Trilingual Codeswitching in Kenya – Evidence from Ekegusii, Kiswahili, English and Sheng Dissertation zur Erlangung der Würde des Doktors der Philosophie der Universität Hamburg vorgelegt von Nathan Oyori Ogechi aus Kenia Hamburg 2002 ii 1. Gutachterin: Prof. Dr. Mechthild Reh 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Ludwig Gerhardt Datum der Disputation: 15. November 2002 iii Acknowledgement I am indebted to many people for their support and encouragement. It is not possible to mention all by name. However, it would be remiss of me not to name some of them because their support was too conspicuous. I am bereft of words with which to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Mechthild Reh for accepting to supervise my research and her selflessness that enabled me secure further funding at the expiry of my one-year scholarship. Her thoroughness and meticulous supervision kept me on toes. I am also indebted to Prof. Dr. Ludwig Gerhardt for reading my error-ridden draft. I appreciate the support I received from everybody at the Afrika-Abteilung, Universität Hamburg, namely Dr. Roland Kießling, Theda Schumann, Dr. Jutta Becher, Christiane Simon, Christine Pawlitzky and the institute librarian, Frau Carmen Geisenheyner. Professors Myers-Scotton, Kamwangamalu, Clyne and Auer generously sent me reading materials whenever I needed them. Thank you Dr. Irmi Hanak at Afrikanistik, Vienna, Ndugu Abdulatif Abdalla of Leipzig and Bi. Sauda Samson of Hamburg. I thank the DAAD for initially funding my stay in Deutschland. Professors Miehe and Khamis of Bayreuth must be thanked for their selfless support. I appreciate the kind support I received from the Akademisches Auslandsamt, University of Hamburg. I must thank Kennedy Bota for being there to advise. May God bless Richard and Duncan Omwenga for their generosity. My colleagues Adoyo Oracha and Oviedo Rafael also deserve mention. Thank you Prof. Kembo-Sure of Moi University and Bob Mbori Western University College, Kakamega for polishing my Ekegusii variety of English while Jack Okwiri of Moi University Press meticulously did the layout of this work. Finally, I thank my family for their support. iv List of Abbreviations ADJ Adjektive ROK Republic of Kenya ALM Abstract level model S Singular APP Applied form SH Sheng CA Conversational analysis SLA Second language CAUS Causative acquisition CL Noun class SPN Spanish COMP Complementiser STAB Stabilizer COND Conditional SUB Subject CONS Consecutive SUBJ Subjunctive CP Projection of the REC Reciprocal Complementiser SVO Subject-verb-object CS Codeswitching TA Tense-aspect DA Discourse Analysis TLA Tertiary language DET Determiner acquisition DM Discourse marker V Verb EACE East African certificate of education EK Ekegusii EL Embedded language EN English F Focus FV Final vowel IND Indicative INF Infinitive INT Interrogative HAB Habitual tense KCE Kenya certificate of education KS Kiswahili ML Matrix language MLF Matrix language frame MLP Matrix language principle N Noun NEG Negative NONPS Nonpast tense NP Noun phrase OBJ Object PASS Passive PL Plural PRF Perfect tense PRS Present tense PST Past tense v List of Tables 1. Characteristics of the informants 18 2. The conversations 20 3. List of Proto-Bantu noun class prefixes 55 4. List of noun classes in Ekegusii 56 5. List of noun classes in Kiswahili 57 6. Illustration of Kiswahili and Ekegusii locative noun prefix(es) 58 7. Inflectional positions on a Kiswahili verb 63 8. Pasts in Ekegusii 65 9. Reduplication in Ekegusii and Kiswahili 66 10. Summary of Kiswahili and Sheng similarities and differences 75 11. Summary of all conversations 77 12. Omw CPs summary 84 13. Mat CPs summary 85 14. Mnom CPs summary 86 15. Gir CPs summary 87 16. Caro CPs summary 87 17. Rash CPs summary 88 18. Mar CPs summary 88 19. Lim CPs summary 89 20. Kem CPs summary 90 21. CP patterns in bilingual CS 91 22. Trilingual CS CP patterns 92 23. Monolingual CPs summary 92 24. Trilingual CS patterns 94 25. Patterns of Trilingual CPs excluding Sheng 95 26. Trilingual CS patterns with Sheng 113 27. Patterns of single nouns in bilingual CPs 124 28. Distribution of single verb insertions in bilingual CPs 137 29. Distribution of adjective insertions 141 30. Distribution of single adverb insertions 145 31. Distribution of pronoun insertions 148 32. Switching in NPs 151 33. Distribution of adverbial phrase insertions 154 34. Distribution of verbal phrases in bilingual CPs 158 35. Distribution of prepositional phrases in bilingual CPs 162 36. Distribution of composite ML CPs 165 vi List of Figures 1. Levels of speech production 46 2. Classification of morphemes and their accession 49 3. Production process diagram: Lemma activation 52 vii Abstract The present study attempted to determine the matrix language (ML) and the speech processes in trilingual codeswitching (CS) involving Ekegusii, Kiswahili, English and Sheng in Kenya. It was hypothesised that: 1) Trilingual participants who share a first language and speak the same second and third languages can produce both trilingual and bilingual CS CPs whose ML can be L1, L2 or L3. 2) There is a tendency for composite bilingual and trilingual CS due to the impact of the L1 in structuring L2 and L3. 3) The complexities of speech processing and congruence matching between the switched morphemes and their equivalents in the participating codes makes overt trilingual CS CPs negligible. The hypotheses were tested on 520 CS CPs recorded during 330 minutes of naturally occurring CS speech. Of these CS CPs, 18 were trilingual CS CPs compared to 502 bilingual CS CPs. These data were analysed using Myers- Scotton's Matrix Language Frame model. The investigation revealed unique ML patterns in CS from Africa in general and Kenya in particular. For instance, it came out that it was not always that Ekegusii as the interactants' L1 was the ML; rather, Kiswahili and English were in some instances the ML. This was attributed to the effect of language policy in Kenya's system of education where English is the language of instruction while Kiswahili is a taught and examined subject since 1984. Thus instances of Kiswahili ML were only seen in the trilingual CS of those participants who were taught and examined in the Kiswahili subject at primary and secondary school levels. The study also realised five unique patterns of composite CS. First, there were trilingual CS CPs with surface morphemes from Ekegusii-Kiswahili-English and a corresponding trilingual ML. Then, there were four patterns of bilingual composite CS CPs. The study concluded that the minuscule number of trilingual CS could be attributed to the complexities involved in processing a CP with three codes. A codeswitched morpheme in one code only surfaces after competing with equivalents from other codes. The higher the number of morpheme counterparts the less the number of CS CPs. Thus in trilingual CS a switched morpheme competes for selection with equivalents from two other participating codes. viii Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii List of Abbreviations iv List of Tables v List of Figures vi Abstract vii Table of Contents viii Chapter One: Introduction 1 1.1 Background and the problem 1 1.2 Significance of the study 10 1.3 Objectives of the study 13 1.4 Hypothesis of the study 14 1.5 Methodology 15 Chapter Two: Literature review and theoretical framework 22 2.1 Literature review 22 2.1.1 The evolution of the concept of the matrix language in code switching 23 2.1.2 The free morpheme constraint 25 2.1.3 The equivalence constraint 28 2.1.4 Kamwangamalu’s matrix language Principle 32 2.1.5 The discourse level matrix language 36 2.1.6 Trilingual codeswitching 37 2.2 Theoretical framework 40 2.2.1 The compliment phrase 42 2.2.2 The matrix language vs. the embedded language distinction 42 2.2.3 The content morpheme vs. system morpheme distinction 43 2.2.4 The three likely constituents 49 2.2.5 Matrix language frame model principles 50 Chapter Three: Some Characteristics of the Codes Studied and the Data 53 3.1 Ekegusii, Kiswahili and English 53 3.2 Word and morpheme order 59 3.2.1 Noun Phrases 60 3.2.2 Verbal Phrase 63 3.2.3 Reduplication 66 3.3 Sheng 67 3.3.1 Word order in sentences 68 3.3.2 Word order in phrases 70 3.3.3 Concord 71 xi 3.4 The data 76 3.4.1 The conversations 76 3.4.2 Summary of the switched material 91 Chapter Four: Analysis of Trilingual Codeswitched Data 94 4.1 Patterns of trilingual codeswitching 94 4.2 Trilingual CS between Ekegusii Kiswahili and English 95 4.2.1 Ekegusii-Kiswahili-English codeswitching 96 4.2.2 English-Ekegusii-Kiswahili codeswichting 110 4.3 Trilingual codeswitching with Sheng 112 4.3.1 Ekegusii-English-Sheng 113 4.3.2 Ekegusii-Kiswahili-Sheng 114 4.3.3 Kiswahili- English- Sheng 115 Chapter Five: Analysis of Bilingual Codeswitched Data 124 5.1 Single word switches 124 5.1.1 Nouns 124 5.1.2 Verbs 137 5.1.3 Adjectives 140 5.1.4 Adverbs 145 5.1.5 Pronouns 148 5.1.6 Complimentiser 150 5.2 Multiword switches 150 5.2.1 Noun Phrases 151 5.2.2. Adverbial phrases 154 5.2.3 Verbal phrases 158 5.2.4 Prepositional phrases 162 Chapter Six: Composite Matrix Language and Convergence 164 6.1 Abstract level model and the composite matrix language 164 6.2 Composite matrix language 165 6.2.1 Trilingual composite codeswitching 166 6.2.2 Composite Ekegusii and Kiswahili Codeswitching 168 6.2.3 Kiswahili and English composite matrix language 169 6.2.4 Ekegusii and English composite matrix language 172 6.2.5 Kiswahili and English surface morphemes with an Ekegusii ML 175 6.3 Convergence 178 Chapter Seven: Concluding Remarks 185 Bibliography 191 APPENDIX 1 Questionnaire for Biographic Data of the Code-switching Participants 207 - 1 - Introduction Chapter One Introduction The present study is an attempt to morphosyntactically analyse trilingual codeswitching (CS) involving Ekegusii, Kiswahili, English and Sheng in Kenya.