PROF. IRIBE MWANGI, HSC

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Kikuyu, Kiembu and Kimbeere are Bantu languages spoken in the Southern Mount Kenya region. Although they are classified as different languages, they are mutually intelligible. However, these languages have minor structural differences at the phonological and morphological levels but these do not imply the existence of different languages. This chapter will focus primarily on phonological differences and similarities and from this analysis build a case for the harmonization of the sound systems of the three codes. Kikuyu is the largest of the three codes, with at least five linguistically discernable dialects, namely Kindia, Gigichugu, Kimathira, the Southern and Northern dialects. This chapter proposes the establishment of harmonization of the codes at the sound level and a harmonized phoneme matrix for the three codes. In order to do this, it will be necessary to explore the various phonemes evident in each of them. The thesis of this chapter is that the three codes emanate from a single proto-language and that the phonological differences that are apparent are due to sound changes. Consequently, the various sounds differentiating words are not very different in terms of articulation.

This handbook has deliberately opted to use Standard Kiswahili because this is the dialect that has largely given Kiswahili international status (the language is taught in most major world Universities) and which is bound to take it to greater heights. Standard Kiswahili is the dialect that is taught in schools and colleges and is used in formal trade and official circles. As stated by Chimerah (2000) Standard Kiswahili is the mainstream Kiswahili. This handbook holds the view that Kiswahili is a Bantu language. Greenberg (1966) states that the African region has four main language families namely: Niger-Kordofanian, Nile-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic and Khoisan. Under Niger-Kordofanian there is the Benue-Congo sub-family from which Bantu languages emanate. One of the major distinctions of the Bantu languages is that their noun-class systems portray concordial agreement. Kiswahili is a mobilizing tool that is spoken in the East African Coast from Brava all the way to Mozambique. Encarta Africana [Ms Encyclopedia (2005)] remarks that this coastal strip measures about 2,000 miles (approximately 3,200KM).Kiswahili has its place now and in the future. In the year 2003, for example, Kiswahili was declared as one of the working languages of the African Union. It has also been adopted as a language for the East African Community by the Heads of State Summit of member countries.

Iago ameapa kulipiza kisasi dhidi ya Othello kwa kuivuruga ndoa ya Othello na Desdemona. Njia pekee ya kufanikisha azma yake ni kumghilibu Othello kwa kumdanganya kuwa mkewe ni mwasherati. Je, Iago atafaulu katika azimio hili? Je, Othello atazikubali hila za Iago? Endapo atashawishika, atamchukulia hatua gani Desdemona? Haya ni kati ya maswali anayoyajibu William Shakespeare katika tamthilia hii ya tanzia, ingawa inaburudisha, inafunza na ambayo imekaidi mpito wa wakati. Tafsiri hii imefanywa kwa ufundi mkubwa hivi kwamba ule mvuto na mnato wa kazi asilia umedumishwa.

Standard Kiswahili has borrowed various lexical items from many diverse languages. As a result of this borrowing, Standard Kiswahili is at times (erroneously) seen as an admixture language born out of mixing different languages. The purpose of this paper is to show that while Standard Kiswahili has borrowed just like many other languages have, the loan words undergo various adaptation processes that give them a fundamentally Kiswahili and Bantu structure (Iribemwangi 2012). In the adaptation, various strategies are applied and these include substitution, insertion and deletion of both consonants and vowels. These strategies do not just lead to nativization of borrowed lexicon but they do also lead to the realization of the preferred syllable structure. Although Standard Kiswahili has largely maintained its syllable structure, nonetheless, it has had to accede to a few new structures. Using the P-rules and, to a lesser extent, the MP-rules as espoused in Natural Generative Phonology, this paper shows that any rules and structures in a language remain the only rules and structures to the extent that no new rules and processes have entered a language at a given time. Otherwise, the rules of any language are very dynamic and are perpetually prone to change as is exemplified using Standard Kiswahili data.

Kiswahili is not classified as a harmonic language. However, this paper argues that the language exhibits some harmonic tendencies in so far as vowels are concerned. Consequently, the paper discusses vowel harmony as evident in Standard Kiswahili. The paper applies a segmental and a suprasegmental theory. The discussion proves that vowel harmony in Standard Kiswahili is both a segmental and a suprasegmental property. The two theories used are the natural generative phonological theory and autosegmental phonological theory. The corpus used is drawn from verbs and demonstratives.

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In the communities where it is practiced, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a valued cultural practice. It is justified using many and varied reasons, some cultural, others religious, some attitudinal and yet others psychological. The operation is performed in many different ways and in varying degrees of severity for different purposes. However, research has shown that the practice has many negative effects on girls and women. The effects are both long and short term. Such effects are mostly health related but they also fall under education, economic and political fields. It is these effects that directly make FGM an issue of human rights concern. FGM contradicts many of the principles laid down in the international instruments of human rights. To reduce its prevalence, one medium, language, is of utmost importance. So, in any strategy geared towards reducing the practice, language plays an integral part. Our thesis is that it is language that would determine the success or failure of any advocacy strategy against FGM. Use language that is unfamiliar to the people, could reduce the effectiveness of messages directed at changing people’s perceptions, attitudes and appreciation of the practice on the one hand. On the other hand, use of a language that people understand easily could result into positive reception of the message and perhaps change in worldview and attitudes toward the practice.

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