| dc.description.abstract | This study attempted an analysis of the language of Mombasa Swahili women's wedding
songs. It specifically focused on phonology, lexis, syntax, semantic and paralinguistic
levels of language of Swahili women's wedding songs of Mombasa. To handle the
stylistic analysis of Swahili wedding songs, we used the eclectic approach that comprised
of Leech' s approach (1969), theory of stylistic criticism by Emmanuel Ngara (1985) and
the paralinguistic approach by Isidore Okpewho (1992).
This thesis is organized into seven chapters. The first chapter is an introductory chapter. It
treats introductory elements of this study, including, statement of the problem, aims.
rationale of the study, hypotheses, scope and limitations, literature review and
methodology.
The second chapter which deals with the Swahili Wedding of Mombasa focuses on the
occasions and functions of a wedding from the time a bridegroom proposes to the final
occasion of a wedding. It is in this chapter that wedding songs are contextualized and
their significance highlighted.
The third chapter deals with the analysis of style at the level of phonology. Some of the
aspects treated include dialects. rhyme, 'metrical patterns. onamatopoeia. and Arabic
pronunciation. It has been demonstrated in this chapter. that sometimes the singers
change the original dialect of the song into their own if the song is borrowed from another
dialect area and at times sing it in it's original dialect. The local songs do not follow the
rigid symmetry of line. rhyming and syllabic measure but a type of rhyme that is related
more to the tune and melody of the song.
The fourth chapter deals with style at the levels of lexis and syntax. Lexical variation in
the use of language is analysed in the songs. Some of the aspects treated include
neologisms, archaisms. foreign words, code mixing and lexical prominence. These
features, it has been demonstrated, are key aspects in conveying meaning in Mombasa
Swahili women's wedding songs. It is also demonstrated that repetition is especially
favoured by Mombasa Swahili women's wedding songs. We must stress here that it is an
analysis of stylistic features of the songs and not a syntactic description, as it is done in
linguistics.
The fifth chapter treats the stylistic devices that fall under the semantic level. It is shown
that features like similes. metaphors, symbolism, personification, proverbs and irony are
used by the singers to conceal the real meaning. A lot of figurative language is used
especially where taboo is involved.
The sixth chapter focuses on the paralinguistic features that are used in the Mombasa
Swahili women's wedding songs, using Okpewho's perspective. It demonstrates that these
paralinguistic features like gestures, dancing and music are an essential part of a
performance and that words of the songs by themselves are not sufficient to convey
meaning. The last chapter is a conclusion. It offers a summary of this thesis, suggestions
for further research and the problems encountered while conducting the research. This
study was field based. It filmed data that was recorded by audio-visual equipment and
was finally transcribed and analysed focusing on specific aims.
Almost all of the songs are sung by women with women-audience. As it is mentioned in the thesis, a lot of Swahili culture is changing fast including wedding songs due to
influences from the West and new Islamic trends which forbid some of the songs and
dances. In order to preserve the songs we found it necessary in the appendix to include
both the songs which are analysed and those which were collected but not analysed. | en |
