A phonological analysis of Kenyan English

Abstract

This study analyzes the phonological features of Kenyan English (KenE) defined as the variety of English spoken and written by educated Kenyans. Its objectives were: to identify the phonemic inventory of KenE; to show how this phonemic inventory differs from that of British English (BrE); to describe the stress system of KenE nouns, verbs and adjectives; and to explain, with the help of available literature in phonology, the possible factors leading to the emergence of a KenE pronunciation. The choice of word classes was motivated by their nature as content words, thus their critical role in communicating meaning. The study was based on two theories: First, “The Life Cycle of Non-Native Englishes” as propounded by Moag (1983) which demonstrates the existence of a non-native variety of English in Kenya –KenE, and second, Metrical Phonology Theory as advanced by Liberman and Prince (1977), which aids this study in formalizing KenE phonology in terms of stress placement. Data was collected at Nairobi School, a marking centre for the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) English language Paper 2005, through audio taperecording of readings of prepared texts by 24 teachers of English of various first languages. Recorded data was then transcribed and analyzed for segmental features and stress placement in auditory (impressionistic) terms. Stress placement was then described using the propositions of Metrical Phonology. The study revealed that there is a significant degree of variation between KenE and BrE in terms of phonemic inventory and stress assignment in words. Evidence from the data indicated that KenE differs from BrE due to three reasons: linguistic transfer occasioned by contact with local Kenyan languages; language learning strategies like overgeneralization and simplification; and the written linguistic input that most Kenyans learning English are exposed to. It is the contention in this study therefore, that KenE is a distinct variety of English and, as a local model that is widely acceptable to Kenyans, KenE could provide the standard for English teaching in the Kenyan educational curriculum.