The Linguistic Devices of Euphemism in Kamba: a Case of Kamba Benga Music

Abstract

This research presents a relevance theoretical approach on the linguistic devices of euphemism in Kamba Benga music. The work sought to establish whether listeners of Kamba Benga music were able to interpret euphemisms used in the music correctly. It also sought to establish the process of comprehension of euphemisms as well as the role of context in the interpretation. Additionally, this research work focuses on identifying the linguistic devices of creating euphemism and the specific functions of euphemism in Kamba Benga music. The research utilises Relevance Theory by Dan Sperber and Deidre Wilson (1986 & 1995). The theory explains how hearers infer meaning (from a non-compositional language). The researcher obtained data through recordings of songs and also questionnaires. The euphemisms gathered were analyzed using the tenets of Relevance Theory. The tenets that proved useful in this study are context, cognitive principle of relevance, communicative principle of relevance, relevance theoretic comprehension procedure, processing effort and implicature. The research found out that listeners of Kamba Benga music are able to interpret the euphemisms in the music correctly provided they understood the context in which the utterances were used in. It was also established that the linguistic devices of euphemism in Kamba Benga music include: metaphor, overstatement, understatement, circumlocution, metonymy, implication, internal borrowing, external borrowing and lastly using stories from religion. Further, the functions of euphemism in Kamba Benga music were found to be: shielding offence, misrepresenting information and deceiving, isolating and also entertainment.