Semantic Shift in the Kenyan Prison Argot

Ogutu Peter Okoth

doi:10.11648/j.cls.20190501.15

Abstract

Prison argot is a language variety with great creativity manifested in its semantic richness. This variety of language has received the attention of many scholars in the western countries in different periods of time. Despite prison being a rich semantic vessel, prison lingo has not received the proper attention of linguists in Africa. The end result is that very few linguistic conclusions have been reached regarding this variety of language in Kenya. The main aim of this paper is to examine the semantic shift in the Kenyan prison argot based on the lexical pragmatic framework. The paper provides an overview of this subject matter by analyzing the various types of semantic shifts through definitions and example of the argot terms affected. The processes involved in the case of semantic change include lexical narrowing and lexical broadening with some of its varieties namely; metaphoric extensions and hyperbole. The study was carried out at Kibos and Kisumu maximum-security prisons in Kisumu County, Kenya. Forty respondents were selected to participate in the study. In lexical broadening, standard Swahili words were found to have been given additional meaning in the prison context. In lexical narrowing, the semantic meaning of some Swahili words were found to have been narrowed. The paper established that the inmates change the meaning of words in the prisons so as to hide secretes from the prisons officers.

Highlights

Prisoners behind the walls are not imprisoned by any rules regarding language, other than the fundamental properties of language as such [1]
From Bloomfield’s work, this article highlights some semantic changes that occur in the Kenyan prison lingo, out of which we find two major ones: lexical narrowing and lexical broadening
This study focuses on the two main types of semantic changes in which lexical broadening occurs in different ways

Summary

Introduction

Prisoners behind the walls are not imprisoned by any rules regarding language, other than the fundamental properties of language as such [1]. The prisoners can, make changes in their language as they wish. They distort the meaning of words from standard languages, this is under the domain of semantic shift. Semantic shift has been one of the notions in the foreground of linguistic research. Looking at the dynamic nature of language, change is always pervading and ever-present [2]. Ullman (1977) explains that the idea of semantic change was introduced into linguistics by Sapir who observed that “...every word, every grammatical element...is slowly changing configuration molded by the invisible and impersonal drift that is the life of a language” [43]. Keith & Shuttleworth (2000) confirm this by pointing out that language must change in order for it to remain alive [3]

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