Meru Dialects: The Linguistic Evidence
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Date
2011
Authors
Kanana, Fridah E.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nordic Association of African Studies
Abstract
This paper seeks to describe some linguistic features of six dialects of the so-called Meru
group. All the six are found on a geographical continuum and they are mutually intelligible.
The argument in this paper is that the linguistic features, e.g. phonological, morphological and
lexical systems of dialects, are largely responsible for reduced degrees of intelligibility.
Dialect clusters within a given geographical area exhibit common phonological characteristics
for that particular cluster. Besides this sharing of phonological characteristics, there exist
features that are peculiar to individual dialects. That is, there are idiosyncratic features
inherent in a given dialect that set it off from the other dialects in the same cluster. The
existences of these peculiar features, therefore, enable us to draw dialect boundaries from a
phonological point of view. Morphological features as well as lexical differences that are
unique to one dialect also provide a firm basis for drawing linguistic boundaries. The total of
these diversities in unity constitute a language continuum. The dialects maintain individual
characteristics, though some may seem simple, to set them off from one another.
Description
Research article
Keywords
Dialectology, Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon.
Citation
Nordic Journal of African Studies, 20(4): 300–327pg.,2011