Sheng is the 'Slanguage' of the Future offers plenty of food for sociolinguistic thought: here we have a columnist at once decrying the prescriptivists who are offended by this urban "slang" and urging that Kenya's "tribal" languages be abandoned to extinction in favor of this new trans-tribal language. (For a more academic Sheng link: Talking Sheng: The role of a hybrid language in the construction of identity and youth culture in Nairobi, Kenya.)
Other links:
Anthro-Ling offers a myth in Rumsen Ohlone - I guarantee you won't find this elsewhere online...
Bulbul on languages named after products (no, not as an advertising gimmick!)
And Language Hat on Wade-Giles, edifying for Chinese learners anywhere
2 comments:
sasa bwana!
very fit!
I was in Kenya a number of years back and stunned at the popularity of sheng... I even heard street kids rapping in sheng. It is sure to be heavily influenced by the huge social presence of Kibera, which is by now an institution of Nairobi life.
You can also find more on sheng ... the words, idioms and translations on www.sheng.co.ke
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