Linguistic Borrowing and Language Vitality in Lubukusu
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Date
2013-04-19
Authors
Furaha, Marissa Muandike
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Abstract
This study is an analysis of cultural lexical borrowing of nominals in Lubukusu from
English, their morphological assimilation into the language and the resultant vitality of
Lubukusu. Its objectives were: to identify the cultural lexical nominals that Lubukusu has
borrowed from English; to examine how the cultural lexical nominals borrowed from
English have been adapted into the morphological system of Lubukusu and to establish
the vitality of Lubukusu as a result of these borrowings. Two theories guided this study:
the Borrowing Transfer Theory as propounded by Terrence Odlin (1989) which
demonstrates that when languages come into contact, transfer or diffusion of material
from one language to another takes place, and The Ethnolinguistic Vitality Theory as
advanced by Giles et al (1977), which highlights three indicators of a language's vitality:
demography, status and institutional support. This theory aids this study in establishing
the vitality of Lubukusu as a result of borrowing cultural lexical nominals from English.
Primary data was collected by use of semi structured interviews with twenty four
Lubukusu-English bilinguals who are native speakers of Lubukusu- these were tape
recorded; and tape recording of radio broadcasts in Lubukusu from local FM radio
stations. Secondary data was collected from written literature in Lubukusu namely the
Bukusu bible and the Bukusu-English dictionary. Recorded data was transcribed and then
analyzed together with the written data using the stated theories. A total of 157 cultural
lexical borrowed nominals were identified and classified into nine semantic fields. Their
morphological assimilation into Lubukusu and the resultant vitality of the language were
also examined. Frequencies of occurrence of these borrowed nominals were compiled in
regard to semantic fields, data source, gender and age of respondents using SPSS version
17. The results were presented in tables and figures. The findings of the study revealed
that Lubukusu has borrowed cultural lexical nominals in different semantic fields and
these are assimilated into the Lubukusu morphological system hence increasing its
expressive power.
Description
Department of English & Linguistics, 97p. The P 121 .M83 2011
Keywords
Linguistics