Investigating linguistic accommodation between two Luyia dialects: Logooli and Lwitakho

Abstract

This sociolinguistic study investigates, analyzes and explains Linguistic accomondation between speakers from two closely related dialects of one Kenyan Languages, Luyia, The dialects are logooli and Lwitakho. The study is guided by two broad questions: How do speakers from on edialect linguistically accommodate to their listerners from the other dialect? and , why do speakers accommodate to their listerners in the way they do?

A definition of the study is laid out in chapter one together with a general introduction on the luyia language and its speakers. Chapter two is a critical review of relevant literature while in chapter three the methodological approach of the study is provided. In chapter four, various phonological features in the two dialects are compared and the most salient features discussed leading to the establishment of several linguistic variables. We further, explore the effects of speech convergence on given linguistic variants and then formulate prolnological rules to explain the changes affecting these variants.

In chapter five, various linguistic variables involved in the accommodation process are quantified and then correlated to the speaker variables of age, dialect and sex. We also attempt explanations to speakers' convergence to and divergence from their listerners' speech. An examination and description of listeners' perception of speakers' convergence and divergence is also provided.

In chapter six are the summary and conclusions of the study. From the analyses undertekn female respondents are observed to linguistically converge more than the male ones. The study further establishes that the older speakers from both dialects linguistically diverge more than the younger ones. It is found that various phonological segments in the two dialects are modified in different ways whenever speakers converge to their listeners' speech. These modifications can be generalised into phonological rules.

The study also established that speakers from the two dialects converged or diverged for a number of reasons. Speakers converged for the following reasons: when they desired to communicate effectively; when they desired social approval and integration from their listeners; when they desired social approval and integration from their listeners; when they needed financial assistance and so on. Speech divergence, on the other hand, was employed when speakers wanted to dissociate themselves from their listeners so as to show disapproval of them, or to identify with their dialect group. We further found out that speakers' convergence or divergence could be perceived favourably or unfavourably depending on the factors that were attributed to that linguistic behaviour. It was also found that the tenets of the Speech Accommodation Theory adequately explain linguistic accommodation between the two dialects of the Luyia group.