Department of Humanities and Languanges
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://localhost:4000/handle/20.500.12092/1754
Browse
2 results
Search Results
Item Assessment of Language Shift among the Youth in Nairobi County, Kenya(Karatina University, 2019-09) Kimani, Rosemary WamaithaLanguage shift among multilingual societies is an issue of global concern. Kenya, a multilingual society, is gradually losing her indigenous languages especially among the youth in towns and cities. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent of language shift among the youth in Nairobi County. The study was guided by the following objectives: to explore the domains in which the youth in Nairobi County use their ethnic languages; to establish the attitude the youth in Nairobi County have towards ethnic languages; to assess the influence of the gender variable on language shift among the youth in Nairobi County; and to determine the effect of ethnicity on language shift among the youth in Nairobi County. The study was based on the Domain Theory. The study employed the ex-post facto research design. The study targeted students and language teachers in public day secondary schools in Nairobi County. Simple random sampling was used to select the schools and the students to be studied. Ninety eight (98) students and seven language teachers participated in the study. Questionnaires were used as the tools of data collection. Descriptive statistics in form of frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation were used to analyse findings. Chi-square tests were conducted to establish the relationships between gender, attitude and ethnicity and the use of mother tongue in social and formal domains. The study found that the youth use their mother tongue sparingly and in very limited contexts such as at home or when their parents visit their schools. Students had negative attitudes towards mother tongue as they did not find it very useful. The study found that there was a significant relationship (χ2=18.143, p<0.05) between gender and the language used by students in communication with friends of the same sex. The findings also show that there was a significant relationship (χ2 =13.144, p<0.005) between gender and the language used at school. However, there was no significant relationship between ethnicity and any of the indicators of language shift. The study concludes that although majority of youth are conversant with their mother tongue, the extent to which the youth use mother tongue in social and formal domains is very low. The findings of the study would inform linguists on the current trend of indigenous languages in Kenyan urban centres and cities. The findings would also inform both the policy makers and curriculum developers on the challenges threatening the survival of the indigenous languages.Item A Cognitive Semantics Analysis of Selected Ekegusii Pop Songs(Karatina University, 2019) Ondara, Ntabo VictorPop songs convey social messages in different perspectives. Studies on pop songs reveal that composers employ metaphors to express their subjective feelings. The meaning of the metaphors in Ekegusii pop songs need to be interpreted to understand the message of the composers.The purpose of the study was to undertake a cognitive semantics analysis of Ekegusii pop songs. The study was guided by the following research objectives: to identify the metaphors in the Ekegusii pop songs using the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit; to analyse the metaphors in the Ekegusii pop songs using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory; and to determine the influence of the demographic variable of sex in the conceptualization of the metaphors in Ekegusii pop songs. The Conceptual Metaphor Theory was employed to map the metaphors in the Ekegusii pop songs into different corresponding conceptual mappings.The study employed the mixed methods research design. The target population was the Ekegusii speakers. An interview was conducted among the 36 participantsselected based on sex. The Ekegusii pop songs were purposively sampled using the criterion of richness in metaphoricity. The qualititative data were analysed thematically by classifying the identified metaphors into four conceptual domains using the principle of Great Chain of Being metaphor. Four annotators, including the researcher, collected 54 Metaphor Related Words basedon the criterion adapted from the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit. The identified metaphors were translated into English and presented in a table which containedthe metaphor value and the level of the metaphor in the principle of Great Chain of Being Metaphor. Three lexical units were marked as Discard From Metaphor Analysis. The study further classified the Metaphor Related Words as direct, indirect and possible personifications. The quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences in which Chi square at a significance level of 0.05 was employed to test the statistical relationship between sex and metaphoric conceptualization. The study found that sex significantly influences the conceptualization of the conceptual domains of: A HUMAN BEING IS A HUMAN BEING, A HUMAN BEING IS AN ANIMAL and A HUMAN BEING/EDUCATION IS AN OBJECT. However, Chi square test analysis showed insignificant association between sex and the conceptual domain ofA HUMAN BEING/EDUCATION IS A PLANT in the negative metaphor value.The research concludes that metaphor is a useful cognitive tool of conceptualizing human beings and the concept of education in Ekegusii pop songs. The study recommends that language researchers should employ the Metaphor Identification Procedure Vrije Universiteit in metaphor studies.The findings of the study will benefit the audience of the Ekegusii pop songs, ethnographers and metaphor theorists to conceptualize Ekegusii pop songs and culture.