Investigating Language Death

ISBN-13: 9783838300207 / Angielski / Miękka / 2010 / 436 str.

Peter Karanja

Opis

This study is an investigation of the sociolinguisticstatus of Kiamu and Kimvita dialects of Kiswahililanguage in Kenya. The assumption is that thedialects are threatened with death due to variousfactors such as the onslaught of Kiswahili, Sheng,and English. The position held is that it would notbe desirable for the dialects die because they arevital linguistic, historical and socio-culturalreservoirs of the Swahili Speech Community.Kiswahili is a lingua franca in Eastern and CentralAfrica and is spoken by over 80 million people and isthe national Language of Kenya and Tanzania. Ithas over 15 dialects including the standardKiswahili. It is also one of the official languagesof the African Union. Kiswahili experts rely heavilyon Kiswahili dialects for its development ofterminology. At the same time, given that dialectsare "sub-cultures" of the language family theybelong, the development of Kiswahili cannot becomplete without the development of its dialects.Their vitality is, therefore, crucial. Yet, using alanguage attitude and use survey; individual andfocus group interviews; and participant observations,this study reveals that the dialects are threatened.

O autorze

Karanja, Peter
Dr. Peter Ndichu Karanja (B.Ed, M.A., PhD)Currently Lecturer,Department of Linguistics, Languages, andLiterature at Maseno University, Kenya.Other Books: "Misingi ya Sarufi ya Kiswahili" (Foundations ofSwahili linguistics.