International Journal of Social Science And Human Research
ISSN(print): 2644-0679, ISSN(online): 2644-0695
Volume 05 Issue 03 March 2022
DOI: 10.47191/ijsshr/v5-i3-52, Impact factor- 5.871
Page No: 1103-1120
Language Maintenance Mechanisms of Kigiriama Language in
Ganze Sub-County, Kilifi County, Kenya
Fredrick Kombe Charo1, Dr. Anashia Nancy Ong’onda2
1
Department of languages and humanities, School of social sciences Mount Kenya University
2
Department of Languages and Linguistics, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Machakos University, Kenya
ABSTRACT: Global figures and reports by UNESCO indicate that 90% of the world’s languages are endangered. Kigiriama not being
a minority language may attract little or no attention in terms of language shift and maintenance investigation. However, in spite
Kigiriama having an estimated number of 600, 000 speakers and the trend at the moment is that many of its speakers and especially the
youth are shifting to the use of Kiswahili language in many domains raises questions on the concept of language shift and maintenance.
Therefore, this study aimed to investigate on language maintenance mechanisms of Kigiriama language. The study employed Fishman’s
Domain theory and Holmes’ theory on language maintenance. The study employed descriptive survey research design. Data was
collected using questionnaires and interviews. The findings of the study reveal that language maintenance in Kigiriama language is done
at family domain, community domain, and media domain and through language planning policy. The study concludes that language the
use of Kigiriama language in both formal and informal will enhance language maintenance efforts of indigenous languages.
KEY WORDS: Language Maintenance, Kigiriama Language, Giriama people, Strategies of Language Maintenance.
1. INTRODUCTION
Language is a social aspect of human life and a fundamental part of human life in society. According to Brown (2007) a language is a
tool for expressing ideas or relating information and messages to other people. Thornborrow (2004) states that language is a fundamental
way people have in establishing identity and of shaping other people‘s views of who they are. Therefore, language cannot be separated
from human life. Global figures and reports by UNESCO indicate that 90% of the world’s languages are endangered hence the need for
strategies of maintaining languages.
Language maintenance is the continuing use of a language in the face of competition from a regionally and socially more powerful
language (Mesthri and Leap, 2000). It also refers to a situation where a speech community, under circumstances that would seem to
favor language shift, holds on to its language (Coulmas, 2005). Batibo (2005) observes that maintenance of a language occurs when a
language retains its vitality even when placed under pressure. Language maintenance is the promotion or protection of the native
language of an individual or of a speech community (Baker and Jones, 2008). Basing on the above definitions language maintenance
from a sociolinguistic perspective is about language use as the notion of competition from a more powerful language conveys. The more
powerful language is typically the language spoken by the majority in society, while the language being “maintained” is a minority or
home language. Language maintenance denotes the continuing use of a language in the face of competition from a regionally and socially
more powerful language. Language maintenance is thus the preservation of the use of a language by a speech community under
conditions where there is a possibility of shift to another language.
Various studies have shown different strategies of language maintenance; Aitchson (1991) argue that old speakers are likely to use the
old language (mothertongue) but they import features of other languages into in it. The young generation continues shifting to the
dominant language to an extent of expressing the old language (mother tongue) which may more socially and economically relevant.
Fishman (1991) argue that a language spoken within the family is tied to its cultural self-identity; it is often parents who make a decision
on whether to teach their mother tongue to their children, or not. Clyne and Kipp (1999) state that home domain is a key element in
language maintenance. They observe that if a language is not maintained in the home domain, then it cannot be maintained elsewhere.
Edwards and Newcombe (2005) study show that the speakers who use the heritage language with their parents at home tend to repeat
the similar process with their children later. Myers-Scotton (2006) states that societal factors such as demographic factors in terms of
IJSSHR, Volume 05 Issue 03 March 2022 www.ijsshr.in Page 1113
, Language Maintenance Mechanisms of Kigiriama Language in Ganze Sub-County, Kilifi County, Kenya
large numbers of speakers of the same L1 living together are likely to maintain their language and occupational factors where members
working with fellow speakers of the L1 are likely to maintain it, with restrictive socio-economic mobility, educational factors. Lee
(2013) found an issue of language maintenance and shift among the Chilean community in Auckland. She concluded that the participants
not only showed an awareness of the advantages of speaking more than one language, but also identified Spanish as an important and
useful language on the world stage.
Kigiriama language is a language spoken by Giriama people in Kenya. Giriama people are one of the nine ethnic groups that make up
the Mijikenda the others being, Kauma, Chonyi, Jibana, Kambe, Ribe, Rabai, Duruma and Digo. Giriama and the Digo are the most
well-known, most populous, and therefore, most dominant along the Kenyan coast. The mijikenda people occupy the coastal strip
extending from Lamu in the North to the Kenya/Tanzania. The Giriama people inhabit the area bordered by coastal cities of Mombasa
and Malindi and towns such as Mariakani and Kaloleni. Giriama people having been surrounded by Kiswahili people are slowly shifting
from the use of Kigiriama language to Kiswahili language. According to Gordon (2005) Kigiriama has an estimated 600, 000 speakers,
while Kiswahili has an estimated 700,000 monolingual speakers in Kenya and 33 million speakers across Eastern and Central Africa.
Giriama speakers are currently shifting from speaking Kigiriama to Kiswahili which may affect the vitality of Kigiriama language in
the future.
Kigiriama not being a minority language may attract little or no attention in terms of language mainetenance investigation. However, in
spite Kigiriama having an estimated number of 600, 000 speakers, the trend at the moment is that many of its speakers and especially
the youth are shifting to the use of Kiswahili language in many domains and English when at school. This worrying trend is the reason
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated the 21st day of February as International
Mother Language Day. This designation is encouraged by the fact that there have been many of mother tongue/local languages that
come into extinction in the last century.
The locality in which Kigiriama language is spoken is surrounded by Mombasa and Malindi city and Kaloleni town where is Kiswahili
is spoken. Thus, the shift from Kigirima to Kiswahili is prone. Therefore, this paper investigates the possible language maintenance
strategies of the Kigiriama language. The study has one main quest which is to:
i. Establish factors that support language maintenance of Kigiriama language
The focus of the study is on the strategies in maintaining Kigiriama language. It is hoped that the study is going to be a springboard for
further studies on Kigiriama language in Kenya. Secondly, the government of Kenya in the new constitution insists on the promotion of
‘indegenous’ languages, to make them recognized and used in the curriculum, communication, technology and research. The study of
language shift and maintenance in Kenya is important since it might be insightful to language planning and policy makers and consider
Kigiriama language to be used as a medium of instruction in primary or secondary schools in Kenya. This therefore, means that this
study is useful for language policy law makers in Kenya.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This paper was anchored within the framework of Fishman’s (1964, 1968, 1972, 1991) domain theory and Holmes theory on language
maintenance in (2006). According to Fishman (1964) speech situations can be classified into broader groupings called domains on the
basis of similarity of social characteristics. Fishman proposed the concept of ''Domain' in order to specify the larger institutional role-
contexts within which habitual language use occurs in multilingual settings (Fishman, 1968). Some of the relevant domains for
describing language use in relatively complex multilingual societies include family, friendship, religion, education, work sphere and
government. This phenomenon is termed by Hughes (1970) as linguistic division of labour. According to Hughes (1970) in a society
where two languages are used, the two languages are not used for the same purpose but in different contexts. Fishman (1991) argues
that the domain theory is grounded on the maxim of: who speaks what language when and where. Fishbone contents that a domain is a
socio-cultural construct abstracted from topics of communications, relationships between communicators, and locales of
communication, in accord with the institutions of a society and the spheres of activity of a culture, in such a way that individual behaviour
and social patterns can be distinguished from each other and yet related to each other. Worth noting is that domains are defined regardless
of their number in terms of institutional contexts or socio-ecological co-occurrences. They are based on the major clusters of interaction
situations that occur in particular multilingual settings.
The domain theory is relevant to the study. The researcher grouped the participants into different domains of family, friendship, religion,
education, work sphere and government and find out whether they use the Kigiriama language or the Kiswahili or English language in
their domains. The researcher assessed whether in some domains Giriama speakers are resistant to shift than others. The researcher also
IJSSHR, Volume 05 Issue 03 March 2022 www.ijsshr.in Page 1114
ISSN(print): 2644-0679, ISSN(online): 2644-0695
Volume 05 Issue 03 March 2022
DOI: 10.47191/ijsshr/v5-i3-52, Impact factor- 5.871
Page No: 1103-1120
Language Maintenance Mechanisms of Kigiriama Language in
Ganze Sub-County, Kilifi County, Kenya
Fredrick Kombe Charo1, Dr. Anashia Nancy Ong’onda2
1
Department of languages and humanities, School of social sciences Mount Kenya University
2
Department of Languages and Linguistics, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Machakos University, Kenya
ABSTRACT: Global figures and reports by UNESCO indicate that 90% of the world’s languages are endangered. Kigiriama not being
a minority language may attract little or no attention in terms of language shift and maintenance investigation. However, in spite
Kigiriama having an estimated number of 600, 000 speakers and the trend at the moment is that many of its speakers and especially the
youth are shifting to the use of Kiswahili language in many domains raises questions on the concept of language shift and maintenance.
Therefore, this study aimed to investigate on language maintenance mechanisms of Kigiriama language. The study employed Fishman’s
Domain theory and Holmes’ theory on language maintenance. The study employed descriptive survey research design. Data was
collected using questionnaires and interviews. The findings of the study reveal that language maintenance in Kigiriama language is done
at family domain, community domain, and media domain and through language planning policy. The study concludes that language the
use of Kigiriama language in both formal and informal will enhance language maintenance efforts of indigenous languages.
KEY WORDS: Language Maintenance, Kigiriama Language, Giriama people, Strategies of Language Maintenance.
1. INTRODUCTION
Language is a social aspect of human life and a fundamental part of human life in society. According to Brown (2007) a language is a
tool for expressing ideas or relating information and messages to other people. Thornborrow (2004) states that language is a fundamental
way people have in establishing identity and of shaping other people‘s views of who they are. Therefore, language cannot be separated
from human life. Global figures and reports by UNESCO indicate that 90% of the world’s languages are endangered hence the need for
strategies of maintaining languages.
Language maintenance is the continuing use of a language in the face of competition from a regionally and socially more powerful
language (Mesthri and Leap, 2000). It also refers to a situation where a speech community, under circumstances that would seem to
favor language shift, holds on to its language (Coulmas, 2005). Batibo (2005) observes that maintenance of a language occurs when a
language retains its vitality even when placed under pressure. Language maintenance is the promotion or protection of the native
language of an individual or of a speech community (Baker and Jones, 2008). Basing on the above definitions language maintenance
from a sociolinguistic perspective is about language use as the notion of competition from a more powerful language conveys. The more
powerful language is typically the language spoken by the majority in society, while the language being “maintained” is a minority or
home language. Language maintenance denotes the continuing use of a language in the face of competition from a regionally and socially
more powerful language. Language maintenance is thus the preservation of the use of a language by a speech community under
conditions where there is a possibility of shift to another language.
Various studies have shown different strategies of language maintenance; Aitchson (1991) argue that old speakers are likely to use the
old language (mothertongue) but they import features of other languages into in it. The young generation continues shifting to the
dominant language to an extent of expressing the old language (mother tongue) which may more socially and economically relevant.
Fishman (1991) argue that a language spoken within the family is tied to its cultural self-identity; it is often parents who make a decision
on whether to teach their mother tongue to their children, or not. Clyne and Kipp (1999) state that home domain is a key element in
language maintenance. They observe that if a language is not maintained in the home domain, then it cannot be maintained elsewhere.
Edwards and Newcombe (2005) study show that the speakers who use the heritage language with their parents at home tend to repeat
the similar process with their children later. Myers-Scotton (2006) states that societal factors such as demographic factors in terms of
IJSSHR, Volume 05 Issue 03 March 2022 www.ijsshr.in Page 1113
, Language Maintenance Mechanisms of Kigiriama Language in Ganze Sub-County, Kilifi County, Kenya
large numbers of speakers of the same L1 living together are likely to maintain their language and occupational factors where members
working with fellow speakers of the L1 are likely to maintain it, with restrictive socio-economic mobility, educational factors. Lee
(2013) found an issue of language maintenance and shift among the Chilean community in Auckland. She concluded that the participants
not only showed an awareness of the advantages of speaking more than one language, but also identified Spanish as an important and
useful language on the world stage.
Kigiriama language is a language spoken by Giriama people in Kenya. Giriama people are one of the nine ethnic groups that make up
the Mijikenda the others being, Kauma, Chonyi, Jibana, Kambe, Ribe, Rabai, Duruma and Digo. Giriama and the Digo are the most
well-known, most populous, and therefore, most dominant along the Kenyan coast. The mijikenda people occupy the coastal strip
extending from Lamu in the North to the Kenya/Tanzania. The Giriama people inhabit the area bordered by coastal cities of Mombasa
and Malindi and towns such as Mariakani and Kaloleni. Giriama people having been surrounded by Kiswahili people are slowly shifting
from the use of Kigiriama language to Kiswahili language. According to Gordon (2005) Kigiriama has an estimated 600, 000 speakers,
while Kiswahili has an estimated 700,000 monolingual speakers in Kenya and 33 million speakers across Eastern and Central Africa.
Giriama speakers are currently shifting from speaking Kigiriama to Kiswahili which may affect the vitality of Kigiriama language in
the future.
Kigiriama not being a minority language may attract little or no attention in terms of language mainetenance investigation. However, in
spite Kigiriama having an estimated number of 600, 000 speakers, the trend at the moment is that many of its speakers and especially
the youth are shifting to the use of Kiswahili language in many domains and English when at school. This worrying trend is the reason
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated the 21st day of February as International
Mother Language Day. This designation is encouraged by the fact that there have been many of mother tongue/local languages that
come into extinction in the last century.
The locality in which Kigiriama language is spoken is surrounded by Mombasa and Malindi city and Kaloleni town where is Kiswahili
is spoken. Thus, the shift from Kigirima to Kiswahili is prone. Therefore, this paper investigates the possible language maintenance
strategies of the Kigiriama language. The study has one main quest which is to:
i. Establish factors that support language maintenance of Kigiriama language
The focus of the study is on the strategies in maintaining Kigiriama language. It is hoped that the study is going to be a springboard for
further studies on Kigiriama language in Kenya. Secondly, the government of Kenya in the new constitution insists on the promotion of
‘indegenous’ languages, to make them recognized and used in the curriculum, communication, technology and research. The study of
language shift and maintenance in Kenya is important since it might be insightful to language planning and policy makers and consider
Kigiriama language to be used as a medium of instruction in primary or secondary schools in Kenya. This therefore, means that this
study is useful for language policy law makers in Kenya.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
This paper was anchored within the framework of Fishman’s (1964, 1968, 1972, 1991) domain theory and Holmes theory on language
maintenance in (2006). According to Fishman (1964) speech situations can be classified into broader groupings called domains on the
basis of similarity of social characteristics. Fishman proposed the concept of ''Domain' in order to specify the larger institutional role-
contexts within which habitual language use occurs in multilingual settings (Fishman, 1968). Some of the relevant domains for
describing language use in relatively complex multilingual societies include family, friendship, religion, education, work sphere and
government. This phenomenon is termed by Hughes (1970) as linguistic division of labour. According to Hughes (1970) in a society
where two languages are used, the two languages are not used for the same purpose but in different contexts. Fishman (1991) argues
that the domain theory is grounded on the maxim of: who speaks what language when and where. Fishbone contents that a domain is a
socio-cultural construct abstracted from topics of communications, relationships between communicators, and locales of
communication, in accord with the institutions of a society and the spheres of activity of a culture, in such a way that individual behaviour
and social patterns can be distinguished from each other and yet related to each other. Worth noting is that domains are defined regardless
of their number in terms of institutional contexts or socio-ecological co-occurrences. They are based on the major clusters of interaction
situations that occur in particular multilingual settings.
The domain theory is relevant to the study. The researcher grouped the participants into different domains of family, friendship, religion,
education, work sphere and government and find out whether they use the Kigiriama language or the Kiswahili or English language in
their domains. The researcher assessed whether in some domains Giriama speakers are resistant to shift than others. The researcher also
IJSSHR, Volume 05 Issue 03 March 2022 www.ijsshr.in Page 1114
