A Lexico-Semantic Interpretation Of Euphemisms In Kiembu- (Kīīveti Dialect)

Abstract

This is a study which was conducted on the Kīĩveti dialect of Kĩembu language. The purpose of this study was to analyze the type of politeness employed in the euphemized Kīĩveti lexical items in different social contexts. The study was also an analysis of the role played by the euphemized Kīĩveti dialect lexical items in communicating meanings in different social contexts. The study further sought to establish how social values are expressed in both positive and negative politeness. Data for the study was collected from among the Kīĩveti dialect speakers who had been picked through purposive sampling. This was then combined with the researcher’s knowledge of the language and oral traditions, intuitions, experience and introspection to yield the findings discussed in the various chapters contained herein. The data so collected above was then analyzed using the tenets of the Politeness Theory of Brown and Levinson (1987). The analysis revealed that a Kīĩveti dialect speaker employs the use of both positive and negative politeness in different social contexts. Euphemized lexical items and expressions in Kīĩveti dialect were found to perform various functions in communicating meaning in different social contexts including but not limited to the role of genuine communication and the role of disguising. Further, the study showed that a Kīĩveti dialect speaker expresses social values in a variety of ways in both positive and negative politeness in different social contexts.