Thanks Rigia for the clarificationOn 27 February 2012 20:06, Warigia Bowman <warigia@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Solomon
Sheng is clearly a dialect, not a language. I did not say that Sheng is an endangered language. I said I work on kamusi, which works on digitizing endangered languages. I said Sheng is a creole, or as someone else mentioned, a pidgin.
Yours, RigiaOn Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 10:56 AM, Solomon Mbũrũ Kamau <solo.mburu@gmail.com> wrote:
Good people,
AFAIK, sheng is not a language. For a language to fit in that category, it takes a long period of time to develop in terms of phonetics etc. But with Sheng, today you refer to something, tomorrow, it's not referred so, yet it has not changed a bit. Sheng is a mode of communication which is popular in one area.
And Wairigia, how do you categorize sheng as an endangered language, yet it does not qualify as one?On 27 February 2012 19:39, Warigia Bowman <warigia@gmail.com> wrote:
Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/solo.mburu%40gmail.comWapendwa Wenzangu
It would be good if we could all speak 1) Kiswahili Sanifu 2) Our local language and 3) some colonial language such as English or French
I am on the board of www.kamusi.org. We are interested in digitizing endangered languages.
Sheng is a vibrant and growing creole, and should be respected as such. It probably does not need formalizing, as it is living and changing daily, but it may benefit from documentation.
WarigiaOn Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 10:27 AM, Daniel Waweru <daniel.waweru@gmail.com> wrote:Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/warigia%40gmail.com(1) Sheng is already widely-spoken in urban bits of Kenya, and knowledge of it is essential effectively to communicate with anyone under 40.
(2) There's good research indicating that Sheng is not a creole or a pidgin, but rather a dialect of Swahili. (Paper by Chege Githiora attached.)(3) It is thoroughly mysterious why Kenyans should speak only those languages that are widely spoken by its trading partners, especially in light of the fact that those trading partners do not speak only the language of their trading partners. Chinese, which you seem to have assumed is a single language, is actually a family of dialects, several of which are not mutually intelligible. I have not seen any move by the government of China to restrict their use, or formal study of them, on the ground that it is time to use only English.
Daniel Waweru
www.kenyaimagine.com
Art and analysis; debate and opinion.
On 27 February 2012 11:18, James Mbugua <jgmbugua@gmail.com> wrote:Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/daniel.waweru%40gmail.comSheng will go nowhere and formalization is a waste of time.
The 1billion Chinese and the 1billion Indians and 600million Europeans
and nearly 800million Africans do not and will not speak it.
English as we all know is the language of business and Vision 2030
requires us to monumentally grow our export and services sector which
requires international interaction.
Sheng, like Nigerian and Jamaican pidgin is in safe hands with touts
and DJs. They will keep the flame alive.
Regards
> _______________________________________________
On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 2:02 PM, robert yawe <robertyawe@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I believe that if we are serious about turning sheng into a formal language
> then we need a site like http://www.urbandictionary.com/ if we are to
> harmonise across the country or region.
>
> As I keep repeating, annoyingly, I grew up in eastlands (mimi sio mbabi) and
> one thing I know is that sheng is not homogeneous beyond 100 meters of where
> you are standing.
>
> Regards
>
> Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> Kenya
>
> Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
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