盛语中的流变机制与词汇变体：
群体内和群体外心理的影响
P. I. 伊利伯姆旺吉 尼古拉斯·马坎吉
摘 要：近年来盛语的流变机制与词汇变体已成为学者广泛关注和讨论的话题。在盛语中，多个词语代指同一事物、人物、过程或情况的现象极为普遍，而这些代指同一事物、人物、情况的不同词语处在不断变化中。本文主要探讨盛语中的词汇为何在使用很短一段时间后就会发生变化，分析盛语词汇的变异性与流变性。本文的语料来源于随机抽样的访谈。访谈来自不同地区的盛语青年使用者，记录他们使用的词语。此外，具有特殊意义的词汇来源于现有盛语出版物。本文运用社会身份认同理论来分析盛语词汇变体和流变机制的原因，特别是使用者的群体内和群体外心理。通过剖析由访谈以及出版物中收集而来的资料，本研究将有助于揭示盛语词汇变体的原因，丰富关于盛语的现有研究，也可以帮助盛语学习者更好地理解其流变机制，从而减少学习过程中的困扰。本研究显示，由于保密、隐私以及不安全性、犯罪等原因，盛语的确存在词汇变体。
关键词：词汇学；词汇变体；群体内；群体外；盛语
1 Introduction
Fluidity is the changeability or fluctuation of something. In this paper, fluidity is used to referto the state of being unsettled or unstable. Therefore, the fluidity of Sheng refers to the state of the language being unstable, unsettled and readily changing in a short time. The lexicon as it will be seen and discussed in this paper varies with time. The trend continues every day without a clearly documented reason for the variations. This paper will explain in detail the evident variations and explain the reasons for the variation exhibited in the usage of Sheng. To achieve this goal, the research will include some content from academic literature and primary data drawn from interviews. The data gathered will be used to show the fluidity in Sheng and the interviews and the data presented will assist the conclusions concerning the reasons for the evident fluidity.
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2 Theoretical frameworks
As mentioned above, this paper will be guided by the social identity theory (SIT) in bringing out the reasons for lexical variations and fluidity in Sheng. This theory is deemed useful as it explains the behavior of a social group. It also gives the reasons for the behavior of individuals in a group that arises from a certain group mentality. Ultimately, SIT is one of the theories used in investigating a certain behavior among members of a specific group. Social identity theory was proposed in social psychology by Tajfel and his colleagues (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Social identity explains that people’s self-concepts are based on a certain social group membership. Examples of these social groups include sports teams, religions, nationalities, occupations, sexual orientations, ethnic groups and gender. Social identity theory is used to explain how social identities affect people’s attitudes and behaviors regarding their in-group and out-group. The social identities become even more influential when certain individuals consider membership in a particular group to be central and vital to their self-concept. Such individuals feel strong emotional ties to a particular social group. Their association with a certain specific social group accords their self-esteem, which helps to sustain their social identity.
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3 Methodology
Githinji (2006a, 2006b) has discussed extensively the issue of variations in Sheng. What is lacking is a full focus on the reasons that cause the variations. In his research, Githinji discusses the origin of Sheng in reference to what is told by other researchers. This paper’s focus is mainly on the reasons for the lexical variation. What is unique to this paper is the idea that the paper explains how in-group and out-group mentality of the Sheng users can be a major contributing factor towards their frequent change of the lexicons used in communication. To satisfy this approach, the research focuses on the youth in various parts of Nairobi the capital city of Kenya, where the previous researchers including earlier ones like Abdulaziz & Osinde (1997) attribute the origin of Sheng. The youths are interviewed by random sampling and the words used to refer to the specific items in question noted. The data obtained from these interviews is what is then used to come up with the distinct reason for the lexical variations witnessed in the Sheng language.
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4 Sheng’s diachronic compositions
Sheng consists of words borrowed from Kiswahili, English and many other indigenous languages. Such languages include Kikuyu, Dholuo, Luhya and Kamba (Githiora, 2002; Ogechi, 2005; Githinji, 2006a; Githinji, 2008). On top of these four, other indigenous languages include Kalenjin, Kisii, Meru, Mijikenda, Masai (Iribemwangi, 2020). The vocabularies of these different languages are mixed by the Sheng speakers to come up with their own Sheng specific words. Initially, Sheng’s vocabulary was composed of real words from a myriad of languages. For instance, one was said to speak Sheng when using words from different languages in the same sentence. For example, (1) Ninaenda school In example (1) above, the first word is a Kiswahili word (Ninaenda) meaning I am going. School is an English word to indicate the place where the speaker is going. In such a case, the language used here was said to be Sheng. However, this situation has gradually changed. There came another phase of different word formation in Sheng including sentence constructions where words from one language (LA) were mixed with words from the second language (LB) to form words, phrases or even sentences. Different from what was witnessed in example (1), the words were truncated and their sections were picked to join other sections of the second language involved in the word formation. For example, (2) Ninacome, atabring, tutafix In example (2), the Sheng words are composed of two parts. The first part of the word is Kiswahili, i.e. nina (I am), ata (he/she will), tuta (we will). The second part is composed of English words, i.e. come, bring, fix. Through this type of word formation Sheng accrued its vocabulary defining another step into its “independence”.
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5 The origin of the Sheng language
Mazrui (1995) attempts to explain the emergence and development of Sheng. Mazrui states that Sheng may have emerged as early as the 1930s. Mazrui relies on an autobiographical prose work written by Karanja (1993) about his life in prison in which Karanja comments that in the early 1930s when he was a petty thief, they often used a hybrid code to communicate in the underworld. The code had many Kiswahili and English words, though the matrix language was Kiswahili. It is through such theories that this paper attempts to explain the reasons behind the fluidity since in the prison set-up, the concerned parties wanted to hide information and confine it to their in-group while locking it from the out-group since their actions and intentions were deemed illegal.
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6 Current state of Sheng
Sheng is no longer a language of the youth only (Wanjala, 2019). It’s used by many people in Kenya to the extent that it cannot be confined to the youth and evil gangs who want to conceal their plans and strategies. This can be explained by the fact that currently some people use Sheng as their vernacular (Githiora, 2018). The youth of the 1980s are now adults. It would be unrealistic to opine that they no longer remember or use Sheng (Iribemwangi, 2020). Githinji (2003) states that there are a number of people who use Sheng unconsciously while denying its knowledge or use. These, the 1980s youth, have (knowingly or unknowingly) been using Sheng to their offsprings and in some cases their grandchildren. Regular visits to rural areas have led to the spread of Sheng to the rest of the country (Iribemwangi, 2020). This has given the rural youth a feeling of having the same identity as the urban youth (Kaviti, 2016).
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7 Sheng as a language and an in-group
According to Osinde (1986), Sheng first developed in the eastern parts of Nairobi. This area, usually referred to as Eastlands, comprises approximately 25 distinct estates. Eastlands falls into two residential areas distinguished by social class differences. One area consists of Jerichoa, Dandora and Majengo which are regarded as slum areas, and the second consists of Buruburu, Kimathi, and Donholm, whose dwellers belong more or less to the middle class. The major factor in this categorization or placement is purely a socioeconomic one. Those in slum areas often exist below the poverty line. All the ethnic groups in Kenya have some representation in Eastlands. The common languages used in these areas for day-to-day interaction are Kiswahili and English, though Kiswahili has a larger number of proficient speakers and is more widely used as a language of socialization and commercial interaction. It should be noted that there is a high incidence of ethnic language use in Eastlands. However, the use of Kiswahili and English as lingua francas facilitates interethnic communication. There are also cases of interethnic language use in Eastlands. According to Osinde (1986), Sheng is said to have originated in Kaloleni estate in the Eastlands of Nairobi and then to have spread out to other areas of Eastlands and finally to other parts of the city. Currently, different varieties of Sheng are spoken not only in other parts of the city of Nairobi but also in other urban centers in Kenya.
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8 Examples of lexical variations in Sheng over time
9 Reasons for fluidity and lexical variations in Sheng
Throughout the interviews with different respondents, why Sheng is their preferred mode of communication was asked. A follow-up question on why the lexicon is fluid and in constant variation was also posed to have a first-hand view of this phenomenon. Some of the clear-cut answers were that fluidity and variation are significant for privacy, secrecy and for gang or squad communications and coding. These reasons are discussed below.
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10 Conclusion
Lexical variations and fluidity are not in any way new concepts. In fact, many languages, with the advent of inventions and technological advancements, undergo new word formations as interactions with diverse technologies, inventions, languages, and culture continue. Besides, it’s human nature to feel boredom necessitated by repetitive use of the same thing. The same to language and its lexicons, language users find it boring to use the same words over time. This makes them opt to invent some more or different words that can be used to refer to the same thing or situation which they already had a word for. When such occasions present themselves, new words are formed causing a lexical shift from one word to the other. The desire to be unique in the individual idiosyncrasies is a factor that also leads to formation of words that can be preferred against the initial terms.
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版权说明
本文作者P. I. 伊利伯姆旺吉，肯尼亚内罗毕大学斯瓦希里语系教授兼系主任；研究领域为语音学、语用学、交流学和社会语言学；尼古拉斯·马坎吉，大学辅导员；研究领域为语言学和社会语言学。本文发表于《非洲语言文化研究（第五辑）》。
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