The University of Dodoma University of Dodoma Institutional Repository http://repository.udom.ac.tz

Humanities Master Dissertations

2017 Analysis of youths’ slang in the Makunduchi dialect: a case of south district of Unguja

Ali, Bakari Mohammed

The Univesity of Dodoma

Ali, B. M. (2017). Analysis of youths’ slang in the Makunduchi dialect: a case of south district of Unguja. Dodoma: The University of Dodoma http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12661/466 Downloaded from UDOM Institutional Repository at The University of Dodoma, an open access institutional repository. ANALYSIS OF YOUTHS’ SLANG IN THE MAKUNDUCHI

DIALECT: A CASE OF SOUTH DISTRICT OF UNGUJA

BAKARI MOHAMMED ALI

MASTER OF ARTS IN LINGUISTICS

THE UNIVERSITY OF DODOMA

OCTOBER, 2017 ANALYSIS OF YOUTHS’ SLANG IN THE MAKUNDUCHI

DIALECT: A CASE OF SOUTH DISTRICT OF UNGUJA

By

Bakari Mohammed Ali

A Dissertation Submitted in a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

of Master of Arts in Linguistics of the University of Dodoma

The University of Dodoma

October, 2017 CERTIFICATION

The undersigned certifies that he has read and hereby recommends for acceptance by the University of Dodoma, a dissertation entitled “Analysis of Youths’ Slang in the

Makunduchi Dialect: A Case of South District of Unguja,” in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistic of the University of

Dodoma.

……………………………………

Dr. John Misana Biseko

(SUPPERVISOR)

Date………………...... ……

i DECLARATION

AND

COPYRIGHT

I, Bakari Mohammed Ali, declare that this dissertation is my own original work and that it has not been submitted and will not be submitted to any other university for a similar or any other degree award.

Signature…………………………………..

No part of this dissertation may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author or the University of Dodoma.

ii DEDICATION

This is a special dedication to my beloved wife (Pavu Massoud Bakar) and children

(Mohammed Bakari Mohammed and Ummukulthoum Bakari Mohammed).

iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I understand that the accomplishment of this study has come from the contribution of many people. It is apparent that it is impossible to mention them all by names in this very limited space, but I feel obliged to single out some of them.

First and foremost, I would like to express my earnest thanks to Allah (S.W) the almighty whose blessings and mercies gave me power and courage to complete this study. I am grateful to my beloved parents, Mohammed Ali Khatib (my father) and

Maryam Hassan Miraji (my mother) who brought me up and educated from standard one to this level. I am also indebted to my entire siblings, especially Mr. Kassim

Mohammed Ali who supported me both spiritually and materially during the whole period of my course. Moreover, I am deeply grateful to Pavu Massoud Bakar (my dear wife), Mohammed and Ummukulthoum my beloved children for their patience.

I also thank the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of Zanzibar for a permit to join the course. Indeed, I would never forget my headmaster, Mr. Mussa

Kinole Mussa, as well as my colleagues at work for their tolerance and prayers. In addition to that, I would like to thank the staff of the Department of Foreign

Languages Literature of the University of Dodoma for admitting me for post graduate studies.

Special thanks and appreciation to Dr. J. M. Biseko, for his glorious supervision as well as invaluable advice to me throughout the whole period of this study. I, really, appreciate all his constructive comments and guidance which helped me to complete this thesis.

iv Furthermore, my heartfelt appreciation to fellow MA students in the Department of

Foreign Languages and Literature of the University of Dodoma whom we shared ideas and helped each other tirelessly in making sure that each one fulfills his or her dream. My gratitude also goes to all professors and doctors for their contribution in and out of my programme that ultimately led to my success. I will never forget all my primary and secondary teachers as well as my age and class mates in all stages whom I greatly enjoyed their warm cooperation both socially and academically.

May Allah bless them all!

My appreciation also goes to my close friends, Massoud Machano and Omar

Abdalla who opened all doors, acted as my guides and gave me a great support during a very hard period of writing this dissertation. To you all, I say thank you so much and may God bless you forever.

Finally, I would like to state that all errors are, of course, entirely mine and I, alone is responsible for them.

v ABSTRACT

The study analyzed the use of slang among youth speakers of the Makunduchi

Dialect in the South District of Unguja. It, specifically, examined the morphosyntactic features of the slang used by the youth of the Makunduchi Swahili

Dialect. It analysed the reasons for youth‟s use of slang and, finally, described the attitudes of the Makunduchi society towards the use of slang. The study employed qualitative approach to obtain the data from 94 informants who were sampled through simple random sampling technique. Data were collected through non participant observation, focus group discussion, Semi-structured interviews and questionnaire survey. The analysis of the collected data revealed that the morphosyntactic features of the youths‟ slang are exhibited in the nouns, phrases and sentences. Furthermore, the study revealed that the prevalence of slang among youths is influenced by the need for social identity and solidarity, excluding others and the need to simplify communication. Analysis of the gathered data also revealed that there are three different perspectives about the use of slangs in the study area; a large group of people view it as an ordinary scenario without any morally and spiritual effect. The second group argues that it is a good use of language which should be encouraged because they contribute much to the expansion of language.

The last group, which of course consists of a few people, believes that the use of slangs destroys the dialect and may be the source of misbehaviors.

vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATION ...... i DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT ...... ii DEDICATION ...... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... iv ABSTRACT ...... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... vii LIST OF TABLES ...... x LIST OF FIGURE ...... xi LIST OF APPENDICES ...... xii LIST OF ABRRIVIATION ...... xiii

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ..... 1 1.1 Introduction ...... 1 1.2 Background to the Problem ...... 1 1.3 Statement of the Problem ...... 5 1.4 Research Objective...... 6 1.4.1 Specific Objectives...... 6 1.5 Research Questions ...... 6 1.6 Significant of the Study ...... 6 1.7 Scope of the Study ...... 7 1.8 Chapter Summary...... 7

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 9 2.1 Introduction ...... 9 2.2 Theoretical Framework ...... 9 2.3 Literature Review ...... 12 2.3.1 The Term Slang ...... 12 2.3.2 Reasons that Encourage Youths to use Slangs ...... 14 2.3.3 Attitude of the Society towards the Use of Slang ...... 20 2.3.4 Empirical Literature Review ...... 22 2.4 Synthesis of the Literature and Knowledge Gap...... 23 vii CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...... 24 3.1 Introduction ...... 24 3.2 Research Design ...... 24 3.3 Research Approach ...... 24 3.4 Area of the Study ...... 25 3.5 Population, Sample Size and Sampling Techniques ...... 27 3.6 Types of Data and Collection Methods ...... 29 3.6.1 Nonparticipant Observation ...... 29 3.6.2 Questionnaire Survey ...... 30 3.6.3 Semi-structured Interviews ...... 31 3.6.4 Focus Group Discussion ...... 31 3.7 Data Analysis ...... 32 3.7.1 Analysis of Data Collected through Nonparticipant Observation...... 32 3.7.2 Analysis of Data Collected from Questionnaire ...... 32 3.7.3 Analysis of Data Collected from Semi-structured Interviews ...... 33 3.8 Chapter Summary...... 33

CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH FINDINGS ...... 34 4.1 Introduction ...... 34 4.2 Morpho-syntactic Features in the Slang of Makunduchi Dialect...... 34 4.2.1 Morphosyntactic Features at the Word Level ...... 35 4.2.1.1 Morpho-syntactic Features of Slang Nouns in Makunduchi Dialect ...... 35 4.2.1.2 The Morphosyntactic Features of Verbs ...... 40 4.2.2 Morpho-syntactic Features at the Phrase Level ...... 43 4.2.2.1 Morpho-syntactic Features in the Noun Phrases ...... 43 4.2.2.2 Morpho-syntactic Features at the Verb Phrase ...... 45 4.2.3 Morpho-syntactic Features at the Sentence Level ...... 47 4.2.3.1 Morpho-syntactic Features in Simple Sentences ...... 48 4.3 Reasons that Push Youths to Use Slang in their Daily Conversation ...... 49 4.3.1 The Social Identity and Solidarity ...... 50 4.3.2 Hiding Secret ...... 53 4.3.3 Simplifying and Quickening Communication ...... 55 4.3.4 Attitude of the Society towards the Use of Slangs ...... 57

viii 4.4 Chapter Summary...... 59

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ... 61 5.1 Introduction ...... 61 5.2 Summary ...... 61 5.3 Conclusion of the Study ...... 62 5.4 Recommendations ...... 63 5.5 Suggestion for Further Research ...... 63 REFERENCES ...... 65 APPENDICES ...... 70

ix LIST OF TABLES

Table 3. 1: Participants involved in the study ...... 28 Table 4. 1: Morphological Features at the Level of Noun ...... 36 Table 4. 2: Noun-verb Concordance ...... 38 Table 4. 3: Morphosyntactical Features in Verbs Used as Slangs ...... 41 Table 4. 4: Morphosyntactic Features of the Noun Phrases ...... 44 Table 4. 5: The Noun Phrases of the Bantu Languages ...... 45 Table 4. 6: Subject-Verb Agreement in a Verb Phrase ...... 46 Table 4. 7: Sentences which are Used as Slang in Makunduchi Dialect ...... 48

x LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 3. 1: The Map of Zanzibar to show the location of Makunduchi Village...... 26

xi LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix I: Male and Female Teenagers Questionnaire (English Version)...... 70 Appendix I: Dodoso kwa vijanawa kike na wakiume (swahili version)...... 72 Appendix II: Elders, Madrasa Teachers and Religious Leaders Questionnaire (English Version)...... 74 Appendix II: Dodoso kwa Wazee, Walimu wa Madrasa na Viongozi wa Dini (Swahili Version)...... 76 Appendix III: Interview Guiding Questions (English Version)...... 78 Appendix III: Interview Guiding Questions (Kiswahili Version)...... 79 Appendix IV: Swahili Version ...... 81 Appendix IV: Guide for Focus Group Discussion ...... 80

xii LIST OF ABRRIVIATION

CAT Communication Accommodation Theory

OED Oxford English Dictionary

SDU South District Unguja

SRU Region District

DL Dominant Language

NP Noun Phrase

VP Verb Phrase

ACP Agreement Class Prefix

FGD Focus Group Discussion

xiii CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

1.1 Introduction

The use of slang in communication has been a common practice in different societies in the world (Adam, 2009; Jahn and Gabriel, 2011; Leigh, 2011; Moore, 2012;

Yanchun and Yanhong; 2013 and Zotevska, 2013). In the past, slang was said to be the language style of the youth and for informal communication and places.

However, what is in practice today is contrary to this old understanding. There are reasons to justify this claim. Slang is now in use in the formal places and by the formal people (Pedersen, 2007; Ochonogor et al, 2012). In some cases, slang is used as euphemism to reduce offensiveness of words.

The use of slang is a field that has attracted the interest of linguists who have taken it as a research opportunity. This study is also in the same direction in that it analyses youths‟ use of slang in the Makunduchi dialect. Specifically, the study explains the youths‟ selection of slang, reasons for use of slang and the society‟s attitude towards the use of slang.

This chapter introduces the study and provides a description of the problem. Thus, the chapter encompasses the background information of the study, statement of the research problem, objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, the scope of the study, and chapter conclusion.

1.2 Background to the Problem

The importance of developing, using and preserving the use of slang in communication is seen in the definition of language itself. Scholars define language as a tool of communication, which is learned and shared. With it, human beings can

1 convey massage, express feelings and thoughts. It is also capable of both connecting and separating individuals and community as well. In fact, language is the most powerful weapon that has the function of regulating the life movement

(Mahaswiswa, 2013). One cannot by any means isolate slang from this meaning of language as slang language is used to share meanings, thoughts and feelings. In that way, slang language is used to facilitate communication among its users. It is therefore incontrovertible to say that use of slang is one of many ways through which people communicate with others.

Language can be either written or spoken, formal or informal which involve sounds, gestures, and signals that have pattern or any other style of language, including slangs and cant. Although there are various forms and styles that can be used to communicate, good communication is the basic thing that is needed in any successful relationship (Wardaugh, 2006). To be more precise, the study is devoted to work with the usage of slang which is perceived as an informal spoken style in our daily life. It is obvious that people use slang words in their day to day communication.

Peoples‟ choice of a particular speaking style is deliberately done to enable them identify themselves as members of a particular group.

The etymology of the term slang is uncertain or unknown (Fasola, 2012). Many scholars speculate on the origin of it but there is no one who has succeeded to identify the authentic origin of the term. Skeat (1982); a lexicographer, claims that the term slang is of Scandinavian origin and a derivation of Icelandic Slyngwa (“to sling”). This word can be compared with the Norwegian verb Slengja (“to sling the jaw”) and the Norwegian noun slengjeord (“slang word”) used for insulting words.

2 Fasola (ibid) states that the first appearance of the word slang is dated 1756 in

Oxford English Dictionary (henceforth OED). This does not mean that slang did not exist in ordinary conversation. They were not recognized officially in linguistic as a field of study before that date. Since then, the term slang became very familiar in the mouths of many; especially, linguists. Several studies had been conducted since then to discuss different issues concerning its morphological structures, usage and alike.

Examples of these studies are “The Bongo flava Industry in Tanzania and Artists‟

Strategies for Success” by Jahn and Gabriel (2011) and „„Lugha ya Mitaani in

Tanzania‟‟ by Jahn and Roland (2006).

One of interesting areas in the discussion of slang is its meaning. Linhua (2006) considers slang as a part of language that is out of conventional or standard usage.

According to Linhua, slang may consist of both newly coined words and phrases and new or extended meanings attached to the established terms. Though it is not the interest of the present researcher to analyse Linhua (2006) definition, it is important to understand that this definition stands against what is agreed to be language. The controversy comes when one defines slang as the language which deviates the standard use.

On the other hand, Crindle (2011) claims that slang means words, expressions, and usages which often exist for a short period. Like other scholars, Crindle, considers slang unsuitable for formal contact. This study, therefore, considers slang as those words that are used to serve communication purpose but often used by a certain social group. Slang is opposed to conventional language in the sense that it is developed to name or mean things which have their names and meanings already the ultimate goal being to conceal what is communicated and ostracize outsiders.

3 The researcher‟s consideration of slang as a language of communication used by certain social group is supported by several descriptions from different scholars. For example, Burdova (2009) describes slang as the language characterized by linguistic features which reflect the users‟ way of living and using the language with emphasis on belonging to a particular group of language users. The freedom of selecting means of communication and of being a member of a certain group gives different groups an opportunity to establish their own ways of communication.

Slang words emerge due to the need of users to vary their communication style from the other members of a larger society. Mostly, the words which are used are very common but they are given the meanings which are beyond their conventional meanings in the society. The new associated meanings may give negative, positive or neutral connotation to the society. That slang is a language which is developed by certain groups of people for their use gives an opportunity for researchers to examine several linguistic issues in it. One of the research areas in the use of slang is how slangs are developed, their meaning and society‟s attitude towards the use of slang in communication.

It is obvious that there are several research reports that have already been published before the present study. However, this study was important following the fact that there was no single study that examines the use of slang in the Makunduchi dialect.

Previous studies focused on different language aspects. For example, Jahn and

Gabriel (2011) studied The Bongo Flava Industry in Tanzania and Artists‟ looking at the strategies for success in their use of slang. In their study, they found out that slang is used to show class differentiation (there are special slang words to be used by people of lower class). Leigh (2011) wrote a paper on slangs used in Stone Town

4 in Zanzibar. The paper, however, did not cover the usage of slang especially by youths. This is what motivated the researcher to conduct the study of slang to fill the gap left by previous researchers.

1.3 Statement of the Problem

As it has been shown in the background of the study, slang is one among the most common varieties of language. The term itself emerged for the first time in OED around 1756 though different groups of people have been using slang in different occupations, especially in informal context even before that time. In fact, slang words play a pivotal role of joining the people who share the same features and exclude the outsiders.

Contrary to old perceptions that slang is the language of youth and for informal places, the use of slang today is widespread and the use extends to the formal places.

Indeed, this wide use of slang raises some questions that require investigation.

Among the questions are: what reasons lead to an increased use of slang today?

What are the perceptions of people in the society towards the use of slang? Answers to these questions could only be obtained through a research like this.

Previous studies have covered little about the expanding usage of slang among youths. Instead, the concentration was on other aspects and thus, creating a gap for this study. For instance, Jahn and Roland (2006) did a study titled “Lugha ya Mitaani in Tanzania” and „„The Bongo Flava Industry in Tanzania and Artists‟ Strategies for

Success‟‟ authored by John and Gabriel (2011). What makes their studies different from this is the fact that their studies focused much on the general usage of slang terms and did not consider the use of slang among the youths which is the focus of the current study.

5 On top of that, the two studies were conducted in Tanzania Main Land. Particularly in the urban areas; Dar-es- Salaam and Morogoro. This study was therefore important to generate findings of the slang used by youths in Makunduchi dialect in

South District of Unguja.

1.4 Research Objective

The general objective of this study was to analyse the youth‟s slang in Makunduchi

Dialect in South District of Unguja.

1.4.1 Specific Objectives

i. To examine the morpho-syntactic features of the slang used by youth users of

the Makunduchi Kiswahili Dialect.

ii. To analyse the reasons that encourage youths to use slang in their daily

conversations.

iii. To describe attitudes of the Makunduchi society towards the use of slang.

1.5 Research Questions

i. What are the morpho-syntactic features of the slang used by youths users of

the Makunduchi Kiswahili Dialect

ii. Why do youths use slang in their daily conversation?

iii. What is the attitude of the Makunduchi society towards the use of slang?

1.6 Significance of the Study

The findings of this study are firstly and foremost, to provide linguists with broad knowledge on the presence and usage of slang in the Makunduchi Swahili Dialect spoken in the end of South District of Unguja in Zanzibar.

6 Secondly, the study will provide the knowledge of morphosyntactic features of nouns, phrases and sentences which are used as slang in the Makunduchi Dialect. In addition to that, through this study linguists are expected to gain knowledge on indispensable reasons that motivate youths to use slang. The study shall also shed light to linguists on the views of Makunduchi society towards the use of slang.

1.7 Scope of the Study

The study focused on analyzing the youths‟ slang usage in the Makunduchi Dialect.

It also concentrated on finding out the reasons causing youths to resort to the use of slang in their daily conversations. The study also aimed at understanding the attitude of the Makunduchi society towards the use of slang. The study examined the use of slang by youths of the Makunduchi Dialect which is spoken in South District of

Unguja. Therefore, the study did not cover any other dialects of Kiswahili than the

Makunduchi dialect.

1.8 Chapter Summary

In this chapter, the researcher has presented background information about the study.

In particular, common definitions and development of slang have been presented from insights of various scholars. In this, they put that slang is the language used specifically by youths in informal places. These scholars have confined slang as the language of informal communication and in informal places.

In the chapter, objectives of the study and guiding research questions developed from those objectives have also been presented. It has moreover, covered about the significance of the study and the scope in which the study confines.

7 In the next chapter, the researcher presents the theory which guides this study. The chapter further presents information reviewed from different literatures on various issues about the study.

8 CHAPTER TWO

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter comprises of two major sections entitled theoretical frame work and literature review. The chapter begins by describing the theory which guides the study and then moves into presenting information about various issues of the subject at hand; and thereafter, the chapter presents the knowledge gap that this study sought to address.

2.2 Theoretical Framework

This study was guided by the Communication Accommodation Theory (henceforth

CAT) by Giles and Orgay (2007). The use of this theory was motivated by the understanding that theories and models are souls of studies. They are useful as they help in describing and even predicting the phenomenon under the study which in turn, provide a guide towards data collection and analysis in a research work. In this study, CAT was deemed fit in meeting the objectives of the study.

The theorists, in this theory, believe that communication indicates participants‟ attitudes towards each other. In that way, communication among individuals can be used just as a gauge that indicates the level of the participants. This movement towards or from others is called accommodation.

According to CAT, accommodation is divided into two categories namely; convergence and divergence. When people accommodate or struggle to get closer to other participants in the conversation, the process is called convergence (Giles and

Ogay, 2007). Convergence reflects a speaker‟s or a group‟s need (often non-

9 conscious) for social integration or identification with another (Giles and Coupland,

1991). Hence, the need for belonging to a group and covering to a specific linguistic style in order to identify with that group is realized through efficient communication

(Giles and Ogay, 2007). Accommodation can, therefore bring people psychologically closer and also enhance conversational effectiveness (Giles and Coupland, 1991).

Another aspect of accommodation is divergence. This refers to way speakers make themselves appear different to enhance the fact that they belong to a certain group

(Giles and Ogay, 2007). This informs that, sometimes, slang is used to exclude the unwanted people in the communication. It was, therefore, important for the researcher to make an investigation through this study to understand when and how youth use slang for divergence purpose. CAT summarises all these purposes of communication with an argument that communication is a goal directed.

One of the main goals of communication is to act as an instrument through which people reveal who they want to be. It is through communication people communicate to converge in a group while others communicate to diverge from others (Tracy,

2007). The way a person decides to speak to another both mirrors who they are and who they want to be perceived as and also functions as a social clue to what they think of others (Tracy, 2007).

CAT is a theory mainly focusing on the effects that language has in communicative situations. The different ways of accommodating, either by convergence or divergence, will reveal the intended goal which the speakers have in mind when participating in a conversation. The main intention and function of communication

10 are either to establish identity or to show or maintain group belonging through accommodation.

The Communication and Accommodation Theory provides two aspects which were important for the generation, analysis and the discussion of the data in this study. The theory informed the researcher that sometimes people communicate in a certain way in order to be closer to other to the people they are communicating. Taking this theorization into the context of this study, one may argue that youth do use slang as a way to show their closeness to the people they are communicating or to be accepted as the members of the groups. This was an important lesson in this research and, accordingly, the researcher investigated to know if this is among the reasons that youths use of slang in communicating among themselves.

Another important aspect of the theory is that speakers communicate to show divergence. In this, the theory postulates that speakers use a certain style of language to make themselves appear different from others. In other words, speakers may be using language in a certain way because they want to show identity or exclude others from their communication. Through this aspect of the theory, research tools were appropriately constructed to determine if these are among the reasons that the youth use slang in the Makunduchi dialect. In fact, the theory itself could not be the jack of all trades, but the researcher had also to depend on the information from the informants of the study to confirm the theorizations by Giles and Orgy (2007) through the Communication and Accommodation Theory.

11 2.3 Literature Review

There is a huge amount of scholarly information about slang that has been given by language specialists; in particular sociolinguists. The researcher found out this information in different academic publications including research reports, books, newspapers and journals. This section makes a comprehensive review on various works related to slang.

2.3.1 The Term Slang

Scholars provide several definitions of the term slang and the majority of them consider slang as the language of informal communication. They emphasize that slang is one among the varieties of language and the most common style of language used mainly by young generation to communicate in the informal setting. The term has received many definitions from different scholars.

Webster (1980) defines slang as a language of a particular group, trade or pursuit or an informal vocabulary changed words and extravagant, forced of facetious figures of speech. The above definition identifies informal vocabulary as a potential item used as slangs.

In the study conducted by Holmes (1997), the term slang is viewed as an ever- changing set of colloquial words and phrases that speakers use to establish or reinforce social identity or cohesiveness within a group or with a trend or fashion in the society at large. This definition broadens our knowledge on the term slangs by identifying colloquial words as lexical items used as slangs. This knowledge is very well connected to CAT theory which emphasizes that people do communicate to win group acceptance and identity too.

12 According to Menchen (1988) the term slang is considered as expressions that do not belong to Standard English. The explanations by Menchen above give us the view that slang words are used to serve communication among the society members. That is, they can be terms or phrases which are not used in standard language. This means that slangs are mainly employed by people with close relationship in their normal conversation and do not fit in offices or in any other formal situation. Hornby (1995) comes with the same understanding that slang are words, phrases, meanings of words commonly used in talking among friends or colleagues but not suitable for academic writing or using it in a public conversation or formal occasion. As far as the above definitions of the term slang are concerned, the current study is going to employ the term slang as those words, phrases, meanings of words or sentences which deviate from the standard language.

In this study therefore, all words, phrases, and sentences which deviate from the standard Makunduchi Dialect and are used by youths to exclude themselves from the society were regarded as slang.

Experts in the field of sociolinguistics consider slang as an extraordinary language which is below the level of the standard language. Slang involves both old and new coined words which are assigned with a particular meaning that fits the need of a group concerned. Slang terms can only be understood by the members of that particular group. Ayoto and Simpson (1992) assert that slang includes the vocabulary of “the underworld” (street gangs, drug trafficking) as well as specific vocabulary of

“a particular group of profession”. They further state that, it is a colloquial language

“below the level of the standard educated speech”, consisting of new words employed in some new special senses.

13 Linhua (2006) comes with the same observation that slang is a part of language that is outside of conventional or standard usage and that may consist of both the newly words and phrases or extended meaning attached to established terms. The views of

Linhua on slangs do not go far from other experts who have contributed to making clarification of the term. On his side, slang is any new word or phrase which have been established and given an extended meaning. This signifies that even if the term is very common in formal conversation can possess the rank of being slang once it has been given an extended meaning.

Slang expressions or phrases are usually very informal and are used by particular groups of people. Dai and He (2010) contend that slang words may be characterized as a very informal variety that includes new and sometimes not polite words and meanings. It is often used among the members of particular groups of teenagers or professional groups and is usually not used in serious speech or writing. They further added that linguistic features of this speech variety can be found in the lexical, phonological, morphological or syntactical level of the language.

Finegan (2008) views slang as informal words or phrases and commonly used in speech between people from the same social group or who work together. He further observes that slang is not suitable for formal context and often does not stay in use for a long time. Like Dai and He above, Finegan adds that slang is particularly popular among teenagers and college students in general.

2.3.2 Reasons that Encourage Youths to use Slangs

In his study, Mattielo (2008) found out that the use of slang encompasses two purposes; to keep insiders together and outsiders out. This signifies that slang expressions often embody attitudes and values of group members. Thus, they

14 (slangs) contribute to sense of group identity and may convey information to the listener concerning the speaker‟s background. In emphasizing this, Anderson and

Trudgill (1992) contend that one of the roles of slangs is to identify the user as part of a particular social group. The identification of a variety of groups due to slang utilization is still very effective among different youths and other groups in the society.

The use of slang makes people who use similar slangs identify themselves as members of a certain society. This idea is supported by different scholars in the field of sociolinguistics including Wijana (2012) and Reuster-jahn (2014). Therefore, sharing identical slang with a certain group of slang users makes someone become acceptable in that group.

Elbe (1996) argues that the social and interpersonal roles of slang are to establish and reinforce social identity within a group or a trend of fashion in a society at large.

Obviously, the use of slang helps to gain the acceptance in a group and to preserve group solidarity. Elbe‟s idea on slang is that even if the same term is used by different groups of people, their meanings will differ depending on users‟ interpretation. It is these differences which help us to identify in which group a certain people belong.

Crindle (2011) comments that, slangs spoken by a particular group of people are often deliberately created and used to exclude people outside the group. In clarifying his idea, Crindle continues to explain that youths‟ slang is notorious for baffling parents and is a tongue reserved for peer-on peer communication. Basing on

Crindle‟s study, it is obviously seen that slang is the most powerful tool which facilitates identification of youths‟ groups one from another. 15 A study by Myers (2004) discovered that slang words are used to exuberance spirit and the complete joy of living on the exhilaration of the moment. In this case, people use slang just for fun. She further stresses that slang words prove that, one is different to the origin. Thus, people use new slang terms which are different from other groups‟ slangs so as to show that “here I am or here we are”. They want to show that they have new ideas in calling or mentioning something.

Myers (2004) further argues that slang words enable one to escape from clichés; an intention usually arises from impatience with existing words and phrases Another use of slang according to Myers (ibid) is to enrich the language. On this view, Myers asserts that such deliberated originality is common only among the educated.

Uneducated persons on their side cannot use slang terms for the sake of enriching language but as a means of conveying their peculiarity. This is to say; the society may have positive perception towards the use of slangs when they are used as a means to enrich the language.

The study conducted by Myers (ibid) also found out that slang words are employed by intimate people, may be to prove that one belongs or has belonged to a certain school or university, trade or profession, or social class; artistic, literary, or musical group, or cultured group or stratum (this may be done to establish relation). The use of slang assists them to strengthen their closeness and give them the ideas of being one thing (people who belong to one group).

In his study, Alamin (1995) discovered that a group of people that is in the process of establishing independent community links and bond have a tendency of developing a distinct linguistic expression. This distinct linguistic expression not only serve as a symbol of solidarity and positive social divergence from other groups but also as a

16 functional code for expressing valued feelings, attitudes and loyalties. Here, it can clearly be seen that slang words are used to bring about both positive and negative situation in the community in which they are used.

The use of slang is not only to identify the groups in which people belong but also to reflect and identify the formality of the context as well as the social roles. The study by Holmes (2000) reveals that people‟s speech reflect not only aspects of their identity, such as ethnicity, age, gender and social background but it also reflects the context in which they are using the language. The way people talk, reflects the formality of context and the social roles taken by the participants.

Slang as one of the varieties of the language is used to indicate that users are distinct from members of other groups. Finnegan (2008) stresses that, the language variety that signifies a particular group of its speakers is called slang. It is appropriate for use by a particular group of people. Akmajian (1998) observes that slang is one of the language varieties which attract the interest of linguists. It is regarded as one of the language variations like others (register and jargon) due to its importance of being able to facilitate communication among the people. Akmajian adds that, though slang is not in the taught curriculum, it does not make its existence fades away. Instead, it becomes more popular among young people.

Furthermore, slang is used to show the differences which exist between people of different age groups. The study by Adam (2009) proves that slang marks the difference between, for examples, parents and children (in-crowed versus out- crowed), but children do not necessarily have wicked intentions with the use of slang. They sometime use these slang terms without understanding that by using them they would create a big mountain which could separate them from other peer

17 group and the society at large. Teenagers, on the other hand, tend to use slang when interacting with their friends and slang words are the marker of their identity in their conversation style (Wang, 2007).

The study by Moore (2012) discloses that people use slang to help them develop and create the identity both as the group member and individual in the eyes of the group.

Slang is used as an instrument of communication in order to accommodate to the addressee and, thus, create the bond of solidarity. They, thus, seem to play both roles of uniting and separating groups. Slang terms are used as bridges which are used to join people of the same group and as a wall which separates people from different groups. Crystal (2003) states that slang usage makes the users display on the eyes of the public that they know each other.

Easy communication, expose anger, confusing other people (out-crowed) and having fun are also identified as some of the reasons why people decide to employ slang terms. Winda (2013), in her study “the use of slang words among junior school students in every day conversation,” discloses that the reasons influencing appearances of slang words includes the need of student to say something in an easy way, show their anger, make other people confused, and want to have fun and laugh.

Likewise, Thong (1998) cited in Gerber (1968) states that teen use slang words in sentences shorter, faster, and easier to say. Generally, slang words can make peers‟ communication easier to say and understand each other.

Moreover, some people tend to use slang words to make conversation more attractive as well as their listeners or hearer more attentive. Guiter (1968) reveals that teenager can accept unsettling experiences by translating the formal words into slang and getting a laugh. He continues saying that some of the people especially students, use

18 words such as bubu, dong dong, jail jail, unyuunyu and others for the sake of attracting people‟s attention.

Expressing joke is another reason in which slang words can be used. The slang words which are categorized as coinage are used to express jokes among insiders (people of same group). For instance, the students in junior high school in America do use words such as cemen to mean coward, camel to refer to someone who cannot keep secrets, and culum to mean a fool (ibid).

In his study, Burridge (2006) discovered that among the reasons which force youths to engage in the use of slang is related to time constraints. The study further revealed that, in a situation where an individual‟s attention should be primarily concerned with the game‟s progression rather than communicating with other players, slang is used to convey meaning quickly. Because of the prior reason within this world of on line gaming, youths initiated different slang words to quicken their talks and rescue time. Among the initiated words are: “IC” which means (in character) and “OOC” means (out of character). Such words have been developed for the purpose of saving time in a conversation. Youths argue that, using initialism aloud is less articulate than when attempting to verbalise the represented words. It was discovered however, that such impediments are not encountered with the written expression of the term. It is therefore, arguable that in this instance, the written slang has an aspect of versatility that its spoken counterpart does not (Allen, 1993).

All in all, this subsection identifies several reasons associated with the use of slang.

Among the identified reasons including: creating social identity and strengthening solidarity and including insiders and excluding outsiders in conversations. In addition, the subsection has mentioned eliciting joy and expressing joke in 19 conversations as other reasons which encourage youths to use slangs. The subsection has further declared enriching language, escaping cliché and identifying the formality of the context where the language is used as among the reasons that motivate the use of slangs. Ultimately, the subsection has affirmed that showing differences exist among the people of ages as well as making conversations more attractive to the listeners.

2.3.3 Attitude of the Society towards the Use of Slang

It is not easy so far, to directly define the attitude of people towards the use of slang.

Of course, people have different views on the use of slang. Nevertheless, different scholars and researchers in sociolinguistics have taken an account on the use of slang in the speech community.

Kniuksta (1994) argues that slang is one among a non-traditional variety of the language. It has been criticized and is regarded as tarnished speech deviating from the language standards. He further stresses that, slang has been considered as something taken from the dump of language. The above expressions give the blueprint of how Kniuksta view slang words. This attitude of Kniuksta is supported by Anderson and Trudgill (1990) who state that some people view slang as the special vocabulary used by groups of people of a low or disreputable character. It is a language of a low and vulgar type. Additionally, they insist that, slang is used by criminals to refer to their own special language.

Some people view slang usage as nothing but the way of destroying language.

Further, they view slang as a hindrance to the language development. Kaberia (1994) argues that slang leads to a great confusion and is a set-back to the standard

20 language. He also has the view that the society stands to gains nothing linguistically from the publication done on slang. According to Kaberia, the sheng slang in Kenya has nothing to contribute to Kenyan standard language and that it has no importance to write for example a dictionary of slang.

There is an attitude in some people‟s mind that slang is rude and lacks refinement.

According to these people, slang use is not a good way in conversation. They rarely use slang elements because they view them as a language which is very impolite to use and not refined. Some do not use slangs because they regard them as vulgar.

Saying that slang words were anything but rude or lacking in refinement and that is unique and used only by a certain group of people and not understood by others

(ibid).

The study by Jahn and Roland (2006) discovered that the attitude of Tanzanians towards slang use is ambivalent. Many people who live in rural areas as well as many older people see the use of slang as “uchafuzi wa lugha” “language pollution” used by wahuni “bachelor and hooligans”. Others recognize slang as one of the ways of enriching a standard language. Apart from these contrasting ideas, still there are people who look slang use as a transitional stage of adolescence. Therefore, it is regarded as violation of social rules when it is used towards interlocutors whose social status is superior to the speaker. Consequently, elder people generally reject being talked to in this language variety.

Some scholars, such as Lithuanian scholars have positive attitudes towards slang language. On their side, they substantiate that slang is one among the means of

21 describing emotive and expressive information and subjective evaluation (Jakaitieno,

1980:76) and (Vosily, 1991:24).

Generally, it can be concluded that, the attitudes of scholars towards slang are not the same. Some consider slang language as one among the variety of language hence it has an equal chance to be used in the society. Others, view slang language as absurd and is unfit in the society.

2.3.4 Empirical Literature Review

Zotevska (2013) conducted a study on representation of British Teenage slang in TV-

Series Misfits and revealed that slangs in TV-Series Misfit were used for many purposes including: creating an aggressive and threatening effect, creating social status and identity and creating a bond of solidarity. Tim (2007) on the other hand, emphasized that slang in British English is used to indicate different things such as when talking about sex, drugs, crimes or other things that might be taboo.

The study by Jahn and Roland (2006) discovered that the attitude of Tanzanians towards slang use is ambivalent. Many people whom live in rural areas as well as many older people see the use of slang as uchafuzi wa lugha “language pollution” used by wahuni “bachelor and hooligans”. Others recognize slang as one of the ways of enriching a standard language. Apart from these contrasting ideas, still there are people who look slang use as a transitional stage of adolescence. Therefore, it can be summarised by saying that, slang is a very common language variety worldwide.

Slangs language can also be considered as a multifunctional language variety. People in different societies have different attitudes towards the use of slangs done by different groups of societal members particularly youths.

22 2.4 Synthesis of the Literature and Knowledge Gap

In this chapter, the researcher has presented a description of the literature which relate to slang and their meaning as well as the society‟s attitude towards the use of slang in communication. The review of the literature began with a description of the theoretical framework of the study where the Communication Accommodation

Theory was described along with the presentation of the relevance of the theory to this study. The central thesis of the theory is that people communicate with purposes.

The purposes of communicating are either convergence which aims to be accepted as a member of the group or divergence, which is usually used to exclude others from the communication.

The chapter was also extended to describing various publications related to the subject of the study. In the literature, it was seen that many scholars define slang as an informal language that is used in informal places. Some went further arguing that slang is not a proper way of using language because it spoils the standard language.

On the other hand, some scholars view slang as an opportunity for language to grow and thus, its use must be supported. What the literature lacked was empirical information about youth‟s use of slang in Makunduchi Dialect of the Swahili people of Zanzibar.

This study therefore, was designed to address the gap by studying the morpho- syntactic structures of the youths in Makunduchi Dialect, examining the reasons for the use of slang among youths and the society‟s attitude towards the use of slang among the youths in the society.

23 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter enlightens the methodology which was employed in carrying out this study. The chapter is further divided into sections which inform about the research design, area of the study, population of the study, sample size and sampling techniques, data and data collection methods and data analysis.

3.2 Research Design

The research design used in this study is the ethnographic research design. In ethnographic research, Kerlinger (1973) argues that the researcher stays with the population of the study for quite enough time to study the phenomenon at its natural setting of occurrence through observation, interviews and focus group discussions.

In this study, the researcher had to stay within the society for a month listening to the youths as they talk in different domains and copy down the words that sounded unfamiliar in the common conversations. Later, he conducted interviews with the people who used slang and other people in the society so as to understand what they meant in their use. The researcher went further into inquiring the attitudes of the society in the use of slang among the youths by using questionnaire technique.

3.3 Research Approach

This study is predominantly qualitative. Since the study sought to understand the morphosyntactic structures of the slang used by youths in the Makunduchi Dialect and establish the reasons for the use of the dialect as well as the society‟s perception on the use of the dialect, then the use of qualitative procedures, i.e. interviews,

24 observation and focus group discussions was employed. The approach enabled the researcher to obtain the data at their natural settings of occurrence as well as harness the respondents‟ opinions on the use of slang among the people in the society. This approach enabled the researcher to describe the existing situation about the use of slang in the Makunduchi society more precisely.

3.4 Area of the Study

This study was carried out in the Southern Region of Unguja (henceforth SRU). This

Region comprises two districts, namely the Central and South. The study at hand was conducted at Makunduchi and other near-by villages, such as Mtende, Jambiani,

Kibuteni and Kizimkazi which is found in the South District of Unguja. The choice of these villages in this study was very crucial since it is in these villages where

Makunduchi Dialect is spoken.

Makunduchi is located at the south end of Unguja Island. Makunduchi is bordered by the Indian Ocean to its South-Western part and the dry land in the remaining parts. It lies between 39.40° to 40° latitude South of Equator and 6.18° and 6.23° longitude

East of Prime Meridian. It is inhabited by around 12000 residents according to the

National Bureau of Statistics (2013).

25 Figure 3. 1: The Map of Zanzibar to show the location of Makunduchi Village.

Source: Alamy Stock Photo

Legend

Makunduchi Village

Makunduchi Dialect is a common medium of communication among Makunduchi inhabitants. Farming is the main economic activity of Makunduchi population.

Others engage in fishing activities while a very small group of people are government employees and the rest are doing other petty businesses and entrepreneurial activities which help them to earn their daily bread.

26 The study was focused on Makunduchi because it is the gist of the dialect concerned.

The researcher believed that he would collect enough data to enable him to explain the phenomenon.

3.5 Population, Sample Size and Sampling Techniques

Kothari (2004) defines population as the total number of persons or items about which information is desired. This study therefore, collected all the desired information from teenagers, elders and religious leaders in the South District of

Unguja.

The researcher sampled the few representatives from the targeted population to represent the whole. The study involved a total of 94 respondents. 40 respondents out of the 94 were teenagers. Among them, 20 were males and 20 were females. Another group which participated was a group of 22 elders, including 11males and 11 females. There was also a group of religious leaders and Madrasa teachers in which

32 participants were selected, including five male madrasa teachers and five female madrasa teachers. The group of 22 religious leaders contained 11 respondents from each sex. The samples were selected to represent the population that uses

Makunduchi Dialect as their vernacular. Table 3.1 below provides the summary of respondents involved in the study.

27

Table 3. 1: Participants involved in the study

District Village name Type of informants Gender Total male femal e South Unguja Makunduchi Teenagers 4 4 8 Religious leaders & 4 4 8 Madrasa teachers Elders 3 3 6 Mtende Teenagers 4 4 8 Religious leaders & 3 3 6 Madrasa teachers Elders 2 2 4 Kizimkazi Teenagers 4 4 8 Religious leaders & 3 3 6 Madrasa teachers Elders 2 2 4 Kibuteni Teenagers 4 4 8 Religious leaders & 3 3 6 Madrasa teachers Elders 2 2 4 Jambiani Teenagers 4 4 8 Religious leaders & 3 3 6 Madrasa teachers Elders 2 2 4 Total 47 47 94

Source: Field Survey, 2017

The researcher‟s decision to use these informants dwells on the fact of the importance that each group had in accomplishing this study. The group of teenagers was considered to be important because they are the main users of slang words. The remaining three groups; however, (the group of elders and that of the religious leaders as well as madrasa teachers) were the groups that most frequently witness the 28 use of slang from youths and they also used slangs though not as frequently as the previous group does. These groups also, seemed to have different views towards youths‟ use of slang and the ways they use language. These groups therefore, assisted much the researcher in obtaining data about youths use of slang.

The informants from each group were obtained through simple random sampling technique. The researcher opted to employ this technique so as to avoid complexity in carrying out the sampling exercise. Likewise, the technique enabled the researcher to select only a small number to represent the whole population. In addition, the technique also gave the researcher the chance to make his choice of respondents with great freedom.

3.6 Types of Data and Collection Methods

The study employed qualitative methods in collecting data. The qualitative data that the researcher aimed to collect were: the data about morpho-syntactic features of the slang language in youths‟ speakers of Makunduchi Dialect, the reasons which encourage youths to use slangs in their daily conversation and attitudes of the

Makunduchi society towards the use of slangs among the youth‟s groups. The required data were collected through nonparticipant observation, questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussion (henceforth FGD).

3.6.1 Nonparticipant Observation

The researcher employed non- participant observation in collecting data of morpho- syntactic features in the language of the users of the Makunduchi Swahili Dialect. It was the researchers‟ belief that the mentioned technique would serve a very significant role in helping him to obtain the intended data from the field. The researcher visited different groups of youths without engaging in their talk. This 29 eased the process of obtaining data concerning morpho-syntactic features obtained in the slang used in youths‟ social groups in Makunduchi Dialect.

Data that were collected through observation method were recorded by the researcher using a smart phone. The researcher also, observed different male groups and recorded their conversations. It was the researcher‟s hope that this was applicable since he was so much familiar in these villages as well as some groups of male teenagers. His familiarity, therefore, would enable the teenagers to continue with their conversations without any fear. By using his position as a secondary school teacher, the researcher was able to visit different female teenager groups and recorded their conversations. The researcher managed to collect the required data from different groups of female teenagers.

3.6.2 Questionnaire Survey

Questionnaire survey is a research method that was used to collect data from two main groups. The first group involved teenagers both males and females. They were asked to state the reasons that encourage youths to use slang in their daily conversations and the attitudes of the Makunduchi society towards the use of slang

(See Appendix I). The second group included religious leaders, elders and madrasa teachers. They were asked to state the reasons and attitudes of the Makunduchi society towards the use of slangs (See Appendix II).

Questionnaires were administered to the groups of teenagers, both male and female, by the researcher and supervised the activity of filling in the questionnaires so as to ensure that there was no misleading of information that would happen. The researcher and respondents collectively discussed the questionnaires before they

30 worked on them. This assisted both the researcher and participants to realize that the respondents were doing what exactly were required to do.

The researcher ensured that all questionnaires reached the targeted respondents on time. The questionnaires were collected soon after they were filled for further steps.

3.6.3 Semi-structured Interviews

Semi-structured interviews were also employed in this study to collect data related to both reasons and attitudes towards the use of slang among the youths. The researcher interviewed elders, religious leaders and madrasa teachers from scattered angles around the study area. (See Appendix III) The method gave the researcher an opportunity to explore much information from the respondents, since he had the chance to add questions of the interview guidelines in case more clarification from the respondents was required. This enabled the researcher to make generalization of how the groups in the sample view the use of slang among the youths. The researcher ensured that each respondent in the targeted group was interviewed individually and privately. This gave each respondent a chance to say what he or she really felt on the discussed issue.

3.6.4 Focus Group Discussion

FGD is a method of collecting data in which a group is identified and involved in a discussion that elicits their perceptions, opinions and beliefs towards certain issues

(Kombo and Tromp, 2006). The group identified is then engaged in an interactive setting where the participants are free to talk with other group members and with the facilitator in a natural setting. This study opted to use FGD to collect data from teenagers both males and females.

31 FGD made use of 40 people who were divided into 5 groups of 8 members each; this was on the basis of proximity. The researcher used snowball sampling techniques to obtain these informants whereby 8 members were selected from each village. Each group was brought together in an interactive setting, where the participants were involved in sessions identifying slang used in Makunduchi Dialect and the reasons that encourage youths to use slang. (See Appendix IV)

3.7 Data Analysis

Data that were collected in this study were analysed after they were collected. The process of analysing data was done basing on the Communication Accommodation

Theory (CAT).

3.7.1 Analysis of Data Collected through Nonparticipant Observation

As explained in 3.2.1 above, nonparticipant observation was planned to collect qualitative data for the objective and the question number one. The qualitative data that was obtained through nonparticipant observation was transformed from audio in a smart phone to a written form in a specific note book. The data were then grouped basing on their usage as slang in youth speakers of Makunduchi Dialect. After that, different groups of morphological features were formed and tabulated.

3.7.2 Analysis of Data Collected from Questionnaire

Questionnaire survey is one of the techniques which were employed in collecting data. This technique was used in this study to collect two types of data. The first data were those concerning the reasons that encourage youths to use slang in their daily conversations. The second data were about the attitude of the Makunduchi society towards youths‟ use of slang of the Makunduchi Swahili dialect. The qualitative data that were collected through this technique were then shifted to the special prepared

32 note book. There, they were properly arranged with reference to their similarities on the research objectives.

3.7.3 Analysis of Data Collected from Semi-Structured Interviews

Interview is a technique which was applied to collect qualitative data about both reasons that encourage youths to use slang as well as the attitude of the society towards the slang used by the youths of the Makunduchi Swahili dialect. Having completed the process of data collection, the researcher carefully reallocated the data into a specific paper where they were sorted to the objectives of the study.

3.8 Chapter Summary

This chapter has given a detailed clarification on the methodology that was used in conducting this study. Each activity which was done in the field has been clearly shown and followed by the ways used in analysis of the data collected during the field. The next chapter analyses and discusses the results of the study.

33 CHAPTER FOUR

RESEARCH FINDINGS

4.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the research findings along with detailed discussion in relation to the findings obtained. The presentation comprises of three sections which are divided according to the prior stated objectives in 1.4.1.

In particular, the findings presented here focus on three objectives namely: morpho- syntactic features of the slang used by youth speakers of the Makunduchi Dialect, the reasons that encourage these youths to use slang in their daily conversation and the attitudes of the Makunduchi society towards the use of slangs. The chapter further encompasses, sub sections which appear under the major three sections.

4.2 Morpho-syntactic Features in the Slang of Makunduchi Dialect

The first specific objective of this study intended to examine the morphosyntactic features of the slang used by youth speakers of the Makunduchi Kiswahili Dialect.

The researcher succeeded to collect a total of (203) slang items including; 163 words,

28 phrases and 12 sentences which are used as slang among speakers of Makunduchi

Dialect.

At first, the researcher collected different types of slang that are commonly used by the youth who are the speakers of Makunduchi Dialect. Slang items which were involved in this study were collected from the field through nonparticipant observation and focus group discussion. The researcher had to visit several groups during the course of this study and recorded conversations which were going on.

Consequently, the study found out that the slang items that are used in the

34 Makunduchi Dialect can be categorized into three fundamental levels namely: word, phrase and sentence levels.

4.2.1 Morphosyntactic Features at the Word Level

This subsection presents morphological features which are found at word level. The subsection elaborates in detail, the two common parts of speech used in slangs by the youths who speak Makunduchi Dialect. The parts of speech commonly used in slangs are nouns and verbs.

4.2.1.1 Morpho-syntactic Features of Slang Nouns in Makunduchi Dialect

In this sub section, the data concerning morphological features of nouns used as slang in the Makunduchi Dialect are clearly presented, analysed and thereafter a thorough discussion of the findings is presented. The researcher collected numbers of nouns used as slang and hereunder are few of them which suffice the need of this section. Table 4.1 below shows morpho-syntactic features of the collected nouns.

35 Table 4. 1: Morphological Features at the Level of Noun

Slang word Meaning singular Plural Class/ Ngeli I. 1.Tare A very beautiful girl Tare Tare I-ZI 2.Ngogo A girl who spends much time in group Ngogo Ngogo I-ZI 3.Chai A girl friend Chai Chai I-ZI 4.Mashine A fat and beautiful girl Mashine Mashine I-ZI 5.Kombi A very active person Kombi Kombi I-ZI II. 1.Nyoka A drug abuser Nyoka Nyoka KA-WA 2.Ubataani A marijuana smoker/ A drug abuser Ubataani Ubataani KA-WA 3.Komba An over drunkard Komba Komba KA-WA 4.Kenge A very weak person Kenge Kenge KA-WA 5.Msowero A person whose life status is very low Msowero Msowero KA-WA III. 1.Kumbi A person who get into a daladala without Kumbi Makumbi LI-YA paying 2.Seta A man who is controlled by his wife Seta Maseta LI-YA 3.Boya An unimportant person in a group Boya Maboya LI-YA 4.Shengwa A chief of a certain gang Shengwa Mashengwa LI-YA 5.Juya A man who goes with females of all ages Juya Majuya LI-YA IV. 1.Kijavi A prostitute Kijavi Vijavi KI-VI 2.Kijambani A place where women sit in group Kijambani Vijambani KI-VI 3.Kisheshe A person who is very proud Kisheshe Visheshe KI-VI 4.Kiwangwa A very troublesome boy or girl Kiwangwa Viwangwa KI-VI 5.Kiwavwi A security officer Kiwavwi Viwavwi KI-VI V. 1.Mzigo Marijuana/Drug Mzigo Mizigo U-I 2.Mwani An unneeded person in a certain group Mwani Myani U-I 3.Mserego An old woman Mserego Miserego U-I 4.Muembe A leaking daladala Muembe Miembe U-I 5.Mchijnji A certain type of middle size fish Mchinji Michinji U-I 1.Utumbo Tip VI. Tumbo U-ZI Utumbo 2.Ubuyu Scandal Ubuyu Mbuyu U-ZI Source: Field survey, 2017

36 The data above show that there is one important issue which is noted in the nouns of the slang used by youth speakers of Makunduchi Dialect. This is a fact that these nouns of the slang can be categorized in the noun class as depicted in table above.

According to the data above, 6 classes of nouns classes were identified. The classes are I - ZI (presented in group I number 1-5 in table 4.1 above), KA - WA (presented in group II number 1-5 in table 4.1 above), LI – YA (presented in group III number

1-5 in table 4.1 above), KI – VI (presented in group IV number 1-5 in table 4.1 above), U _I (presented in group V number 1-5 in table 4.1 above), U ZI (presented in group VI number 1-2 in table 4.1 above).

The existence of these nouns classes of the slang under study is justified when we make two analyses. Firstly, if we make analysis of the noun forms both singular and plural forms and secondly, when we study the structural analysis of the concordance between a subject and verb as depicted in the table 4.2 below.

37 Table 4. 2: Noun-verb Concordance

Singular Singular sentence Plural sentence Noun class Group word 1. Tare Tare iviti Tare ziviti I – ZI 2. Ngogo Ngogo iviti Ngogo ziviti I – ZI I 3. Chaai Chaai iviti Chaai ziviti I – ZI 1. Nyoka Nyoka kalala Nyoka walala KA - WA 2. Ubataani Ubataani kachoko Ubataani wachoko KA - WA 3. Komba Komba kana matatizo Komba wana matatizo KA - WA II Kumbi limengia Makumbi yamengia 1. Kumbi Seta linavika Maseta yanavika LI _YA 2. Seta Boya linatusumbua Maboya yanatusumbua LI _YA III 3. Boya Vijavi vivyofwana LI _YA Kijavi kivyofwana Visheshe vinajishauwa 1. Kijavi Kisheshe kinajishauwa Viwangwa havinasikia KI _VI 2.Kisheshe sana Mizigo ingii leo KI _VI IV Kiwangwa hakinasikia Miserego hailikuja 3.Kiwangwa Mzigo ungii leo Miembe imevita KI _VI Mserego haulikuja Tumbo zizagaa 1.Mzigo Muembe umevita Mbuyu zimnogee U _ I V 2.Mserego Utumbo uzagaa U _ I 3.Muembe Ubuyu umnogee U _ I 1.Utumbo U _ZI VI 2.Ubuyu U _ZI

Source: Field survey 2017

The data in table 4.2 above show that a form of a noun can justify the noun class.

Some noun classes have prefixes (in singular and plural) which play the role of marking the class group. Example group IV (in table 4.2) where prefixes ki - vi mark the noun class and group V (in table II above) where prefixes m - mi are marking the noun class as well.

38 Moreover, some nouns do not take prefixes in singular but only in plural form and these prefixes of plural form play the role of marking the noun class. This behavior is depicted by the nouns in group III. Lastly, there are nouns which remain in the same form in both singular and plural (see nouns in group I and II).

Apart from the noun forms, data from the above table also depict that the concordance between noun and verb can also play the role of indicating the noun class. For example, the noun verb concordance of group I nouns show that these nouns fall in I to VI noun class; noun-verb concordance of group II show that this is

KA _WA noun class; and noun – verb concordance in group III show that the noun in this group fall in LI _ YA noun class.

Generally, the morphosyntactic analysis of the nouns used by youths in the slang under analysis show that most of the nouns are coined since they do not exist in the

Makunduchi Dialect. However, the morphosyntax of this slang is the same to that of the dominant language (in this context the Makunduchi Dialect). This is to say; both the noun morphology and syntax are affected by the dominant language.

The findings above are supported by the argument by Wijana (2012) which reveal that in most cases slangs reflect the morphosyntactic patterns of the dominant languages. In his study, he proved the claim by showing the existence of direct relationship between the slang used by Indonesian adolescents with the dominant language. Similarly, the findings under the study show that the slang in the

Makunduchi Dialect is affected by the dominant language (in this context Kiswahili language).

39 Basically, this subsection embarked on discussing morpho-syntactic features of a noun of Makunduchi Dialect which are used as slang. The subsection started by presenting the data as found in the field, it further continued by analysing those data and summed up by presenting and discussing the findings. The next subsection will focus on morpho-syntactic features of the verbs used as slang in the Makunduchi

Dialect.

4.2.1.2 The Morphosyntactic Features of Verbs

This subsection covers the morphosyntactic features of the verbs which are used in slang under this study. A number of verbs were collected and analysed. It is important to note that these verbs are coined by the youths and they are not part of the verbs of the dominant language. The main significant feature of these verbs is that they take several prefixes and suffixes. Each prefix or a suffix can easily be identified just as it is the behavior of affixes in agglutinative languages. It is also important to note that, prefixes identified in the verbs of this slang play different roles. Table 4.3 below provides the data for these claims.

40 Table 4. 3: Morphosyntactical Features in Verbs Used as Slangs

No. Verb Slang Slangs Meanings Prefixes Suffix

s/pr ob/pr Neg/pr t/pr Mood

1. Kanawaburura He cheats them ka wa - na A

2. Hawanaparika They are not ready to wa - ha na ika

use their wealth to help

others

3. Kunanchikicha You are disturbing my ku n - na a

heart

4. Porojani Continue with gossip ni - - - a

5. Hatulichana We didn‟t wait our turn tu - ha li a

6. Wanazongana They are seducing each wa - - na ana

other

7. Tuozeana Fall in love to each tu - - - ana

other

8. Meno Stop shouting - - - - -

9. N-dovya Alert me/ drop me a hint - n - - A

10. Mpunguzieni Do not say bad things to m - - - eni

him/her

Source: Field Survey (2017)

It was evidenced from the data above that the verbs of this slang relate to that of the dominant language (Kiswahili-Makunduchi dialect). The verbs are inflected with suffixes and prefixes and there is no infix found to appear in whichever verb. The same case is noted in the dominant language in which the verbs take various numbers of prefixes and suffixes which play different roles.

41 The study discovered that the functions of the prefixes and suffixes in the verbs of the slang are the same to those of the dominant language. Among the roles of the prefixes which were identified include: to signify subjective case and number. In the most cases, the same prefixes play double roles which are: showing both subjective case and number. The data in table 4.3 above justifies this claim whereby, the prefixes ka, wa, ku and others in s/pr column above reveal the truth.

Another role played by these prefixes is to indicate objective case as in wa and n in ob/pr column above. Next, the prefixes mark the role of negative sign as it is prefix ha in Neg/pr column above. Again, these prefixes indicate tense/aspect as in t/pr in the column above. The final role which is also played by these suffixes is to indicate moods as it is shown in mood column above.

It was also discovered that the prefixes in the verbs of the slang under this study have a direct relationship with the number and person in the subject of sentence. The verbs in this slang show the agreement with the noun phrase just as it is the fact the dominant language spoken by the surrounding community (Kiswahili-Makunduchi dialect).

The findings of this study are supported by those of Pederson (2007) who confirms that the verbs of slangs in British English do not reveal the difference with those of the dominant language (British English). A study by Wijana (2012) also found that the verbs which are used in Indonesian adolescent‟s slang do not differ from its origin language (in this case English).

42 The above subsection has dealt with the morphological features of verb phrases. It examined, analysed and a discussion has been made. The following subsection will focus on the morphosyntactic features at the phrase level.

4.2.2 Morpho-syntactic Features at the Phrase Level

This subsection presents the morphosyntactic features at the phrase level. Phrases are the syntactic structures made up of the groups of words which stand together as a single unit. This subsection focuses only on phrases that were noted in the slang of the present study. The subsection comprises of two parts namely; morphosyntactic features in noun phrases (NP) and morphosyntactic features in verb phrases (VP).

The reason why the analysis is limited to the two phrases is that these were the phrases mostly occurring in the data.

4.2.2.1 Morpho-syntactic Features in the Noun Phrases

A noun phrase can be explained as a word or group of words having a noun as a nucleus. This is to say, NP can be made up of a head alone, a head and the determiner, a determiner, pre- modifier(s) and head. However, the nature of language determines the arrangement of elements in the noun phrase. As far as the noun phrase of the slang under study, table 4.4 below provides some sampled noun phrases.

43 Table 4. 4: Morphosyntactic Features of the Noun Phrases

No Noun phrases Meaning in English

1. Mchicha mwiba Homosexual *Michicha miba *Homosexuals 2. Msumeno wa jiti Prostitute *Misumeno ya majiti *Prostitutes 3. Kitabu cha maulidi Prostitute *Vitabu vya maulidi *Prostitutes 4. Jogoo lya shamba A person who never sleeps in town *Majogoo ya shamba *People who never sleep in town 5. Paka mweusi A person who enjoys European life style 6. *Paka weusi People who enjoy European life style Mzigo mpya A strange lady in a village 7. Mizigo mipya Strange ladies in a village 8. Mwana maungo Laziness Paka upenu A person who rarely goes out of his village

Source: Field Survey 2017

In the data above, it is revealed that the structure of the noun phrases of the slang under study is more or less the same to the structure of the dominant language

(Kiswahili language), The data in the above table show that the noun phrases of the slang under investigation consist of the head word which is a noun and one modifier which is an adjective. For example, in item number 1 in table 4.4 the word mchicha is a head word while mwiba is a modifier. In item number 2 msumeno is a head word wa jiti is a modifier. Generally, the structure of this phrase reflects that of Kiswahili

(the dominant language in the area of study) and other bantu languages in general.

44 The findings of the current study are supported by the findings by Meeussen (1967), and Katamba (2003) who studied Kwere and discovered that headwords of the NP in

Bantu languages are always at the initial position of the phrase and all other NP constituents must follow the head in concordance or agreement. However, it is noted that the noun phrases of the slang under the study is less complex compared to the structure of the noun phrase of other Bantu languages. From the data in table 4.4, the noun phrases of the slang under investigation are composed of only two elements namely: the noun (head word) adjectives (modifier). In contrast, the structure of the noun phrase of the Bantu languages is rather complex as it is depicted in table 4.5 below.

Table 4. 5: The Noun Phrases of the Bantu Languages

01 0 1 2 3 Pred. Noun Det. Modifier Post modier A B c d E Dem Poss. Num. Ord. Quant. Adj. Rel.Clause Inter. Distr. Dem. Ass

Source: (Rugemalira, 2007: 135)

4.2.2.2 Morpho-syntactic Features at the Verb Phrase

Aarts (1988) defines a verb phrase as a category which consists of verbal forms only with the lexical (main) verb as the principle part of the verb phrase. A verb phrase may consist of some dependent elements or only the head which is the main verb. In a verb phrase, some dependent elements are needed by the head to complete its meaning, while others are not need by the head verb. Dependent elements that the head verb needs for its meaning to be complete are closely linked to it, while those that

45 the head verb does not need are loosely linked to it. This section therefore, examines the verb phrases of the slang under investigation and its morphosyntactic features.

Table 4. 6: Subject-Verb Agreement in a Verb Phrase

No Verb Phrase Its Meaning in English 1. Kende Mtende He or she went to urinate *Wende Mtende *They went to urinate 2. Ndatua gogo I am going to defecate *tua magogo *We are going to defecate 3. burura kuti She/he pretends as if she/he hears nothing *bururamakuti *They pretend as if they hear nothing 4. Tia majaro Do something roughly *Tiani majaro *Do something roughly 5. Mwaga suko Give someone something very little (valueless) expecting to get much (much valuable) *Mwagani suko Give someone something very little (valueless) expecting to get much (much valuable) Source: Field survey, 2017

It is noticeable that, the verb phrase in the slang at hand consists of the head and the head (the verb) and the post modifier. From the data in table 4.6 above, the maximal verb phrase in this slang has the structure of head + post modifier. The head is the only obligatory element in this slang just as it is to the dominant language spoken by the wider community (Kimakunduchi a Swahili dialect). However, a head word can be followed by a post modifier or an object like in items in number 2, 3, 4 and 5 or it can be an adverb just like in number 1. However, it was noted that modifiers in a 46 verb phrases are not always necessary to accompany the head because the head does not require them to complete the meaning.

The data above also revealed that verbs in the verb phrases in slang at hand contain inflectional categories which reflect back to the subject. The selection of the type of prefix to be attached to the verb is purposely done to ensure that there is subject verb concordance. It means that the prefix should agree with the subject in terms of number and person. Biber et al. (2005) elucidates that the rule of subject-verb concordance must observe one condition and that is the verb phrase in a clause should agree with the subject in terms of number (singular or plural) and person

(first, second and third person). The findings above justify this quotation to be true by having those criteria.

Findings of the studies by Odero (1988), Lilian (2013) and Emily (2015) conform to the current study. In their studies, they discovered that the verb phrases are headed by the main verb. They also observed that the verb phrase may be followed by more than one dependent element on the type of the verb. Moreover, the verb phrase must agree with the subject. These features also present in the slang in this study.

In this subsection, the researcher has successfully presented the morphosyntactic features in the verb phrase used in the slang at hand. The next subsection is about the morphosyntactic features at the sentence level of slang the slang at hand.

4.2.3 Morpho-syntactic Features at the Sentence Level

This subsection comprises of the morphosyntactic features of the under investigation at the level of the sentence. It starts with the presentation of the data collected in the field, the data will then be analysed and the discussion of the findings and makes the end of the presentation.

47 4.2.3.1 Morpho-syntactic Features in Simple Sentences

A sentence in a general way means a well-organized string of words which give a complete thought. In this study, the researcher noticed very few sentences that youths in the Makunduchi community use as slang. The researcher was able to collect some sentences from youths‟ conversations. Table 4.7 below, shows some of the sentences used by youths when using their slang.

Table 4. 7: Sentences which are Used as Slang in Makunduchi Dialect

Sentences Interpretation Meaning as slang 1.Kana maradhi ya He has diabetes He commits sexual sukari intercourse more than natural * Wana maradhi ya *They have diabetes *They commit sexual sukari intercourse more than natural 2.Shida ingii dumni Trouble entered the grain borer Someone has faced a great problem *Shida zingii dumni *Troubles entered the grain *Someone has faced great borer problems 3.Katii foni S/he has entered head set phone S/he does not hear anything s/he is told *Watii foni They have entered headset They do not hear anything phones they are told 4.Lete magongo Bring logs Give me a breaking news *Leteni magongo *Bring logs *Give me breaking news 5.Hana mwiko She has no spoon She is not good at cooking *Hawana mwiko They have no spoon They are not good at cooking Source: Field Survey 2017

The above sentences disclose that the slang used by youths in the community under the study sentences. The study further discovered that all sentences that youths used 48 in their conversation were simple sentences. Having investigated this, the study could generalize that youths who use this slang make much use of simple sentences compared to complex, compound and other form of sentences. In addition, the study noticed that the sentences in this slang are in the form of SVO. Example in sentences number 3 and 4 in table 4.7 above justifies. SVA form was also noted the slang under investigation. Example in sentences number 1, 2 and 5 in table 4.7 above depict this truth.

This observation is supported by the findings from the studies by Wijana (2012) and

Emily (2015) who reported that most of the slangs sentences used by youths are simple sentences. According to these studies, most of these simple sentences are in the arrangement of SVO similar to the findings of this study.

In this subsection, the data and discussion about the morphosyntactic features of the slang under study have been presented. Consequently, the objective number one has been covered. The next section addresses issues related to objective number two of this research.

4.3 Reasons that Push Youths to Use Slang in their Daily Conversation

This section deals with the presentation of findings for the second objective of the research which sought to understand the reasons that encourage youths who are the users of the Makunduchi Dialect to use slang in their daily conversation. The subsection is further categorized into three small parts namely: social identity hiding secret and simplifying/quickening conversation. The mentioned themes are hereunder presented.

49 4.3.1 The Social Identity and Solidarity

This subsection of the specific objective two presents the data pertaining to the respondents‟ views on why youths use slang. One of the views of respondents on the matter was that youths use slang so as to create their social identity and at the same time strengthening their solidarity. This subsection presents the findings obtained through interviews and questionnaires. Below are some of the quotes which were obtained from the interviews with the informants of this study.

First respondent: Mie nahisi ino ni njia moja ambayo huwa wanaitumia wenyuwe kama kuonyesha kuwa wao ni watu wa kundi fulani. Na ni tofauti na kundi jengine na njo mana wana… tuseme lugha yao ambayo mara nyingi huwa wanaitumia wakawa wao wenyuwe tu kundini kwao mfano kama maskani au sehemu nyengine wanayokutana wenyuwe (vijana).

I think this is one of the ways that youths use as a means to group themselves. They totally differ from other groups and this is why they have …let‟s say their own language which most of the time uses it when they are in group. For instance, in the maskan or another place they usually meet. (Researcher’s translation)

Second respondent:

Ah! Nakona kawaida tu. Vijana wanajaribu kubuni tu wenyuwe namna fulani ambayo wanaweza wakawasiliana wenyuwe bila wengine kufahamu kinachoendelea.

Oh! I think it is a normal situation. Youth try to create a certain way which they can use to communicate as a group and exclude other people from comprehending. (Researcher’s translation)

Third respondent: Kiukweli ino ni mitindo tu ambayo huzuka ikavuma sana baadae tena njo kundi fulani hubakia nayo yalya maneno wakajitenda yao wao na kuyatumia wanavyochaka wao wenyuwe kwa manufaa yao kama kundi.

50 Honestly speaking, these are just styles that emerge and become very familiar. A certain group of people pick the language and use it to communicate their needs in the group and use the language to form their identity (Researcher’s translation)

With respect to the data above, it is clear that one among the reasons that cause the youth to use slang in their conversation is the desire for the identity as well as to strengthen their solidarity as a group. The majority of the informants had the ideas similar to these. The study discovered that Makunduchi society to a large extent agree that slang play an important role to join different groups of youth. It was also noticed that the society makes use of these slang words that are used by their youths.

The above data are also supported by the findings from the focus group discussion whereby the informants had the following to say.

wano vijana wegi wa wakazwa nkukaa vijikundi kundi. Kila kijana kana kundi lyake mwenyuwe analyokwendana nalyo mwenyuwe kwa mujibu wa anavyojitua yaani tabia zake. Mana yao makundi yagawiki, kuna yalya ya kawaida na mengine si ya kawaida. Yaani nakusudia makundi maovu. Sasa kila kijana kanachagua kwa mujibu wa intesti zake. Na kila kundi sasa linakuwa na misamiati yake ambayo mara nyingi huwa wanatambuana wao tu wenyuwe wanachokikusudia kusema.

Many youths like to be in small groups. Each teenager is a member of a certain group he or she fits in it according to the way s/he behaves. This is because these groups differ and there are normal groups and bad ones. Every youth chooses a group according to his or her interest. Normally, each group has its particular vocabulary that most of the time group members use the vocabulary to understand what they say as a group (Researcher’s translation)

The data above indicate that social identity and solidarity reinforce youths to use slang in their conversation. The study discovered that youths tend to use slang words as a sign which indicate the group in which he belongs. The researcher discovered this through the responses above from the interview and group discussion.

51 Tajfel (1997) explains the concept of social identity as a person‟s sense of which they are based on their group membership(s). Wendy (2011) defines solidarity as a mutual agreement and support, harmony of interests and responsibilities among individuals in a group. The findings of this study concur with those by Anderson and

Trudgill (1992), Wang (2007), Burdova (2009), Dai and He (2010); Moore (2012) and Emilia (2013) who revealed that many youth groups indulge into the use of slang as a way of making social identity as well as strengthen their bond.

This may also be interpreted as a show off among youth which is intended to show that they are learned. The American scholar P. Roberts once pointed out that the reason people constantly use slang is that they want to show they are one of the qualified members among certain distinct groups (Dai and He, 2010). In the same way, this study realized that the slang made and used by the youths in their gatherings is not haphazardly done. Instead, they do this with particular target and a great mindful and this is to win social identity in the society.

Such ideas of showing that one is belonging to a certain group basing on language is what is known as social identity and solidarity. This concurs with the findings by

Emilia (2013) who discovered that teenagers in a Tv-Series misfit use slang in order to create their own identity and group solidarity. Crystal (2003) asserts that a young person‟s choice of slang is quite often an extension of the particular youth subculture he or she belongs to or identifies with. He added that slang usage makes the users to display on the eyes of public that they know each other.

Anderson and Trudgill (1992), Wang (2007), Burdova (2009), and Moore (2012) are among many scholars who believe that one and among the major reasons that encourage youths to use slang in their conversations is to create social identity as 52 well as solidarity. Teenagers and even very few elders identify themselves as they belong to a certain subculture through the use of different slang in their daily conversations. Teenagers use slang as an instrument of communication in order to accommodate to the addressee and that create a bond of solidarity. Gonza´ kz (1994) in his study entitled Youth and Student Slang in British and American English found that, slang provide and reinforce social identity among others. These findings match with those of the present study and that of Amelia (2013) who found that the aim of slang in the TV-Series Misfit is to serve as a tool of accommodation by the teenagers in Misfits in order to create and develop their own identity and group solidarity.

4.3.2 Hiding Secrets

The analysis of the data obtained from the field revealed that slang is also used by youths to exclude intruders from understanding their conversations. The informants mentioned this function of slang during the focus group discussion.

The first respondent: Tunaepuka mengi tunapotumia misimu. Si kila jambo lyetu huwa tunapendelea litambulikanwe nkila mtu. Watu wengine mawio hawana sikia jambo wakati uwowo lichazagaa dunia nzima hamba kuwatumu.Tukatumia vilugha vyetu wenyuwe hawanakona ndani.‟

We avoid many things as we communicate through slang. It is not important that everything we say is understood by everyone. Some people may spread your secret within a short period as if you have asked them to spread it. So, when we use slang, they do not understand our communication. (Researcher’s translation)

More ideas concerning the relationship between the slang usage and hiding secrets were reported by the informants who mentioned some reasons which encourage youths to use slang. Through questionnaire responses, the respondents had the following to say but just to quote a few;

53 The second respondent from questionnaire Mazungumzo yao vijana mara nyingi yanakuwa yanawapita kimo. Kwa hiyo ili yasitambulikanwe huamua kutumia vilugha vyao ili kuwazubaisha watu wengine wasifahamu kinachoendelea nyuma ya pazia.

Most of the time youth‟s talks are beyond their age. So, in order not to be understood, they use slang to confuse and understand nothing going on behind the scene. (Researcher’s translation)

The third respondents from interview Izo ni lugha za kihuni huzitumia ili kuficha uovu wao.nkuke bwana we…. mfano, wavuta bangi wana misemo yao mfano unaweza ukamsikia kanamwambia mweziwe mbele ya watu „twende ukankatie kidogo basi‟mie na weye hatufahamu bali wenyuwe tayaari wametambuana wenda vuta bangi zao raaha mustaarehe.

Those are hooligan‟s languages. They use them to hide their evil deeds. Let me exemplify you sir…for example, marijuana smokers have their own sayings (slang) for instance, you may hear one telling his fellow publically „let us go to smoke‟. You and I will understand nothing but, they will understand each other and go to smoke their weeds. (Researcher’s translation)

With respect to the above quotations, it is undeniable that hiding secrets is among the reasons that force the youths to use slang in their conversation. It was further revealed that it is a normal thing for youths who are members of the same subculture to change the language when they are in public for the purpose of excluding others. It is only members of that group who have the opportunity to understand what is going on at that time. Those who are not the members of that group are excluded and what has been said remain a secret among the group members.

The current study findings concur with Burridge (2004) and Dalzell (2010) findings.

They argue that one of the purposes of using slang is to exclude outsiders and not to let them understand what the insiders are discussing or planning. Similar to this,

Auzanneau (2003) states that teenagers use slang to maintain secrecy by excluding

54 others from the conversations. The findings above reveal that secrecy is among the reasons that encourage youths in the Makunduchi Dialect to use slang in their conversations. All respondents revealed this when they were answering a question

(in appendix 1, 11, 111 and IV) which sought to know the ideas of the respondents on the reasons that encourage youths to use slangs.

4.3.3 Simplifying and Quickening Communication

Simplifying and quickening communication is another reason that encourages youths to use slang. According to Thong (1998 cited in Gerber, 1968) teenagers use slang words in short sentences so as to fasten their communication and for easy understanding. Winda (2013) states that slang words are developed following the need of saying something in an easy way.

As for this study, the findings from the field revealed the situation which is not different from what is presented by Thong (1998, cited in Gerber, 1968) and Winda

(2013). A number of respondents mentioned that simplifying communication was a reason which motivates youths to use slang in their conversations. Some respondents who participated in the study had the following to say:

The first respondent:

Misimu inasaidia kuokowa muda si unajua tena hatuna muda mchafu.yanini tena kujizungurusha na njia ya mkato iwavo.Wanaume hawanakaa jisaa jizima wanatizamana tu wakati mambo ya kutenda yajaa tele.

Slang help to save time you know. We have no time to waste. How should we circulate while a shortcut exists? Men never sit together for an hour looking each other while there are number of issues to do. (Researcher’s translation)

The above quotation from focus group discussion show that youths in the respective study area use slang to simplifying communication. It was further revealed that they

55 ought to be short in almost everything they do or plan to do. No matter the type of the issue it is. They use slang to ensure that they do not waste much of their time in conversation and conveying intended meaning quickly by using slangs.

The second respondent had these to say:

Unajua, nkatumia lugha ja ino kwanza najifili yaani; mie bado nyiwa kijana sigomo kuzungumza kidingi. Kwaza mtu anaechowea kidingi kanatumia muda mrefu sana kumtambuwa.

I feel good when speaking using slang; I can‟t talk using formal language like our fathers do. Even though, it takes me time to understand when a person speaks to me using formal Kiswahili. (Researcher’s translation).

The above quotation from interview show that, youths in the respective study area use slang to simplify communication. It was further revealed that they ought to be short in almost everything they do so as to convey intended meaning quickly using slangs.

The Third respondent:

Wanakuwa wanajaribu kutafuta urahisi wa mawasiliano. Na njo mana kuchagundua mara nyingi vilugha vyao vinatawaliwa zaidi n‟vifupisho fupisho.

They try to seek for the easiness of communication and that is why you may find out that, most of the time their languages (slang) are very much dominated by abbreviation (Researcher’s translation) The data from questionnaire show that youths in the respective study area use slang to simplify communication. It was also noted that youths do not like to complicate things in their relationship and their life at large. It implies that they ought to be short in almost everything they do or plan to do. In this study, the youths confirmed that they easily and quickly understand each other when they communicate through slang than they can when they use what is called the standard Kiswahili. In their arguments, slang makes them feel close to the people they are communicating. For example, one of the youths who were interviewed during this study confirmed this.

56 The findings of this study agree with the findings by Alim (2004) who asserts that, youths in urban have the propensity to create new forms of expression to serve specific communicative needs including secrecy and simplifying communication.

The study by Keshensalo (2015) stresses that, Arabic slang are mostly spoken by may closed groups including Koranic pupils and Muslim brotherhoods for many purpose but mainly as camouflage of concepts

4.3.4 Attitude of the Society towards the Use of Slangs

The main focus of this objective was to describe the attitudes of Makunduchi society towards the use of the Makunduchi slang which are used by youth speakers of the dialect. Data for this objective were collected through questionnaire and interviews.

The term an attitude refers to one‟s feeling either favourable or unfavourable to persons, objects, events or situation. Attitudes of someone towards persons, objects, events or situation can either be positive or negative (Sahini, 2007).

Attitudes towards slang use have been discussed by number of studies including

Auzanneau (2003), who views slang usage as a strategic means of shaping youth identity. Amelia (2013) considers uses of slang as one way of communication which creates a bond of solidarity and identity. On his side Eble (1996) comments that slang have a great contribution in creating identity among people within the connected territory, age and sub cultural group.

The study discovered that many of Makunduchi society members have positive attitudes towards the use of slang done by youth speakers. Many of the respondents who had the opportunity to participate in this study expressed their positive ideas towards slang usage. Consider the quotations from different informants below: -

The first respondent from interview

57 Mbona hakuna tatizo lyolyoti kunako ilyo? misimu bwana ni njia ya mawasiliano kama njia nyengi yoyote uyoijuwa. Sema tu njia ino wenyuwe hasa ni vijana. Kwa sababu wao mara nyingi wanakuwa hawana muda mwingi wakuwa tena wapange maneno watie na urembo...aa...woa kikubwa wanachokijali wao ni kufikisha ujumbe kwa wanaemkusudia tu. Kwa hiyo upande wangu mie nahisi wawa sawa tu.

Oh! There is no problem on that. Slang sir, is a means of communication like any other means that you know. But, this is mainly used by youths. This is because most of the time youths have no enough time of organizing what to say or decorate …aa.... what is so important to them is only to deliver a message to the intended person. So, to me I think they are ok. (Researcher’s translation)

The second respondent from questionnaire:

Misimu si mibaya ukaitumia inavyochakigwa na ni vyema ikendelezwa kwani inamchango mzuri katika lugha. Pia inatusaidia wakati mwengine kutambua mtu gani kanashirikiana na kina nani kupitia mazungumzo yake.

Slang are not bad if you use them accordingly. It is important that they are promoted because they have a good contribution in language development. They sometimes, help in identifying the group someone cooperates with through their talks. (Researcher’s translation)

The above quotations from both interview and questionnaire paved the way for the researcher to say that slang usage have captured positive attitudes towards the society members of Makunduchi. This denotes that the attitude of Makunduchi society towards the use of slang is positive. Apart from the positive attitude that was expressed by many informants, the study, also, discovered a few people in the society that are not satisfied by the use of slang made by other society members, particularly, youths.

Matumizi ya misimu kwa maoni yangu hayafai kwa sababu inapoteza uasili walahaja yetu. Halafu inchangia ukorofi kwa vijana. Kwa sababu baadhi yao wanaitumia kuficha uovu wao. Kwa hiyo kama kuna uwezekano mie nahisi isiruhusiwe.

The use of slang in my view does not fit because slang distorts the origin of our dialect. They also create disturbance to youth 58 because some of them use slang to conceal their evils. Therefore if there is a possibility I think they should be abandoned. (Researcher’s translation)

According to the findings, it can be concluded that the society of Makunduchi has both positive and negative attitudes towards the use of slang used by youths. The findings of the current study do not show discrepancy from what Auzaneau, Amilia and Elbe above. According to them, slang usage is the same to the other means of communication. They also add that slang usage help in creating bond of solidarity and identity. On the other hand, Trudgill and Anderson (1990) confirm that some people view slang negatively. They believe that the vocabulary used in slangs, are of low or disreputable character. It is also, used by criminals to refer to their own special language.

4.4 Chapter Summary

The chapter has presented the research findings and its discussion. The findings were presented, sequentially, according to the objectives of the study; to generate knowledge about the morpho-syntactic features of the slang used in Makunduchi

Swahili Dialect; analysis about the reasons that encourage youths to use slang in their daily conversation and the description of attitudes of the society towards the use of slang.

It was, further, explored that, there are several reasons that impress youths engaging much in the use of slang words.. Those are; social identity, hiding secrete, as well as simplifying and quickening communication. However, it was realized the third reason was the strongest as far as use of slang is concerned.

59 The findings, also, revealed that, many of the members in Makunduchi society have positive attitudes on the use of slang. The coming chapter presents summary, conclusion and recommendations on the study.

60 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Introduction

This chapter provides a summary of the whole study in particular the main findings of the study are highlighted in this chapter to give readers a quick overview of the study. The chapter is extended to provide the main conclusion and recommendations of the study.

5.2 Summary

This study was designed to analyse youths' slang in South District of Unguja.

Specifically, the study was guided by three objectives: to examine morpho-syntactic features of slang used by youths users of the Makunduchi Dialect; to analyse the reasons that encourage these youths to use slangs in their daily conversation and to describe the attitudes of the Makunduchi society towards the use of slangs.

The study employed Communication Accommodation Theory. The proponent of this theory believes that individuals do communicate in order to indicate their attitudes towards each other and that is like a barometer of the level of social distance between the participants. This movement towards and from others by changing one‟s communicative behavior is called accommodation.

This was a purely qualitative study. In this, four techniques of data collection were used.

These were the non-participant observation, focus group discussion, semi-structured interviews and questionnaire survey. The study was done in South District Unguja at

Makunduchi and nearby villages where a total of 94 respondents were involved. The informants involved in this study were the elders, religious leaders, teenagers,

61 madrasa teachers. Simple random sampling was employed to select informants among teenagers, elders and religious leaders and madrasa teachers.

The findings of this study have identified morphosyntactic features at three levels: word, phrase and sentence. In word level, there were morphological features such as number singular and plural which are indicated by prefixes in nouns. Verb prefix indicated person, number, negation and tense. Verb suffix indicate mood and person.

Morphosyntactic features were identified in noun phrase such as agreement between head and other constituents.

Moreover, some syntactic features were also identified in this slang in a sentence level and these include subject verb agreement. Furthermore, the study revealed three main reasons that encourage youths to use slang in their daily conversations. These are social identity and solidarity, hiding secrets and simplifying and quickening communication. Moreover, the study have found that majority of people in the society have positive attitude toward the use slang. Though, a few of them view the use of slang negatively.

5.3 Conclusion of the Study

Generally, this study has met the research objectives in 1.4.1 and research questions in 1.5. With respect to objective number one, the findings have revealed morphological features at a word level and morphosyntactic features at phrase and sentence levels.

Further, the findings have identified social identity and solidarity, hiding secrets and simplifying and quickening communication as the reasons why youths use slang.

Lastly, the analysis of the data revealed that large number of people indicated positive attitude toward the use of slang.

62 5.4 Recommendations

This study enabled the researcher to discover so many issues which encouraged him to see the need of conducting more studies based on slangs used by youth speakers of the Makunduchi Dialect. Based on this, the researcher recommends the following:

Firstly, societies should understand that the use of slang done by youth is caused by several reasons. So, it should have a better understanding all these reasons and work on them. In case one comes across a group which uses slang may draw a picture in the mind of what is going on before s/he judges them wrongly.

Next, it is advised that, societies should understand that using slang is not the sign of being a hooligan. Instead, it is one of the means of communication that can be used by any group and not young generation alone. Furthermore, the societies should not have a negative attitude towards the use of slang and those who use them.

Finally, it is recommended to language institutions and other organizations which deal with language researches to focus their attentions on dialects and ethnocommunity languages by making sure that they are studied in each of their varieties.

5.5 Suggestion for Further Research

The target of this study was analyzing the use of slang among the youth users of the

Makunduchi Dialect. The study specifically looked at morhosyntactic features that found in this slangs, the reasons that encourage youths to use these slang in their daily conversation and attitudes of the society towards the use of slang. The researcher, therefore, suggests that further studies may be conducted in other linguistic aspects such as phonological features and semantic features of the slang. In

63 addition, the researcher calls for other Tanzanian researchers to focus their attentions on studying slangs found in the other dialects and ethnic community languages since this study was confined to the Makunduchi Dialect only.

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69 APPENDICES

Appendix I: Male and Female Teenagers Questionnaire (English Version).

Dear Informants,

In your hands are questionnaires that you are willingly requested to fill in. You also ought to know in advance that all information that you provide will only be employed for the accomplishment of the academic research and not otherwise. The major aim of this research is to investigate the Youths slang use in the Makunduchi Dialect and the opinions of elders and religious leaders towards this usage. I would like to assure you that your information will never in any way be the source of your security endangerment.

INSTRUCTIONS

Fill in the blanks or put a tick in the appropriate box as required by a question concerned.

PART 1: Personal Information

Name of the village………………………District…………………………………

Sex: Male [ ] Female [ ]

Age 15-20 years [ ] 21-25 years [ ] 26-30 [ ] 31-35years [ ] 36-40 [ ]

PART 11: Questions in relation to the research

1. Do you have any understanding on the concept of slang?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

2. Do you use them in your conversations?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

3. In which situation do usually use slangs? a) In maskan [ ] b) In restaurants [ ] c) At sports [ ] d) Others, mention

………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………

70 4. What are the reasons that encourage you to use slangs in your daily conversations?

a) To create social identity and solidarity [ ]

b) To hide secrets [ ]

c) To simplify communication [ ]

d) Others, mention…………………………………………………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………

5. Should slangs continue to be used?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

6. If yes, give reasons …………………………………………………………………

7. If no, state reason …………………..……………………………………………

Thank for your cooperation.

71 Appendix I: Dodoso kwa vijanawa kike na wakiume (swahili version).

Wapenzi watafitiwa,

Mikononi mwenu ni masuala hojaji ambayo mnaombwa kuyajaza. Pia mnapaswa kujuwa tokea mwanzo ya kwamba taarifa zote mtakazozitoa zitakua ni kwa ajili ya utafiti wa kitaaluma tu na sio vyenginevyo. Lengo kuu la utafiti huu ni kuchunguza matumizi ya simo (misimu) katika lahaja ya kimakunduchi kwa vijana wa kimakunduchi na maoni ya watu wazima na viongozi wa dinikwenyematumizihayo.Ningependa kuwahakikishieni kuwa taarifa zenu hazitokuwa chanzo cha kuhatarisha usalama wenu kwa njia moja au nyengine.

MAELEKEZO

Jaza mapengo au weka alama ya vema katika boksi linalofaa kama inavyotakiwa na suala husika.

SEHEMU 1: Taarifa binafsi

Jina la Kijiji Wilaya……………………………

Jinsi: Mume [ ] Mke [ ]

Umri: Miaka 15-20 [ ] Miaka 21-25 [ ] Miaka 26-30 [ ] Miaka 31-35 [ ] Miaka 36 - 40 [ ]

SEHEMU 11: Masuala kuhusiana na utafiti

1. Je!Unaelewa dhana ya misimu?

Ndiyo [ ] Hapana [ ]

2. Je!Unaitumia katika mazungumzo yako ?

Ndiyo [ ] Hapana [ ]

3. Ni katika mazingira gani kwa kawaida huwa unaitumia? a) Vijiweni [ ] b) Mikahawani [ ] c) Michezoni [ ] d)Kwengineko,elezea ......

4. Unadhani ni sababu zipi zinazohamasisha matumizi ya misumu? a)Utambulisho wa kundi na mshikanmano [ ]

b)Kurahisisha mawasiliano [ ]

c) Kuficha siri [ ] 72 d)Nyenginezo,zitaje......

5. Je! Unadhani kuna ulazima wa misimu kuendelea kutumika?

6.Kamandiyo; eleza sababu ......

7.Kama hapana; eleza sababu

......

Ahsante kwa ushiriki wako.

73 Appendix II: Elders, Madrasa Teachers and Religious Leaders Questionnaire (English Version). Dear Informants,

In your hands are questionnaires that you are willingly requested to fill in. You also ought to know in advance that all information that you provide will only be employed for the accomplishment of the academic research and not otherwise. The major aim of this research is to investigate the Youths‟ slang use in the Makunduchi Dialect and the opinions of elders and religious leaders towards this usage. I would like to assure you that your information will never in any way be the source of your security endangerment.

INSTRUCTINS

Fill in the blanks or put a tick in the appropriate box as required by a question concerned.

PART 1: Personal Information

Name of the village………………………………..District…………………………………

Sex: Male [ ] Female [ ]

Age 35-40 years [ ] 41-45 years [ ] 46-50 years [ ] 51+ [ ]

PART 11: Questions in relation to the research

1.Have you got any ideas about slang?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

2. Have you ever heard any person using them?

Yes [ ] No [ ] 3. Who are they? Youths [ ] Elders [ ] 4. In which situation do they use them? In their group [ ] In public [ ] 5. Are slangs acceptable morally and spiritually? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6.What are the opinions of emirs on the youths who use slangs? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7. Do slangs have any impacts in religion? Yes [ ] No[ ] 74 8. What is your attitude towards the use of slangs done by youths in MD? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………

Thanks for your participation.

75 Appendix II: Dodoso kwa Wazee, Walimu wa Madrasa na Viongozi wa Dini (Swahili Version).

Wapenzi Watafitiwa

Mikononi mwenu ni masuala hojaji ambayo mnaombwa kjaza kwa ridhaa yenu.Pia mnatakiwa kujua mapema kwamba taarifa zote mtakazozitoa zitatumika kwa lengo la kukamilisha utafiti wa kitaaluma tu na si vyenginevyo.Lengo kuu la utafiti huu ni kuchunguza matumizi ya simo za lahaja ya kimakunduchi kwa vijana na maoni ya wazee na vingozi wa dini kwenye utumiaji huu.Ningependa kuwahakikishieni kwamba taarifa zenu hazitokuwa chanzo cha kuhatarisha usalama wenu kwa vyovyote vile.

MAELEKOZO

Jaza katika mapengo au weka alama katika boksi linalofaa kama inavyotakiwa na suala husika.

SEHEMU YA KWANZA:Taarifa binafsi

Jina la kijiji………………………………..Wilaya………………………………

Jinsi: Mume [ ] Mke [ ]

Umri 35-40 miaka [ ] 41-45 miaka [ ] 46-50 miaka [ ]51+ [ ]

SEHEMU YA PILI: Masuala kuhusiana na utafiti

MAELEKEZO

1. Je! Una mawazo yoyote juu ya tamko simo (msimu)?

Ndio [ ] Hapana [ ]

2. Je! Umeshawahi kumsikia mtu yoyote akizitumia?

Ndio [ ] Hapana [ ]

3. Watu gani hao?

Vijana [ ] Wazee [ ]

4. Katika mazingira gani huwa wanazitumia?

………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… 76 Katika makundi yao [ ] katika hadhara za watu [ ]

5. Je! Misimu inakubalika kimaadli na kiroho (kidini)?

………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………

6.Ni yepi maoni ya Mashekhe kwa vijana wanaotumia misimu?

………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………

7. Je!Misimu ina athari yoyote katika dini?

Ndio [ ] Hapana [ ]

8. Ni upi mtazamo wa watu ju ya matumizi ya misimu katika lahaja ya kimakunduchi?

………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………

Ahsante sana kwa ushiriki wako.

77 Appendix III: Interview Guiding Questions (English Version).

This interview guide aim at analyzing youths‟ slang use in the Makunduchi Dialect.

1. Do you know anything about slang?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. Have you ever heard any group using slang in their conversations?

………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………

3. Which group do you think make high frequency use of slang?

………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………

4. What do you think are the reasons why this group decides to use slangs frequently?

………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………

5. What is your opinion on this usage?

………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………

6. Suggest the ways that you think will make slang usage meaningful in the society.

………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………

Thank you for supporting this study.

78 Appendix IV: Interview Guiding Questions (Kiswahili Version).

This interview guide aims at analysing youths‟ slang use in the Makunduchi Dialect.

1. Je! unajua chochote kuusiana na misimu?

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

2. Je! umeshawahi kulisikia kundi lolote likitumia misimu?

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

3. Ni kundi lipi unafikiria hutumia misimu mara kwa mara?

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

4. Unafikiria ni zipi hasa sababu kwa nini vijana huamua kutumia misimu?

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

5. Ni yepi maoni yako kwenye matumizi haya?

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………

6. Pendekeza namna unayohisi itafanfa matumizi ya misimu yawe ni ya maana

katika jamii.

………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ahsante kwa kuunga mkono utafiti huu.

79 Appendix V: Guide for Focus Group Discussion

Dear respondents, I am Bakari Mohammed Ali Ali who is a student at the University of Dodoma. I am pursuing Master of Arts in Linguistics and currently I am at the stage of writing my dissertation. Therefore, I am collecting information on youths‟ salng use in the Makunduchi Dialect. You are requested to provide honest information to help me accomplish this study. The information you will provide here will be used confidentially and for the purpose of this study only.

1. Are these slangs really exist and used by youth‟s users of the Makunduchi

Dialect?

2. What do you think are the reasons push youths to use slangs in their

conversations?

Thank you very much.

80 Appendix IV: Swahili Version Mwonngozo wa Majadiliano

Wapendwa watafitiwa, jinalanguni Bakari Mohammed Ali, ni mwanafunziwa Chuo

Kikuu cha Dodoma. Ninasoma kozi ya uzamili katika sayansi ya lugha. Na hivi sasa niko katika hatua ya utafiti. Kwa hivyo niko katika hatua ya kukusanya taarifa au maelezo yasiyo kamili juu ya matumizi ya misimu kwa vijana wanaozungumza lahaja ya Kimakunduchi. Naomba munisaidiye kupata taarifa ambazo zitanisaidia katika kukamilisha kazi yangu. Taarifa zenu zitakuwa ni siri na zitatumika kwa kazi hii tu.

1. Hivi ni kweli kwamba misimu hii ipo na inatumiwa na vijana

wanaozungumza lahaja ya Kimakuchi?

2. Hivi unadhani ni zipi hasa sababu zinazopelekea vijana kutumia misimu

katika mazungumzo yao?

81