Linguistic Borrowing In A Language Contact Situation: The Case Of Igikuria And English In Migori County, Kenya.

ABSTRACT

English language influences other languages thus enriching their vocabularies. Igikuria is no exception to this statement. The study identified some of the nominals that Igikuria has borrowed from English and analyzed them by age and gender of the respondents; it also examined how the nominals borrowed from English have been adapted into the morphological system of Igikuria and established some of the sociolinguistic reasons behind Igikuria borrowing nominals from English. The study was based on two theories: The Borrowing Transfer Theory as propounded by Terrence Odlin (1989), demonstrates that when languages come into contact, transfer or diffusion of elements from one language into another occurs. The Wave Theory by Lions (2002), demonstrates that linguistic changes tend to spread from the Centre, normally from economic, political or cultural influence to the area with no or little influence in those aspects. The study was carried out in Ntimaru west ward, Kuria East sub – county in Migori County in Kenya. Primary data was collected using: native speaker’s intuition, Semi-structured questionnaires and interview schedule. The data was based on ten semantic fields i.e. religion, science and technology, clothing, administration, transport, business, household items, education, medicine and food. This is because these domains represent those components of language that are dynamic. The respondents were purposefully sampled based on their levels of education. The collected data was transcribed and analyzed using the stated theories. A total of 186 nominals that Igikuria has borrowed from English were identified by the researcher and verified by respondents of an advanced age. Incidences of borrowing were examined by age and gender. Their morphological adaptations into the system of Igikuria were also examined and some of the sociolinguistic reasons for borrowing nominals from English into Igikuria were also established. The result was presented in tables and charts with their frequencies. Frequencies of occurrences of these borrowed nominals were compiled in regard to semantic fields, data source, gender and age of respondents. The results were presented in tables and figures. The findings of this study revealed that Igikuria has borrowed nominals in dissimilar semantic fields to fill the lexical gap in the language, prestige and for stylistic reasons. Borrowed nominals are incorporated into the Igikuria morphological system thus enriching vocabularies in Igikuria.