The Morphosyntactic Structure of the Noun and Verb Phrases in Dholuo/Kiswahili Code Switching

Jael Anyango Ojanga ,Furaha Chai ,James Mutiti

doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.2p.30

Jael Anyango Ojanga , Furaha Chai + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.2p.30

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Abstract

Code switching, the use of any two or more languages or dialects interchangeably in a single communication context, is a common linguistic practice owing to the trend of multilingualism in the world today. In many situations of language in contact, constituents of one language can be found within the constituents of another language in a number of linguistic phenomenon namely lexical borrowing, transferring, interference, code switching and diffusion (Annamalai, 1989). Codeswitching is one of the linguistic phenomenon claimed to be the most prevalent and common mode of interaction among multilingual speakers. Brock and Eastman (1971) suggest that topic discussed influences the choice of the language. Nouns and verbs have been found to be the most code switched elements in bilingual exchange. The study took a qualitative approach with the descriptive research design. It was guided by the Matrix Language Frame Model which was formulated by Myers-Scotton in1993. This model expounds on the realization and structure of the major word classes as used in code switching. Data was collected in Nyangeta Zone, Winam Division of Kisumu East District. Winam Division is mostly inhabited by elite Dholuo L1 speakers. A sample of twenty four teachers was purposively selected to provide data needed for the study. Focus group discussion was used to collect a corpus of Dholuo/Kiswahili data which was recorded through audio taping. The recorded data was then analyzed morphosyntactaically using the Matrix Language Frame Model. The data revealed that the noun and verb phrases were realized under three categories: Matrix Language Island constituent (ML Island) ML+EL and Embedded Language Island (EL Island. Keywords : Code switching, multilingualism, morphosyntactic

Highlights

An intriguing aspect of language contact is to consider what happens to the structure of the word classes of language when their speakers are bilingual and their speech brings two or more languages into contact
Evidence attested in our corpus of Dhuluo/Kiswahili code switching shows that noun phrases are realized at virtually all the three constituents (ML Islands, Embedded language (EL) Islands and matrix language (ML)+EL Constituents) though with varying constraints
This study set to out to analyse the morphosyntactic structures of noun and verb phrases in Dholuo/Kiswahili code switching and to determine the extent to which the MLF model is adequate in the analysis of such data

Summary

Introduction

An intriguing aspect of language contact is to consider what happens to the structure of the word classes of language when their speakers are bilingual and their speech brings two or more languages into contact. More than eight centuries ago, the Luo people occupied the area that lies in present day eastern Bar-el-Ghazal, South Sudan. The Luo are a River- Lake Nilotic speaking community who had moved from Southern Sudan through Uganda to their present territory on the Eastern shores of Lake Victoria (Ochieng’1979). The Luos are neighbours to the Bantu language speakers, the Luhyas (Samia, Banyala, Marachi, Banyore, and Maragoli) and the Nandi to the North, the Kipsigis to the East, the Gusii and Kuria (both Bantu) to the South East of Kenya and the Shirati and Waswa (Bantus) people to the Northern Tanzania. Recent estimates put the speakers of Swahili to be between 50 and 70 million people, the great majority of whom are bilinguals, using Swahili as a second language alongside other African languages (Campbell 1991)

Morphosyntactic structures of code switched elements

ML Island Constituents

EL Island Constituents

Conclusion