C. M. Terni


Michael Wairunugu Entered 2007 mgw4r@virginia.edu
Linguistic Anthropology Regional focus: Kenya Topical interests: Sheng as an Anti-Language, Teaching of Swahili as a Foreign Language. My project focuses on ways in which Sheng is continuously being used as an anti-language among various group-affiliations in major towns in Kenya. Sheng is a code which has its grammar based on Swahili, while it's vocabulary is mainly borrowed from English alongside other vernacular languages such as Kikuyu, Luyia, and Luo. The rise of Sheng has mainly been attributed to code switching and code mixing among teenagers residing in the middle class estates in Nairobi in the early 70's. Just like other anti-languages, Sheng is used in a very secretive, highly coded, and all but incomprehensible manner to the outsiders, resulting in the creation and reinforcement of solidarity amongst their users. Though Sheng has been very popular among the youth living in the middle-class estates in major towns in Kenya, its use among criminals and people in the fringe of the society has been reported in the recent past. This way, Sheng qualifies to be studied as an Anti-language. Swahili Projects: http://swahililanguage.stanford.edu/ http://faculty.virginia.edu/swahililanguage/Listening.html

Michael Wairunugu

Entered 2007
mgw4r@virginia.edu

Linguistic Anthropology

Regional focus: Kenya

Topical interests: Sheng as an Anti-Language, Teaching of Swahili as a Foreign Language.

My project focuses on ways in which Sheng is continuously being used as an anti-language among various group-affiliations in major towns in Kenya.

Sheng is a code which has its grammar based on Swahili, while it's vocabulary is mainly borrowed from English alongside other vernacular languages such as Kikuyu, Luyia, and Luo. The rise of Sheng has mainly been attributed to code switching and code mixing among teenagers residing in the middle class estates in Nairobi in the early 70's. Just like other anti-languages, Sheng is used in a very secretive, highly coded, and all but incomprehensible manner to the outsiders, resulting in the creation and reinforcement of solidarity amongst their users.

Though Sheng has been very popular among the youth living in the middle-class estates in major towns in Kenya, its use among criminals and people in the fringe of the society has been reported in the recent past. This way, Sheng qualifies to be studied as an Anti-language.

Swahili Projects: