Language attitudes and their implications for language planning in Kenya
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Date
2002
Authors
Musau, Paul M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Thepaper investigates the attitudes that Kenyans have towards Kiswahili and English, two languages
that have official status in Kenya. It draws its data from letters to the editors of two popular Kenyan
dailies, Daily Nation and Taifa Leo. The paper shows that those who argue for Kiswahili do so,
principally for patriotic reasons. Kiswahili is seen as a 'neutral' language that is well suited tofoster
national unity, regional integration, pride and cultural identity. On the other hand, arguments that are
infavour of English are mainly utilitarian or functional in nature. English is seen as an important
language for international communication, accessing science and technology, and a language of
prestige without which it is impossible to climb the social ladder.
The main conclusion that is drawn in the paper is that although the two languages appear to be
incompetition, their roles are complementary. What is required is a language policy that defines the
roleof each language. It is suggested that such a policy will maintain English while expanding the
functional roles of Kiswahili in government administration and education
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Citation
Chemchemi Vol.2, No.1 2002