Morphosyntactic Retention and Innovation in Sheng, a Youth Language or Stylect of Kenya
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Date
2024-06
Authors
Gibson, Hannah
Chege, John Githiora
Erastus, Fridah Kanana
Marten, Lutz
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
Abstract
This paper examines the morphosyntax of the East African Swahili-based
urban youth language or stylect Sheng. Research on urban youth languages
has often focused on these varieties as sites of rapid change and linguistic
creativity. However, we show that many of the structural features which
appear to make Sheng stand out when compared to (Standard) Swahili are
widespread across East African Bantu languages. We examine nominal and
verbal domains, as well as clausal syntax, and highlight areas in which
Sheng exhibits features in common with its contact languages, as well as
features which appear to reflect instances of independent innovation. The
study shows that Sheng is not a “simplified” version of Swahili which
deviates from the grammar of Swahili in a range of ad hoc ways. Rather, the
language exhibits features of retention and contact-induced borrowing, as
well as systematic changes which are reflective of variation across the Bantu
languages
Description
Article
Keywords
language contact, youth languages, morphosyntax, Sheng, Swahili
Citation
Gibson, H., Githiora, C., Kanana Erastus, F., & Marten, L. (2022). Morphosyntactic retention and innovation in Sheng: an urban youth language of Kenya. Studies in Language.