English and Kiswahili Lexical Localization in Kibena

Abstract

This paper has examined how English and Kiswahili borrowed expressions have been localized in Kibena. The study was guided by Kachru theory of language dominance and deficit, which deals with language contact and lexical borrowing between donor and recipient languages. In this study English and Kiswahili were the donor language and Kibena was the recipient language whereby the Kibena speakers consciously or unconsciously localized English and Kibena words in Kibena during communication process. The study employed a mixed approach and a descriptive research design in data collection, presentation, and discussion. Data were collected from fourteen written texts and fifty respondents through a questionnaire, interview, and documentary review. The data were analyzed using conceptual and rational content analysis methods. The findings underscore the significance of language contact in developing Kibena lexical knowledge through new lexical creation, borrowing, or localization in order to fill the lexical gap and for prestige attainment. The study realized that English and Kiswahili lexical which were localization in Kibena influenced the development of new words in Kibena through loan blend words formation, neologism creation and word to word translation techniques. The language contact was found to be among of the language’s vocabularies enrichment through words borrowing, naturalization, and adaptation. It is recommended that other research be done on the role of the phonological adaptation process of English and Kiswahili words into Kibena during lexical localization.