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13© Bartoo, Phylis 2009
Research article
This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Language policy among Somali refugee teenagers in Kenya
Phylis Bartoo
Studies on refugees in Kenya have particularly dwelled on human rights violations. Although some of these studies have touched on language matters in the refugee camps, by and large, they have not addressed the issue of how the refugees are coping linguistically in urban areas given that the Kenyan constitution on refugees is not stated clearly. The focus of this paper is on language choice among the Somali refugee teenagers in Kenya. Prior to the migration, the teenagers were living in a country where over 80% of the people are monolingual and Somali language is exclusively used as a mother tongue and as a medium of instruction at all levels of education. Kenya is a multilingual country with over forty languages. What options do the teenagers have and what linguistic decisions have they taken up? Language choice operates within any speech community, whatever its size and the study discusses language usage in various domains namely: home, school, friendship, religion and the neighborhood. Questionnaires and interviews are used to elicit data from 30 respondents in diverse domains. The paper hopes to contribute literature on refugees and inform language policy makes on the linguistic state of the refugees in Kenya's urban areas.
Keywords
language choice; domain; speech community; refugees For citation
Bartoo, Phylis. 2009. "Language policy among Somali refugee teenagers in Kenya." Language. Text. Society 3 (1): e38-e51. https://ltsj.online/2009-03-1-bartoo. (Journal title at the time of publication: SamaraAltLinguo E-Journal.)
Egerton University, Kenya
E-mail: phylisbartoo@yahoo.com
Received: 1 March 2009
Reviewing editor: Andrey G. Kirillov Accepted: 15 May 2009
Published online: 1 June 2009
Abstract
The effect of mass migration has been creation of radically new types of human being: people who root themselves in ideas rather than places, in memories as much as material things, people who have been obliged to define themselves- because they are so defined by others- by their otherness; people in whose deepest selves strange fusion occur, unprecedented unions between what they are
and where they find themselves.
Salman Rushdie, Imaginary Homeland
1. INTRODUCTION
The focus of this paper is on language use among the Somali refugee teenagers in Kenya's Eastleigh, a suburb within the capital city, Nairobi. The majority of urban refugees in Kenya live in Eastleigh, a densely populated low-income area. The paper addresses language use among the teenagers, focusing linguistic choices in different domains. Domains are relational arenas within which unpredictable linguistic behaviours takes place (Fishman 1989, 1999). A domain can be a home, school, place of work, family, neighbourhood and friendship which the study utilizes. Fasold (1990) points out that there are situations when a language is used in certain institutional contexts (domain) and this are the areas where social behaviour is practiced and normative allocation of language within groups; which Fishman maintain that researchers must utilize such institutions.
The domain of language policy operates within a speech community, of whatever size and may be defined or definable social or political or religious group or community ranging from a family, sports team or neighborhood or village or work place or organization or city or nation state or regional alliance (Spolsky 2003, Kamuangu 2008). As a result, the paper describes the language policy of the Somali teenagers in relation to their language behavior and patterns of language use in the Kenyan context. Cooper (2003) proposes the family unit as the starting point in any language policy and Spolsky adjuncts that it should also include other institutions such as church, and the school domains which operate on micro level planning.
Somalis are in Kenya because of the war which has ravaged their country for over a decade. The flow of people in the uncertain and often temporary lives of refugee groups throughout the world call into question concerns to language entitlement, culture, assets and capabilities (Knowledge and skills) and, at the same time, the complex ways in which they engage with the issue of the language within their redefined lives (Rassool 2007). Thus how do displaced people use language in a context which is radically different from their previous own?
1.1. Kenya and Somali sociolinguistic profile
Kenya is a typical multilingual state where over forty languages are spoken. The distribution of the language spoken in Kenya depends on the source. For example CKRC (2000) gives a figure of 70 languages, Webb and Kembo-Sure (2001) puts it at 42, Ogechi (2003) adds Sheng as a language.1 In Kenya English is an exo-glossic official language used in government, international business, diplomacy etc. Kiswahili is an endo-glossic national language that is used
1 Sheng is a mixture of different languages. This involves a combination of different words from varied languages in one sentence.
for government administration and casual inter ethnic communication. The rest are used for intra-ethnic communication in the homes and the rural areas. Thus, Kenya is a trilingual country with individual Kenyans tending towards degrees of proficiency in vernacular Swahili and English. The vernacular is acquired at home and in the neighbourhood with co-ethnics in both rural and urban contexts. English and Swahili are also learned within the school system with English proposed in the official policy as a medium of Education.
Somalia as a nation has a common language. Somali is a mother tongue of over 95% of the population in Somali. Somali language is the most powerful sign of nationality; the Somalis consider speaking their language as a sufficient condition for nationality In fact the first law which was to define one as a Somali citizen states that a Somali should be seen as a person whose mother tongue is Somali language and follows Somali customs and also a person who by origin, language or tradition belongs to the Somali nation (Warsame 2001). Other languages in Somalia are:
a) Arabic: It is second most common language in Somalia. Arabic is widely understood in Somali for religion and geographical reasons. As early as 13th century Arabic was introduced to help in the teaching of Quran. Since then many attempts were made to develop Arabic concurrently with Somali. This has led to the dominance of Arabic literacy in Quran schools. In fact it is Arabic language which enhanced the written Somali and it is regarded as most prized language in Somaliland (Warsame 2001).
b) English; Many Somalis know some English especially the Somalis whose region was inhabited by the British. English was a language of the colonialists.
c) Italian: Older generations can still speak Italian.
International and regional treaties, declarations and other instruments which language rights and even the recognition of degree of autonomy for territorially based linguistic communities have proliferated in an attempt to protect linguistic human rights. Linguistic human rights refer to the number of human rights and freedoms that interact in a variety of situations. However, considerably more information is needed about the levels of use, language maintenance, language attitudes, and the language usage in Kenya that goes beyond Whiteley's (1974) description. Whiteley categorizes Kenyan languages as traditionally belonging to four groups: Para-nilotic, Nilotic, Bantu and the Cushitic. Each linguistic group has its own homeland; however, there are a number of forces which serve to attract people away from their own areas to other groups and thus can result in linguistic change. In order to develop a coherent language policy to cater for all people including the minorities, studies have to be done on various linguistic aspects of the societal members including refugees, which the current study set up to do.
1.2. Domain Analysis
The teenager's linguistic behaviour is discussed in relation to language choices they make. Some domains are formal (school) whereas others are informal (home, neighbourhood, family) and hence languages dominate in other domains more than others. The domains in the study are used to gauge language usage and hence gives a picture of how the languages are distributed and should be related to a particular population, Fishman (1989), and in the foregoing study, it relates to the Somali refugees. Domains are defined, regardless of number, in terms of institutional
contexts and their similar behavioural co-occurrences, for example a family can be composed of few members whereas a school can consist of thousands of students. A domain is a construct which refers to the sphere of activity representing a combination of specific times, settings and the role relationships.
Spolsky (2003) emphasizes that when a person moves from one domain to another social relations, topics and activities change. Spolsky further avers that in any language choice situation, three conditions affect language choice: first, the speakers language proficiency (zero proficiency preventing choice), second the desire of the speaker to use his/her stronger language and thirdly the speaker trying to accommodate to the wishes of the audience. Consequently language choice is impacted and for this reason, domains are useful places for making linguistic generalizations pertaining to particular groups of people. The teenagers subscribe to varied domains and their roles keep changing depending on the responsibilities, rights and the obligations. What implications do these expectations have on the use of their language? In this section, the study argues that the teenagers use different languages depending on the expectations of the domain. This is because domains are multiparty activity sites where teenagers acquire varied behaviour. The domains are also seen as cultural spaces where languages, cultures and diverse backgrounds come together depending on the networks which are at play at that particular time. What will then be the outcome of the fusion of the languages of the Somalis and the Kenyans in Eastleigh? Identity construction also takes place and you chose a language depending on what identity you want to foreground. Besides the adolescent age is a very radical period and the teenagers is out to cut out and edge for themselves in the transitional stages of human growth and development.
From a Second Language Acquisition perspective, researchers from this paradigm see the domains as structured cultural spaces that play a role in the distribution of discourse practices and the production and reproduction of social orders (Pennycook 2001). This is also related to Norton's (1997) idea on the subjectivity and the subject position. An individual can occupy different positions in different contexts, thus one can be a subject or recipient in different circumstances. Some of these domains carry expectations for using different languages. A Somali can be required to use Arabic when in the mosque and English and Kiswahili for instance in an example of the Kenyan context. Domains attempt to summate the major clusters of interaction that occur in clusters of multilingual settings and involving clusters of interlocutors (Fishman 1972, Romaine 1994). Fishman affirms that in bilingual communities, languages are associated with different domains. A minority language is the one which has a relatively small number of speakers living within a domain of a more widely spoken language whose knowledge is usually necessary for participation in society.
2. METHODOLOGY
To establish how the teenagers use language in Kenya, the study used the snowball sampling method to obtain a sample of 30 subjects. The researcher used the subjects to locate others, what Milroy (1980) referred to as a friend-of-a friend. This is because of the vulnerability of the subjects being refugees who are shrouded in a lot of secrecy. Questionnaires were used to collect data. In addition the teenagers were interviewed to gain more insight into the use of
language. Data analysis was done using SPSS 12 and thematic content analysis. Data was transcribed and recurring themes analyzed and the results discussed below.
3. RESULTS
3.1. Family and the Home Domains
This domain centres on the languages used by the teenagers amongst their family members and the extended family. This also includes the relatives who may not be part of the nuclear family. Four languages were reported by the teenagers to be in use in this particular domain. The respondents indicated that that they use Somali as the dominant language within the family. 93.3% confirmed that their language of choice is Somali. Som/kis/arab combination resulted to a score of 3.3% whereas som/kis/English scored 3.3% as well. This implies that the Somali still retain their language and hence other languages have not infiltrated into these domains. The few cases were Arabic and Kiswahili were reported to be used by the teenagers at home were seen as instances when they have relatives who are Arabs. Majority of the teenagers came to Kenya around ten years ago. Given this period of time it is expected that other Kenyan languages have made a way into the domain but it seems little has happened. In Kenya, majority of the speakers from diverse backgrounds use Kiswahili and English in urban areas. The Somali teenagers seem to be the exception rather than the norm. Majority of them had close associations with their family members who happen to be Somalis as well.
Somali language dominates all the other languages with the rest of the other languages having very little impact. People in families at times find themselves in relations where members speak different languages but for the case of the Somalis, the research established that Somalis marry within their family members, a tradition not common in Kenya. The result is that people of the same family have overlapping relations and thus retain a common language. Edwards (2004) affirms that there are opportunities to use one language within a family if they belong to a minority community as in the case of the Somalis in the Kenyan context. This renders the family to be focused and cohesive and thus language becomes a binding factor.
Spolsky (2003) avows that the domination of one language in the family is the result of the family having a high proficiency in one language alone as compared to other languages. Language will be based on practice and ideology and hence the family members agree (silently) on which language to be used. Most of the teenagers reported that their parents expect them to speak Somali. 'How do you speak to your parents in a language she cannot understand and the owners of the language don't want you? This is how a respondent emotionally expressed herself on the use of other languages at home. Research has also found that immigrants shift to languages of the country of destiny but the position of the Somalis is exceptional. This is as a result of the value attached to their language and more so the reception in the host country. Most of the teenagers reported cases of harassment and discrimination within the Kenyan context. They are arrested any time and threatened with repatriation and thus affect their attitude to the languages. Most of the teenagers expressed their wish to relocate to go back to their country when things get back to normal or relocate to other foreign countries in the West. The vulnerability of the Somalis as a refugee group makes them even more integrated as the study revealed that they are shrouded
with a lot of secrecy to shield them from forces within the Kenyan context that might not be in their favour for example police harassment in cases of terrorism. Besides, Somalis being exclusively Muslims, their feeding habits are varied hence may not be able to promote the local industry. This could be a contributing factor in their inability to integrate into the Kenyan community and even the Kenyan languages.
Popular prejudice also plays in the linguistic dispensation of the teenagers and can be undermining in use of a particular language in a domain. The Somalis highly regard their culture and language. In fact in popular discourse among the Somalis you become an outcast when you loose your language. The teenagers reported that if they don't use their language with their family members they will be considered outcasts.
This can actually undermine the acquisition and use of other languages in specific domains. In such situations the older generations of the Somalis seem to be preoccupied with the day-to-day survival activities that they seem to prescribe the same for their children. The Somalis appear to have adopted a language policy that dictates that the Somali be spoken at home. This is to enhance family communication which is crucial in family relations and makes each member to be understood by the other. Edwards (2004) adjuncts that the loss of a language in such situations as the case of the refugees impacts on many social situations. Thus it makes a duty for the parents to pass on the language to the next generation and that explains why the Somalis exclusively speak Somali with their family members. The home and family domains represent the last defence against the influence of the language of the majority and it is a very crucial one in relation to language use. At the home, children have a duty to obey the parents and therefore follow the dictates of the elders in the family who hold senior positions.
Edwards (2004) opines that people who come from minority communities have more opportunities to use their language as they are more cohesive and focused. This is also sustained when parents have minimal knowledge of other languages spoken in the larger context. Role relations also play an important role in the choice of language within the social networks. In the cases where a teenager speaks with a father, mother, uncle or grand parents the language use is basically Somali. Where the teenagers are interacting with age mates such as cousins, niece, and nephews the language changes and in most cases is either Kiswahili or English. Where the relatives are Arabs, they speak Arabic, those who gave some of their relatives as Arabs are in most cases those who teach at Madrassa schools or the leaders of the mosque such as the Sheikhs.
3.2. Friendship Domain
The friendship domain portrays the language use among the teenagers and their close friends. The friends are categorized as those who are very intimate and do activities together. These are the people who are very important to the respondent in one way or another but not fall in the category of the other domains which are used in the analysis. Friends could be in other parts of town, another town or have moved to new locations but they still maintain contacts with them. The teenagers were also to indicate the reason why they meet and give the language(s) they use.
The friendship domain had the highest distribution of language. English and Kiswahili are the dominant languages as 20% of the teenagers reported to use a combination of English and Kiswahili with their friends. 20% use Kiswahili whereas 13% use Somali. It is expected that in this domain that Somali language is least used, though it doesn't seem to be the case. The respondents also relate with the Somali friends who are originally from Kenya and this could explain the reason why Somali is still a popular language in the friendship domain. However there are situations when the teenagers relate to friends who are not necessarily Somalis and that calls for the use of a language which communicates to them all hence the intrusion of other languages.
A notable innovation in this domain is the use of Sheng. As mentioned earlier Sheng is a slang language which a combination of many languages and popular among the youth in Kenya's urban areas. It is found in this domain though in a very small percentage of 3.3%. This is a very interesting finding in the sense that it is expected that such a language should be used by majority of the teenagers especially the male teenagers. This puts the question of integration whereby one points out that Somalis have not fully integrated into the mainstream society of the Kenyan community.
Furthermore the activities the teenagers and their friends engage in are very revealing. Most of them reported that they meet with their friends in the following circumstances:
1) Share the same bus from school
2) Attend weddings
3) Library to do assignments
4) At the computer cafes
5) Mosque
6) Attending Madrassa
7) Go to the market together
8) Drama festivals
9) Matches e.g. football, basketball etc
10) Cyber cafes to read mails
All the above are typical teenage activities and they reported that the networks are imperative to them. The normative influence which should be seen here, given he nature of the meeting circumstances is what Milroy referred to as 'innovative influences' where interaction with others outside their linguistic community is inevitable. Friendship is a domain which has obligations which should be protected if constant rights and obligations have to be protected. This seems to be the case but the pace is very low and the idea of vulnerability of their status comes into play. Most of them reported that they do most of the activities with their fellow Somalis. This means that they are still 'suspicious' and 'cautious' in their undertaking in the environment.
As much as the teenagers would wish to be close-knit with the members of the linguistic community, the tasks they do cut across other people in the society and it calls for other networks. This is seen by the by the use of the languages whereby Kiswahili leads with 20% followed by Somali 13% and English 6.7%. It can be predicted that given time the teenagers will be able to increase the use of English and Kiswahili and the use of Somali will decline.
3.3. School Domain
The teenagers in the study attend various schools within East Leigh, some include, Soyal, Muslim Academy and Eastleigh school. The languages used in school outside the classroom are Somali, Kiswahili and English. The use of language in this particular domain depends who is interacting with who. First, in the situation where the teenager's networks are Kenyan based, the language choice is either English or Kiswahili. Second, where there networks are Somalis they speak Somali language. They also switch codes between English, Kiswahili and Somali.
In the school domain the teenagers have become increasingly involved in the use of Kiswahili and English because of the encounters in school. English is used as the medium of instruction in the Kenyan schools and Kiswahili is taught as a compulsory subject in the school curricular. The teenagers were to report the use of language when they are outside the classroom because when they are in class they use either English or Kiswahili. 66% indicated that they use a combination of Kiswahili and English. 26% use English whereas Kiswahili and Somali are 3.3 respectively. Somali language still finds itself in the school domain and even threatening to outdo Kiswahili. This takes us back to the feelings of the teenagers on the attitude towards Kiswahili that they see it as having no economic value in their lives. From the previous section it was seen that the teenagers maintain social networks with their Somali counterparts in school. This serves a way of maintaining their language and culture as there is continuous link with the Somali counterparts and ideological resources. But in the cases where topics of discussion might not be within the Somali cultural experience, other languages have to intervene.
Interestingly, some respondents indicated that they can speak Kikuyu, which is one of the dominant local languages in Kenya with a big population of speakers. Most people from the Kikuyu community do business in Eastleigh hence possibility of building networks with the Somalis in Eastleigh. On further inquest it was noted that the use of Kikuyu language was just for exchanging pleasantries and greetings but no evident use of language in a larger extent. The study also discovered that the teenagers attend same school with some of their neighbours and relatives. This is what Milroy regards as multiplexity ties, where an individual is known to another in more than one capacity, as a neighbour and schoolmate and is bound to exert more pressure on the language choice. Most of teenagers indicated that they speak Somali with their schoolmates if they come from their ethnic group and English or Kiswahili if they do not share the same mother tongue. It was also established that the close network ties among the teenagers in school are those from their ethnic group. Male Somali teenagers relate with male Somali where females do the same. It was noted that their status as refugees still impact on them even when relating in school. The do not want to expose themselves so much lest they find themselves in complicated scenarios. Religion also plays an important role whereby Somalis are Muslims and Islam is a way of life. Somalis share so much in common ranging from the way of dressing to food and this could be pulling them together even in a school context where students from all works of life interact.
As much as the teenagers reported that they use Somali in this domain, English and Kiswahili are specifically reserved for academic purposes. Classroom opportunities to use English and Kiswahili are given by the teachers and the peers but the teenagers can also resist. English and Kiswahili are use in Kenyan schools for as medium of instruction and are also compulsory
subjects in the curriculum. It is expected that the teenagers should be using the two languages exclusively in school and reserve their language for other domains like the home and the family. This could be as a result of many factors i.e. lack of proficiency and identity construction. Researchers in the Post structural paradigm argue that use of language is never uniform and language users can resist the use of the powerful language in certain contexts as the school. It is also important to investigate learner's reasons for resisting using the Somali language. Thus it is evident that the teenagers use English and Kiswahili for the academic purposes only and within the classroom.
When bilingual speakers regard their mother tongue as inadequate for domains like education and employment, the situation may arise where they only use language in the home and in cultural activities thereby hastening the shift towards other languages. The teenager is removed from the Somali language setting and as a result is exposed to various social networks where the use of other languages is inevitable. Like the family and the home domains, schools dictate the language use and it kind of takes over from the family the issue of socialization and thus strives to develop the language competence of the school going children and the teenagers have to abide by the rule as they have no control. The teenagers who then reported to be having close networks with their Somali counterparts in school reported that they Speak Somali language once they are not in class. Second Language Theorists have argued that exposure to a second language is one of the sure ways of developing proficiency but it could still take time for the Somalis as a result of minimum exposure.
3.4. Neighborhood Domain
The neighbourhood networks involved those contacts which the teenagers have regularly from time to time by correspondence as in the use of mails, phone calls or face to face link. Such associations are those where the subjects could turn for general help, advice or solve problems in general. Neighbours provide social support and serve as buffers against various forms of adversity. In such a case teenagers would be expected to make links with 'good' neighbours who will not have to jeopardize their situation as refugees. In the process of the research, it was established that the Somali parents are very strict in the upbringing of their children and more so who they associate with. Many would really want to know the information the children were to give to the researcher. In some instances a parent would even want to speak on behalf of the subject. Living in a society implies knowing who is you next door neighbour and also how one is socialized. Taylor (2000) describes socialization as a process where people become aware of the social norms and learn what is expected of them in the society. The way the Somalis have socialized their children goes all the way to shape them on how to relate with their neighbours.
East Leigh is a mixed community estate but the majority of the inhabitants are Somalis. From the research results two languages are dominant in this context and are Somali and Kiswahili which have a score of 26.7. Even when combined the two languages still retain a score of 10% each. As in the friendship domain, the teenagers reported the choice of Kikuyu as one of the language of interaction. This is associated with those teenagers who reported to be living with Kikuyu neighbours.
The choice of language depends on the circumstances. When among neighbours who are their elders they speak Somali but neighbours who happen to be their age mates calls in for another language which is either English, Kiswahili or Sheng, although it is noted that Somali and Kiswahili dominated in this domain. The Kiswahili dominated because of the networks the teenagers made who do not share a mother tongue with them. More so the teenagers when interacting among their peers would choose a language which they can discuss freely as Fasold (1994) specifies that a speaker may feel herself pulled in different directions by her desire to speak the language she knows best and language expected by her social group or at times, hence circumstances may force one to choose a particular language as opposed to another. According to Giles et al. (1977) Accommodation theory people converge or diverge their linguistic behaviour depending on the audience being addressed. Thus a person may choose a language to emphasize loyalty or dissociate him/her from that group. The speakers can also decide to combine language varieties like the choices the teenagers have made. Such strategies as code switching code mixing and borrowing also come to play which is not part of this paper.
3.5. The Religious Domain
Somalis are basically Muslims and Islam is highly associated with Arabic whereby the Quran is written in Arabic and sermons are offered in Arabic thus the mosque was considered as an important domain in the use of language. Complexities arise when languages, religion and nationalities come into contact like in the case of the Somalis who are Muslims and foreign as well.
The teenagers were required to indicate whether they go to the mosque and if so, they were to give the people they interact together and the languages they use with the people mentioned. The teenagers were to identify only those people who are important and interact with them whenever they are in the mosque, those who participate in various activities together with the respondent. In addition it was important for them to indicate if the people named attend with them same school, are relatives, neighbours or give any other category. When one has ties which is multiplex normative influence to behave or speak in a certain way will be greater.
In this domain Kiswahili, Somali, English and Arabic are used, but the majority reported to use Arabic and Somali which had highest score of 20%. Somali on its own scored 16.7% and Arabic 10%. There was no case of English being used on its own. The Somalis do not use Arabic in their daily conversations but they teach their children to memorize the verses in the Quran from early childhood. The children are enrolled in Madrassa classes and it is the duty of every Somali parent to send their children for the lessons every day after school. 'Madrassa classes are those lessons which are offered to the children in order to learn matters of religion. In most cases a respondent can be able to recite a full verse in the Arabic language but cannot construct a sentence outside the Quran in Arabic.
Somali and Arabic are the most frequent languages. The language used to pray in the mosque is basically Arabic. Even the Quran is in Arabic but Somali language is mainly used to explain for those people who do not understand it. The Somali children attend Madrassa schools to be taught Islam and all the teaching is done in Arabic. They are taught at early stage to memorize the Quran and in fact most of those interviewed indicated that they can do so for all the
prayers. This could explain perhaps the reason why the Arabic language is more popular. However it is rare to find them use the language outside this domain. Other languages like English and Kiswahili also emerged. This is used by the teenagers with their friends from other estates who attend the mosque as well. From the social networks the teenagers gave it showed that they relate with teenagers from all over Nairobi. The also attend the mosques located anywhere within their reach and hence it is possible to meet varied people who might call for language adjustments.
3.6. Is it a diglossic case?
Diglossia is the language situation where one language is used in informal situations and the other serves as the informal language. The case of diglossia evident in the study is what Fishman (1967, 72), refers to as the extended diglossia. This is where two forms of genetically unrelated languages (or at least historically distant) languages occupy the H (high) and L (low) niches such that one language is used for religion, education literacy while the other is used for informal domains. Diglossic situations are very common in situations where there exist a minority and a majority language. Somalis, being refugees speak a minority language in Kenya. Already the country has over 40 languages but English and Kiswahili are taught in schools. Domain analysis is related to diglossia (Fasold 1984), whereby some domains are formal whereas others are not.
The teenagers use a variety of four languages but the dominant language is the English and Kiswahili in the formal (high) domain whereas Somali is dominant in the informal (low) domain. The low language is the one which is used in the family domain whereas the high language is the one which is used in the school domain. The Somali language is the dominant language at home, family and neighborhood whereas English is the dominant language in the school. Therefore the friendship, home, family can be considered as the low domains whereas the school is the high domain. Fasold (1984) advances that the presence of other languages in an unlikely domain could be the result of choice of topics when friends are conversing. In the neighbourhood it could be because the teenagers do not share a mother tongue.
The diglossic situation among the teenagers is not stable but keeps on shifting. English is encroaching into the home domains; hence there is a possibility of language shift. This is because of political, religious and educational views and values established and perpetuated in the society (Dyers 2000). Fishman sees diglossia to occur in a society which recognizes several languages and has categorized diglossia into:
1) Diglossia and bilingualism together where almost everyone has the high and the low variety of the two languages.
2) Diglossia without bilingualism where two languages spoken by the same population have the same status
3) Bilingualism without diglossia where everyone is bilingual but does not have to restrict one language to a specific set of purposes only
4) Neither bilingualism nor diglossia, where linguistically diverse society is forced to change into a monolingual society like the case of the Somali.
The case of the Somali teenagers could fall in the third and fourth category. Webb (2002) opines that it is generally accepted that one's choice of sociolinguistic variants, varieties and languages is conditioned by ones attitude to individual speakers and groups, by ones personal goals, ideals, social ambitions and one's knowledge of the conditions of discourse. When a language is no longer occupying domains in which it was previously dominant, it can be said to be in a state of decline brought about by language shift. Baker (1993) contends that language shift is characterized by a lessening number of speakers in a language, a decreased saturation of language speakers in a population and the loss of proficiency. Could it be the case of the Somalis? This calls for research to establish the language shift among the Somali teenagers.
4. CONCLUSION
The trend exemplified above is also supported by Fishman (1989) who spells out that the immigrants become relinguified as a result of decompartmentalization of social interaction, such that ethnically related domains (home, community, church) respond to the same hierarchy rewards and statuses as do the ethnically unencumbered domains (schools, friendship, government). The teenagers and the migrants in general find norms which are already established for what constitutes a Somali of a particular ancestry and therefore have to redefine their own language policy.
Speaking the languages in the Kenyan context serves as the key trigger for reshaping the immigrant's identity. The Somali immigrants in Kenya have formed autonomous community which has its own infrastructure social networks. Thus instead of wholly adopting the Kenyan languages, the Somalis have specialized in the language use in the various domains. They have adopted a model of relationship of multilingualism and multiculturalism as evidenced by the structure of the language use in the various domains. For example it is expected that having stayed in Kenya for the stated period of time their Somali language would be invisible in some domains but it does not appear to be the case. Somali language is present in domains even classified as public or formal. In addition, EastLeigh is an urban area where there is a mixture of people and cultures. It is interesting to find a 'refugee mother tongue' equally competing with the languages of the host country. The teenager age group is a very sensitive stage where they try to identify themselves and built new relations, but why are the Somalis so integrated? This could be attributed to their vulnerability as a refugee group and also the attitude in the host country. Therefore this calls into question the linguistic rights in Kenya. The Kenyan constitution should cater for the linguistic needs of the refugees and facilitate a situation where they are allowed to practice their languages.
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Declaration of conflicting interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
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The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Author information
Phylis Bartoo is a Lecturer at Egerton University, Kenya; and a PhD student at University of Witwatersrand, South
Africa.
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