MECHANISMS INVOLVED IN BORROWING IGIKURIA WORDS INTO DHOLUO:

A CASE OF IGIKURIA AND DHOLUO CONTACT

Abstract

Dholuo speakers interacting with Igikuria speakers at the border appear to use two sets of lexical items that semantically refer to the same phenomenon, whereas Dholuo speakers living far away from Igikuria speakers have single lexical items and are constantly struggling to become mutually comprehensible. This has sparked debate regarding their origin and semantics. The study therefore sought to determine the mechanisms involved in borrowing Igikuria words into Dholuo. The theoretical framework of Cognitive Lexical Semantic Approach propounded by Lakoff (1987) and revised by Lakoff and Johnson (2003) was used to classify, analyze, discuss, and draw conclusions from the data obtained. The study employed a descriptive research design, as the data was primarily qualitative. A sample size of 78 participants was finally achieved upon saturation.49 of whom were Dholuo speakers and 29 Igikuria speakers. A participatory observation method of data collection was used to gather data from a variety of verbal contact situations such as public places and preplanned interviews. The findings were that, linguistic contact and language conflict accounted for more word borrowing followed by bilingualism and finally loan shift accounted for the least number of words borrowed. However, direct loans, loan translation, loan creation, clipping and coinage did not account for any borrowing. The study provides insights to the language, literature and linguistic educators into understanding mechanisms involved in lexical borrowing and semantic change along Kuria- Luo boarder.