Morphosyntactic Retention and Innovation in Sheng, a Youth Language or Stylect of Kenya

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dc.contributor.authorGibson, Hannah
dc.contributor.authorChege, John Githiora
dc.contributor.authorErastus, Fridah Kanana
dc.contributor.authorMarten, Lutz
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-05T06:13:45Z
dc.date.available2024-07-05T06:13:45Z
dc.date.issued2024-06
dc.descriptionArticleen_US
dc.description.abstractThis 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 languagesen_US
dc.identifier.citationGibson, H., Githiora, C., Kanana Erastus, F., & Marten, L. (2022). Morphosyntactic retention and innovation in Sheng: an urban youth language of Kenya. Studies in Language.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/sl.22017.gib
dc.identifier.urihttps://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/28415
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUNIVERSITY OF ESSEXen_US
dc.subjectlanguage contacten_US
dc.subjectyouth languagesen_US
dc.subjectmorphosyntaxen_US
dc.subjectShengen_US
dc.subjectSwahilien_US
dc.titleMorphosyntactic Retention and Innovation in Sheng, a Youth Language or Stylect of Kenyaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
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