Browsing by Author "Kebeya, Hilda"

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    Inter- and intra-sentential switching: are they really comparable?
    (2013) Kebeya, Hilda
    Kenya is an African country where English and Swahili serve as the official languages. In addition, there are over forty two indigenous languages spoken in the country, usually as ‘home’ languages. Some of these ethnic languages are Luo, Gikuyu, Kalenjin, Luyia, Maasai, Kamba, Giriama, Gusii and Pokot. Generally, this paper sought to determine the code switching patterns during Luo/Luyia and Luo /Gusii contact. We found out that both inter- and intra-sentential switching were present in the two language contact situations. The paper also explored conceptual issues relating to intra-sentential switching and found out that there were various challenges analysts faced when trying to determine the Matrix and Embedded languages of code switched utterances. Unlike in the case of inter-sentential switching, certain issues affecting intra-sentential switching are shrouded in controversy. Therefore, this study concluded that inter- and intra- sentential switching are not really comparable
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    Language and Cross-Cultural Communication: Lexical Variation among Initiated and Uninitiated Tugen Speakers
    (Chemchemi International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2016) Kiprop, Philip; Kebeya, Hilda
    Different societies have different rules/norms governing communication. What works in one society may fail to work in another. This scenario raises a host of fundamental questions: What happens when individuals from different cultural groups interact? Is there is a possibility that miscommunication may occur in the course of communication? If so what is the nature of miscommunication and how does it affect social relations of individuals or groups? In what ways can miscommunication be minimized during intercultural communication? This paper explores cross cultural communication within an African context. Specifically the paper seeks to unearth the lexical variations that exist in the language of two cultural groups in Baringo County, Kenya. Two cohorts of Tugen speakers (the initiated and uninitiated) form the sample of this study. Tugen is a dialect of the Kalenjin language. In order to graduate into adulthood Tugens have to undergo a traditional form of circumcision. During circumcision, the initiates are taught a new register, which serves to distinguish them from the uninitiated members of the community. This paper therefore investigates the speech of initiated and uninitiated speakers of Tugen and unearths a number of lexical items that vary. After interviewing 80 purposively sampled subjects the paper established the existence of systematic variation in lexical items from two cultural groups in Tugen. It is apparent from the results presented here that a better understanding of a group’s culture enriches the understanding of cross cultural communication. Therefore, knowledge of existing variations in Tugen and other languages/dialects minimizes incidences of miscommunication. Since effects of miscommunication are often very costly, it is therefore important that more studies be conducted in this area. The world has become a global village and cross cultural communication is a now a daily engagement for many of us who live in the modern world.
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    Types of Cohesive Devices in the Written Texts of Learners of English in Selected Secondary Schools in West Pokot County, Kenya
    (CEDRED, 2025-06) Odari, Geoffrey; Kebeya, Hilda
    This paper examines written texts from 40 form four secondary school students in West Pokot County with a view to determining the types of cohesive devices used. Written texts can only be meaningful when they are coherent. To achieve coherence, writers must select the most appropriate cohesive devices. Despite the significant effort made by teachers of English in equipping learners with a variety of cohesive tools, many students still struggle to apply the knowledge learnt in the classroom in their written work. Consequently, written texts from many learners of English lack coherence hence, a need for targeted educational interventions. Using stratified random sampling, the study sampled 40 Form Four students from four different school clusters, namely national, extra-county, county, and sub-county schools. Data collection involved essay writing to assess students' knowledge and application of cohesive devices. Halliday and Hasan's (1976) Model of Cohesion provided the theoretical background for this study. The model categorizes grammatical coherence into four major classes: Reference, Substitution, Ellipsis, and Conjunction. This article focuses on Conjunctions. There are four types of conjunctions namely, Additive, Adversative, Causal and Temporal. Additive Conjunctions are sub-categorized into 5 typologies (Simple, Complex Emphatic, Complex De-Emphatic, Appositional and Comparison). This study sought to find out to what extent these five types of additive conjunctions are used in the written texts of form four students in West Pokot County. Our results demonstrate that only one type of additive (Simple) is popular with students from the four school clusters (i.e. national, extra-county, county, and sub-county). The other four advanced types of Additive Conjunctions are rarely used by students in West Pokot County, probably because they lack mastery in them. We recommend that teachers and curriculum developers should put more emphasis on these four types of additive conjunctions, when it comes to the teaching of cohesive devices. This will aid in making students’ written texts more coherent thus enhancing their communication skills in the English language