan Languages and Modern Technology
It is no longer feasible to dismiss Sheng as an urban code used by truant youths of the lower class as was the case earlier (Githinji 2008; Githiora 2002; Abdulaziz and Osinde 1997). Currently, the code is used in many diverse spheres of life. It is also used by people of all ages and from all areas in Kenya and not just in Nairobi. This paper sets to show that the code borrows heavily from indigenous Kenyan languages and therefore hypothesize that in the absence of those languages, Sheng as we know it today, would also be non-existent. This argument is made more potent by the fact that Sheng’s matrix language is Kiswahili; and indigenous African language. The thesis of this paper is that Sheng is a big river drawing from rivulets (matrix and other and possibilities are that it will have more speakers than any other indigenous language of Kenya. Using a pragmatic approach, the paper shows that Sheng has its space in the world of technology and that it is actually used more than any of the indigenous codes, safe for Kiswahili, in all forms of technological communication. The paper will largely use a qualitative based approach although some statistics will be used in comparison.
Jemima Asabea Anderson and Josephine Dzahene-Quarshie
University of Ghana, Ghana
Emerging Trends in Advertising in Ghana and Tanzania: The Use of Urban Youth Languages
In many parts of urban Africa, the youth use language in peculiar ways that set them apart from the older generation. This distinct use of language has resulted in the emergence of urban youth languages such as Nouchi in Abidjan, Is’camtho and Tsotsitaal in Soweto and Sheng and Engsh in Nairobi. Studies such as Kießling and Mous (2004) Abdulaziz, Mohamed and Osinde (1997), Goyvaerts and Kabongo-Mianda (1988) have described some of these emerging urban youth languages in Africa. Although these new varieties were initially stigmatized and discouraged in some domains (and continue to be to some extent), today corporate bodies and the media are beginning to utilize these urban youth languages in marketing their products and services, and also to disseminate information. This paper explores the motivation for the use of two varieties of urban youth languages in advertising in Ghana and Tanzania. The paper also discusses the effect of the use of these two varieties on the youth and on the advertised products. Using data collected from advertisements by various corporate bodies in Ghana and Tanzania, the paper observes that one major factor that prompts corporate bodies to use these fluid urban languages is their ability to identify with the youth who constitute a large percentage of their target audience.
Leonard Muaka
Winston Salem State, North Carolina/Howard University, Washington D.C.
Defiance from Below in Urban Linguistic Choices
This paper is part of an ongoing project that investigates youth language in urban spaces. The paper focuses on billboards in both Tanzania and Kenya in an attempt to show how businesses not only customize their marketing strategies based on the socioeconomic classes of their audience, but they also consider the linguistic variables of their potential audiences. In particular, this paper will focus on Swahili and English and how these two official languages have helped create a variety that can best be described as youth language in the two East African countries of Kenya and Tanzania. The arguments raised in this paper are based on the assumption that language use in urban spaces is a consequence of informal policies from below. Thus, language use reflects linguistic ideologies that each speech community embraces or challenges. This paper argues that in the East African cities, youth languages are driven not by official institutions but by language users and the mobile tools they currently use in their interpersonal communication. This thesis is similar to what other researchers have reported about the use of youth language. For instance, in London, Rampton (2009) notes that young users associate Caribbean Creole English with high prestige, a stance that is in opposition to the official position in Britain. To capture these linguistic dynamics, this paper borrows from critical sociolinguistic approaches that foreground, language identity, language ideology, and language attitudes in language choice and use.
Georges Mutambwa Mulumbwa
Université de Lubumbashi, The Democratic Republic of Congo
Kindubile, the Swahili Slang Spoken by Street Kids in Lubumbashi (DRC): Understanding the Paradox of its Uses
Kindubile is spoken by street children in Lubumbashi, the second main town in DR Congo. This language is not well known in the scientific review. It derived from Hindubil (a lingala youth slang in Kinshasa). But, once in Lubumbashi, it was based on local Swahili, mixed with French, English and surrounding Bantu languages. Its lexicon is selective and abundant for only some domains namely money, food, drug, sexuality, violence, etc. As this language is closely tied to street kids, stigmatized group, it appears as characterized by a low-prestige. But paradoxically, it remains used, to some extent, even by leaders and assimilated (politicians, popular performers, students, etc.). Therefore, how can we explain the gap between the poor image of this variety and its use by the upper-class? Based on lexicon and morphological manipulations of Kindubile, this paper explores through a various range of materials (songs, interviews, children’s forged new names) the way this slang works. It points out different social functions it plays in the society. For street children, it fulfills all classic functions well known for a slang (identity marker, anti-language, secret language, cohesion among members, etc.). But leaders use kindubile in order to reduce the gap between them and the people. Politicians, performers try to prove they walk together with the people even with the marginalized group. In addition, they account on those kids for the advertisement of their achievements. Finally, students, often protesters in Africa, see in Kindubile an opportunity to rethink the established social order.
Argwings Otieno
Pwani University, Kenya
Sheng as a Language of Instruction for Technical and Vocational Training in Kenya: Prospects and Challenges
There has been increased emphasis on technical and vocational training in Kenya over the recent years. This has been occasioned by, among other reasons, the desire to achieve Vision 2030 in which science and technology is a major pillar, and the need to cater for the large number of school leavers not able to continue in the ‘mainstream’ education system. The government of Kenya has therefore embarked on revamping the quantity and quality of technical and vocational training institutions in the country. Funds have been allocated to new infrastructure in these institutions. There, however, is an aspect of this training that needs to be addressed: the language of instruction. It can be argued that, for most of the learners joining these institutions, English is not their language of day-to-day interaction. Therefore, their competence in this language, which is used for instruction in tertiary education, is less than average. These potential ‘fundis’ also do not expect to use the language after their training to practice their trades. Instead, Kiswahili and Sheng, widely spoken by the youth in Kenya, are most likely their preferred languages of communication during and after training. The learners’ competence in the language of instruction is a major determinant of the achievement of desirable learning outcomes. This paper therefore intends to argue for the adoption of Sheng as one of the languages of instruction for technical and vocational training in Kenya. This will not only make the learning environment friendly for the learners, but also enable them contribute actively in the learning process in the language they know best.
Nico Nassenstein
University of Cologne, Germany
Translanguaging in Swahili-Based Youth Language Practices
Swahili-based youth language practices such as Sheng (Nairobi, Kenya) and Lugha ya Mitaani (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) are well documented and have been analyzed in terms of language contact strategies, identity concepts and manipulations. Various scholars have provided more general overviews of African youth language practices (Kießling & Mous 2004, Nassenstein & Hollington 2015), and other un(der)documented Swahili-based youth languages have more recently been described and taken into consideration, such as Kindubile (Lubumbashi, Southeastern DR Congo), Yabacrâne (Goma, Eastern DR Congo), and Coasti Slang (spoken by the so-called ‘beach boys’ at the Kenyan coast). Concepts such as code-switching and borrowing as deliberate means of modification, variation and contact have been among the core elements in the endeavor to describe youths’ creative communicative practices in Africa. However, they are currently being critically assessed, extended and to some extent also replaced by other sociolinguistic approaches. The concept of ‘translanguaging’ as introduced by García & Wei (2014) addresses many important issues including the focus on meaning making processes and speakers’ agency, speakers’ language ideologies, the multimodality of communication and the fluidity of linguistic practices. Translanguaging, one conceptual approach among others such as metrolingualism (Otsuji & Pennycook 2010) or polylanguaging (Jørgensen 2008), however, appears to be the most general and most-encompassing of these terms since it helps to deconstruct the idea of language as a fixed and demarcated system and due to the fact that it is neither restricted to specific spaces, topics, domains nor limited groups of speakers. García & Wei (2014: 2) define ‘translanguaging’ as an approach “that considers the language practices of bilinguals not as two autonomous language systems as has been traditionally the case, but as one linguistic repertoire with features that have been societally constructed as belonging to two separate languages”. In this case, the focus lies on the fluid nature and dynamicity of ‘languaging’, especially as is the case in the present examples among young urban language users in African metropolises. The paper aims to analyze translanguaging practices in the above-mentioned youth language practices that are based on Kiswahili and whose speakers use, embed and play with multilingual resources. The translingual strategies will be primarily discussed by taking Sheng data, Lugha ya Mitaani data as well as recorded conversations among speakers of Yabacrâne (recorded during field research in Goma in 2014) into account. Moreover, the paper aims at providing a first general overview of Swahili-based youth language practices and their sociolinguistic background.
Charles Bwenge
University of Florida, Florida
Linguistic Culture and the Discourse of Advertising- The Case of Coca & Mobile Phone Ads in Dar es Salaam
This study explores the intersection pertaining to a society’s language policy, linguistic culture, and resultant communicative practices with particular focus on the discourse of advertising in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Viewed as languages and varieties of languages spoken in a given speech community, how they are used and what members of the community think about them and their related actual uses and dynamics, linguistic culture is a phenomenon that commercial advertisers accord a significant consideration. Urban Africa with its remarkable linguistic complexities and Dar es Salaam, the largest and most populous Swahili-speaking city in the world, in this regard, presents an insightful site for exploring this intersection. The 1970s Swahilization project strongly shaped linguistic culture of ujamaa Tanzania as its effects continue to influence the one of globalizing Tanzania today. The discourse of advertising is a remarkable testimony to this dynamic. In this presentation, therefore, key concepts and their relationships including language policy, linguistic culture, linguistic resource, and discourse of advertising are elaborated. Followed by a brief history of Tanzanian language policies and linguistic cultural dynamics. Finally, a representative data collected over a period of 10 years (2005-2015) in the city of Dar es Salaam regarding advertisement of two of the most popular global products, Coca-Cola and a mobile phone, is presented, analyzed and discussed in view of observed linguistic cultural dynamics.
Pendo S. Malangwa
University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Features of Translation in Kiswahili Usage: A Study of English Features in Kiswhaili Social Media Interactions
Any developing language is influenced positively or negatively by the so called developed languages. The developed languages are hereby assumed to be spoken in the developed countries due to the fact that they are used to communicate new innovations and discoveries, which are then translated into the developing languages which are spoken in developing countries. In that regard, English is one of the developed languages while Kiswahili is among the developing languages. Despite the emphasis to translate naturally in the target languages, there are evidences of foreign structures (i.e. English features) in the Kiswahili used in social media. This article sets out to discuss translation features in the interactions observed in different social media including whatsApp interactions, blogs and online social forums. The data is drawn from whatsApp groups, michuzi blogspot and Jamii Forum which are then analyzed through back translation. The features included syntactic, morphological, phonological and lexical features.
Samuel M. Obuchi
Moi University, Kenya
Sheng’: A New Language Variety in the Business Discourse in Kenya?
This paper examines the Sheng’ language that the youth community uses in the business discourses in Kenya. The paper interrogates this code as a linguistic reality that has, seemingly, permeated all the sectors of the Kenyan economy, especially the business discourse. In Kenya, Sheng’ is, evidently, a fluid code which changes rapidly and draws her vocabulary largely from the language of the catchment area. This author explicates the motivating factors that lead the youth to code-mix in the business discourse. In order to examine the code-mixing scenario in the business discourse, the author relies on audio-taped interactions involving youth partners as they engaged each other in the trade discourse. The author adopts the data collection of actual transactional encounters in four major towns, that is, Nairobi (Gikomba market), Mombasa (Kongowea market), Eldoret (West Market) and Kisumu (Kibuye market). The four open-air markets are purposively selected because of their multi-cultural composition, their dynamic nature and their overt use of Sheng’. This author will record those interactions that were transactional in nature. The author accounts for the youths’ language use that is replete with mixed codes and a variety of discourse topics that are mutually ratified. In this light, Sheng’ is examined as a language phenomenon that occurs in a multilingual context as evidenced in the business discourses where the youth have more than one language in which to interact thus, reaping from their rich linguistic repertoire.
Owino Anthoney Oloo
Kibabii University, Kenya
K.S. Inyani
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya
John Habwe
University of Nairobi, Kenya
An Evaluation of Swahilihub as an Online Digital Platform in Enhancing the Use of African Languages: The Case of Kiswahili in East Africa
Emerging issues influence language use over time, Kiswahili included. Various technology platforms among them swahilihub, have been developed to address this. However, in spite of the centrality of swahilihub in enhancing Kiswahili language use, not many stakeholders of Swahili have embraced this digital platform. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of swahilihub in enhancing Kiswahili language use professionally. The study more specifically set out to investigate aspects of swahilihub that enhance the Kiswahili language; discuss the various efforts at integrating Kiswahili language into various websites; find out the challenges that the users of swahilihub encountered in using swahilihub in enhancing Kiswahili professionally. The study was guided by the Critical Thinking Curriculum Model and the diffusion and innovation theory. The model uses a multidisciplinary approach that integrates computer technology with effective language learning and development practices. The target population of this study will involve swahilihub managers, lecturers and students of Kiswahili in universities in East Africa. The researcher used 315 respondents from swahilihub and six universities in Kenya and Tanzania. Simple random sampling and stratification was used to select a representative sample. The study adopted a descriptive survey design in conducting field work. Questionnaires, observation guide, interview schedule and document analysis were used in data collection. Data analysis was done both qualitatively and quantitatively by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Based on the findings of the study, appropriate recommendations were made to improve the use of swahilihub in enhancing the use of Kiswahili as an online digital platform.
Dianna Moodley
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
African languages going nowhere slowly at a ’bilingual’ university in South Africa
This paper situates itself amidst increasing tensions about multilingual policy implementation in higher education in South Africa. As a result of revised education legislations that has been amended to synchronize with the country’s new democratic constitution, many universities have been forced to undergo a rather complex alteration in their language policies. Most recent language policy encourages institutions to develop strategies to promote bi/multilingualism, elevating the use of previously marginalized languages.
The University of KwaZulu-Nala (UKZN) is one of the largest multicultural contact universities in the country, much more demographically representative than any other South African university- with a predominantly Black African student constituency. Its deliberate move to revamp language policy in line with latest education initiatives has resulted in the implementation of a bi/multilingualism policy for education. Now that the policy is in place, actual implementation seems to be hampered by encumbrances within the institution. This paper pursues a trajectory of latest developments regarding the University’s language policy since its implementation in 2006. It specifically offers a descriptive analysis of the perceptions and attitudes of UKZN’s constituents (staff and students) towards the policy. The paper provides results from a two-pronged qualitative study conducted amongst staff and students at UKZN. The results answer one imperative questions; How successful is the new language policy? It reveals that the answers lie in the measure of its users’ attitudes toward it and their acceptance of it (Baker, 1988; Lewis, 1981).
Eddy Oketch
Peace for African and Economic Development (PAD)
Language and Economic Liberations in Africa: The Use and Disuse of Sheng’ as a Tool for Economic Liberation Among Youth in Kenya
In most post-colonial sub-Saharan African Countries, youth have experienced structural economic deprivation, political marginalization and socio-cultural alienation due to language evolution in a post-colonial era. Particularly, the current language modes of belong of youth across the sub-Sahara shows a swath of growth of slang languages against established national languages during the colonial times. This has been fundamentally eminent in urban areas, especially among youth in informal and low-income settlements. Examples across the sub-Sahara can be seen lived in practice when we cast our eyes on brokin or pidgin in Lagos Nigeria, Tsotsitaal in Johannesburg, Uglish in Kampala Uganda, Camfranglais in Yaoundé Cameroon, Gwans in Harare Zimbabwe and Nouchi in Abidjan Ivory Coast. Leading anthropologists such as John and Jean Comaroff have intimated that common language among youth populations in developing countries influences identity, political and socio-economic liberation. The emerging popular youth culture and slang language in Kenya presents a case where such common language has become a critical social institution among the disenfranchised youth that further drifts them away from emancipation opportunities. This paper attempts to study the use and the disuse of Sheng’ (a colloquial of Swahili and English) among the Nairobi city youth and how it relates to their socio-economic liberation or deprivation. The paper assesses how Sheng curtails or enhances the opportunities and abilities of integration of Nairobian youth in leadership and governance, labor market and socio-cultural strata of the larger society. It therefore makes it possible to rethink the modes of belonging of urban youth in Kenya, particularly Nairobi, in order to influence the nexus between policy (in both private and public sector) and language to ensure inclusion of youth in political and socio-economic development.