| dc.description.abstract | This study is about Olusuba spoken in Muhuru Division. Muhuru is a small Division that lies in the western part of Kenya and it borders Tanzania to the south and hinges on Lake Victoria to the west. The Division is in fact a peninsular jutting into Lake Victoria and it tapers off into a sharp tip. On the mainland side, which forms a wide base, the Division borders Dholuo speakers. The whole Division is occupied almost entirely by the Abasuba. The variety spoken in Muhuru Division is slightly different from the others spoken in places such as Gwasi, Mfangano, Kaksingri and Suna. In fact, the variety is close to Ekegusii and the Kuria language.
In the mid 1990s the government tried to revive the identity of the Abasuba for political reasons in order to alienate them from the Luo who had then identified themselves as a community with a political party which was perceived to be opposing the then ruling party. As a result drastic measures were instituted towards this end. Books were published in Olusuba for instruction in lower primary school in 'Olusuba schools', Suba District was carved out of Homa-Bay District and it was at the same time that Muhuru Division was created out of Nyatike Division.
The creation of Muhuru Division from Nyatike seemed to beat all logic for one would have expected the former Division to be divided into two more- or- less equal halves (if the cliche of 'taking services closer to the people' were to hold), instead only a small area less than a tenth of Nyatike was hived off and awarded the Division. It was expressly meant for the small Suba community. So strong was the political ill that the District was named Suba, a division created for those living near Migori town was also named Suba.
The vernacular station of the Kenya Broadcasting Cooperation in Kisumu town created a time slot for Olusuba alongside other local languages which already had time slots. So far, it is only the political divisions that have survived while the other two programmes fizzled out. This study intends to examine the language shift from Olusuba to Dholuo in Muhuru Division. | en_US |
