| Description |
1 online resource (1 volume) : illustrations (black and white) |
| Contents |
1 Sheng as Kenyan Swahili. Folk theories of Sheng -- Dialects and vernaculars -- 'Urban youth languages' -- Is Sheng a pidgin or a creole? -- Kinubi: a creole language of Kenya -- Other African creoles: Snago, Lingala and Nigerian Pidgin English -- Swahili as a macrolanguage -- So, what is Sheng? -- 'Kenyanese': a continuum of speech codes -- 2 An overview of language in Kenya: power vs solidarity. Swahili and nationalism -- Language and state identity: Kenya vs Tanzania -- The policy of language in education -- 3 Nairobi: a linguistic mosaic and crucible of Sheng. The colonial city -- The sociolinguistic context -- Attitudes towards Sheng and other languages -- Vernacular Swahilis -- The experiment -- Teenage attitudes towards languages -- Adult attitudes towards Sheng and Kenayn Swahili -- Observations -- Summary -- 4 'Kenyan Swahili': complex and multifaceted. Grammatical features of Kenyan Swahili -- Analogical change -- Habitual tense -anga -- Rule extension: plural suffix -ni -- Diminutive ka- and augmentative ki- -- Phonology -- enye relative pronoun -- Noun classification -- Locatives -ni and -ko -- Contact influences on Kenyan Swahili -- Dholuo -- Gikuyu -- Gikuyu slang in Sheng -- 5 Features of Sheng. Phonological innovations -- Lexical borrowing -- Meaning shift -- Polysemy -- Synonymy -- Transpositions (Pig Latin) -- Sheng verbs -- Narratives of local experience -- Analysis of Sheng narratives -- Grammar in Sheng narratives -- Content of Sheng narratives -- Summary -- 6 Expanded domains and global influences. The Nairobian newspaper -- Sheng in social media -- GoSheng -- Sheng and the jua kali economy -- Sheng and corporate advertising -- Sheng in rural areas and schools -- Sheng and the diaspora (majuu): transatlantic influences -- Sheng in reggae -- Jamaicanisms in Sheng -- (Ma- )Babi -- 'Big Up' -- 7 Sheng in practice. 'Kuna Sheng' lyrics by Jua Cali -- Ghetto Radio FM: 'the official Sheng station' -- Bonoko Deh -- Shujaaz -- 8 Conclusion: the rise of a Swahili vernacular. The Sheng generation -- Language attitudes -- Sheng in education and the question of vernacular instruction -- Is Sheng the real McCoy? -- Appendix: The Nairobian, 'Landlord Anakunyima Hao' |
| Summary |
African multilingualism is changing the languages and identities of urban communities, and indeed entire nations. Sheng, a non-standard variety of Kenyan Swahili closely associated with Nairobi's low-income urban youth, reflects the dynamics of rapid, on-going urbanisation processes taking place in Africa. It is a product of the language dynamics of Nairobi city specifically, and more broadly of Kenya, within the context of a distinctively stratified, multilingual society in search of a modern identity. Sheng has gained a position as one of the many varieties of Swahili; it is the product of a specific linguistic ecology in which Swahili language continues to evolve and change. Research shows that it is recognised by both speakers and those in the wider speech community as a distinctive language variety used mainly, but not exclusively, by the younger generation. Sheng is linked to transnational African diaspora influences and global black culture, especially through social media, hip hop and reggae music. It has also entered mainstream domains of language use in the Kenyan media, as well as political and corporate advertising. It can be seen to be changing from a restricted, in-group and covert youth language into a vernacular of wider communication in Nairobi and beyond. Sheng is a language phenomenon that has a bearing on Kenya's national identity and its sociolinguistic future |
| Analysis |
Ethnolinguistic Diversity |
|
Kenyan Swahili Vernacular |
|
Language Asymmetry |
|
Language of Education |
|
Multilingualism |
|
Nairobi |
|
Sheng |
|
Urban Variety |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Swahili language -- Dialects
|
|
Sociolinguistics -- Kenya
|
|
HISTORY -- Africa -- General.
|
|
Sociolinguistics
|
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Swahili language -- Dialects
|
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Kenya
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9781787443754 |
|
1787443752 |
|
9781787443778 |
|
1787443779 |
|
