Lexical and phonological aspects of American English in the Kenyan media

Abstract

English has various dialects. In Kenya, British English is the target model in all public learning institutions and it is taught as a subject to all school going children right from the kindergartens to the universities. Currently, there is a general tendency of Kenyan English speakers using American English alongside the prescribed British English in the Kenyan print and electronic media. This study is an investigation to find out the specific areas in which American English variety is used in the Kenyan print and electronic media. The study also aimed at analyzing the sociolinguistic factors that determine the choice of American English in the Kenyan print and electronic media.

The study makes use of social dialectology to explore the sociolinguistics factors that influence the choice and usage of lexical and phonological aspects of American English in the Kenyan media. Data was derived from three newspaper pull-outs namely: Buzz, Pulse and Saturday Nation Magazine. Two radio stations: Classic 105 and Kiss 100 FM stations were also used for data collection. The collected data noted down then transcribed before being analysed using social dialectology theory.

The results of the data analysis revealed that there are specific domains in which the Kenyan print and electronic media use American English. It also came out that British English, which is the target model of English in Kenyan public learning institutions, is still used in more fields than American' English.

This thesis is organized in such a way that chapter one gives a summary of the general framework of the study, statement of the problem, the set objectives, hypothesis, rationale, scope and limitation of the investigation, theoretical framework, literature review and research methodology. Literature related to the characteristics of Kenyan English is revealed in chapter two. Chapter three deals with the lexical and phonological aspects of American English in the Kenyan media. Chapter four investigates sociolinguistic factors that affect the use of American English in the Kenyan media. Finally, chapter five has a summary of research findings and conclusion.