An attempt to a diglossic analysis of swahili spoken in Bukavu with focus on lexicon

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

DEDICATION ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

ABBREVIATIONS LIST iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

CHAPTER 0. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 3

0.1. Background to the study 3

0.2. Problem statement 3

0.3. Research questions 3

0.4. Hypotheses 3

0.5. Methodology 4

0.6. Scope of the study 4

0.7. Significance of the study 4

Chapter 1 REVIEW OF THE RELEVANT LITERATURE ON DIGLOSSIA 5

1.1.Introduction 5

1.2 Ferguson's description of diglossia. 5

1.2.1. Function. 5

1.2.2. Prestige 7

1.2.3. Literary heritage 7

1.2.4. Acquisition 7

1.2.5. Standardization 8

1.2.6. Stability 9

1.2.7. Grammar 9

1.2.8. Lexicon 9

1.2.9. Phonology 10

1.2.Ferguson's complete definition of diglossia 11

1.4. Summary 12

ENDNOTES 13

Chapter 2. METHHODOLOGY 14

2.1. Introduction 14

2.2. Collection of data 14

2.3. Types of methods 14

2.3.1. Observation 14

2.3.2. Interview 15

2.3.3. Documentation 15

2.4. Presentation of data 15

2.5. Summary 19

Chapter 3. DIGLOSSIC ANALYSIS OF LEXICAL FEATURES IN SWAHILI SPOKEN IN BUKAVU 21

3.1. Introduction 21

3.2. Nouns 21

3.2.1. Noun classificators 21

2.2.2. Noun analysis 24

3.3. Adjectives. 26

3.3.1. Qualifying adjectives 26

3.3.2. Indefinite adjectives 27

3.4. Pronouns 28

3 .4.1. Relative pronouns. 28

3.5. Verbs 30

3.6. Adverbs 32

3.6.1. Manner adverbs 32

3.6.2. Time adverbs 32

3.6.3. Negation adverbs 32

3.7. Prepositions 33

3.8. Conjunctions. 33

3.9. Interjections 34

3.10. Summary 35

Chapter 4: DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS FROM THE DIGLOSSIC ANALYSIS OF THE DATA 36

4.1. Introduction 36

4.2. Development of diglossia in Swahili spoken in Bukavu. 36

4.2.1. Borrowings 36

4.2.2. Neologisms 37

4.2.3. B.S. semantic transformation 37

4.3. Some communication problems between B.S. and S speakers. 38

4.3.1 B.S. speaker to S speaker 38

4.3.2. S speaker to B.S. speaker 38

4.4. Summary 40

GENERAL CONCLUSION 41

APPENDIX: List of informants 42

REFERENCES 44

CHAPTER 0. GENERAL INTRODUCTION

0.1. Background to the study

Diglossia extols that two markedly divergent varieties, each with its own set of social functions, coexist as standards throughout a community (Crystal: 1989).This characterizes a lot of multilingual communities throughout the world.

The city of Bukavu is multilingual (see Goyvaerts, et al.1983:57).Among the various languages that are spoken in Bukavu, Swahili is the most outstanding lingua franca; it serves for communication by the greatest number of people whose main languages are different. For the sake of language evolution, Swahili spoken in Bukavu displays two linguistic varieties of which one is high and the other low. Crystal (1989:43) says:»Diglossic situations are widespread (...).These speech communities recognize the H/L distinction and have separate names for the two varieties.»In accordance with this statement, I will look at the high variety in Swahili spoken in Bukavu as «Sarufi» (or S) and at the low variety of the same language as «Bukavu Swahili» (or B.S. for short).