| dc.description.abstract | This thesis seeks to show that over the last fifty years or
so, several varieties of written Swahili have emerged and that
these varieties have, with time, developed features which characterise
them, and by which they can be identified and described.
Dealing in the main with the Tanzanian situation, the thesis
argues that both the German and the British administrations in
Tanganyika used Swahili for limited objectives and that neither
was sufficiently committed to the language in a cultural sense to
provide it with the necessary impetus for modern development. It
argues further, that Swahili's rapid development in the post independence
period was made possible not least by the de-colonisation
of East Africa, in that colonial ambivalence was replaced by a firm
committment to modernise the language, while gradually phasing out
English as the national and official language.
The thesis is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1, the Introduction , gives a brief historical account of Swahili in the precolonial,
the colonial and post-colonial periods, and discusses
language policy in the last two periods and how this affected Swahili's
pace of development and direction. The scope and objectives
of the thesis are outlined in chapter 2. In chapter 3, discuss
stylistics as a discipline and consider some of the views held on
the subject by literary scholars and linguists. Newsreporting is "t'
discussed in chapter 4, gossip column writing in chapter 5, sports
reporting in chapter 6, and the language of legal documents in
chapter 7. The thesis thus essentially deals with two registers:
journalese, and the legal register. These were chosen because
trey appear to be characterised by features which are less
ephemeral, implying that both have settled down to a definite
style. They were also chosen because it was felt that variety
differentiation in Swahili might be better demonstrated on the
basis of these registers, in view of the not insubstantial difference
which exists between them, on the one hand, and between them and
spoken Swahili, on the other.
The framework used in this study is basically that developed
by Crystal and Davy for the investigation of English style. Central
to this is what the two authors have called "levels of analysis"
a hierarchichal approach enabling the investigator to undertake
textual analysis in terms of different levels of linguistic organisation,
extracting from each as he proceeds all stylistically relevant
information, and to conclude with a statement based on the totality
of the information thus made available.
Although the thesis deals mainly with the Tanzanian situation,
Kenyan material is used in those areas in which Tanzanian and Kenyan
Swahili has more or less experienced similar development.
There is for instance: no documentation yet on Kenyan-
legal Swahili. The press on the other hand, is well
established in both countries | en |
