Lexical Borrowing in Spoken Lukabaras in a Multilingual Context

Abstract

This paper investigated the borrowing of lexical items into spoken Lukabaras due to the influence of Nandi language in a multilingual setting. The data was collected in Chepsaita Scheme in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The scheme is that of a multilingual setting and presents a phenomenon in which the languages that come into contact apparently influence each other. The predominant language is Nandi, but other minority languages such as Lukabaras, Lutachooni, Luwanga, Lulogooli and Lubukusu are also spoken there. As a result, one of the outcomes of the contact is the transfer of linguistic features which occur at the lexical level. This paper therefore set out to identify and describe the lexical items that the speakers of Lukabaras borrow from the dominant Nandi language in the home and business domains of interaction. In this paper, the lexical items were collected through audio recording and analyzed descriptively. The findings of the study showed that lexical borrowing into spoken Lukabaras in Chepsaita was a communication strategy used by minority Lukabaras speakers to coexist with the dominant Nandi community. However, the borrowing constrained communication between Lukabaras speakers using the borrowed versions and the nayive Lukabaras speakers not residing in Chepsaita Scheme.