| dc.description.abstract | This study is an investigation into the variation in dialectal use of and attitudes depicted towards the use of taboo words and euphemisms in Kikamba. It is a sociolinguistic exploration of the lexical euphemisms that are used 'to substitute what is taboo in Kikamba speech community. The primary aim of the study is to establish whether social variables like gender, age and dialect play any part in the choice of the euphemisms used to replace the taboo words.
Data for this study was collected from two geographical areas which represent two regional dialects. The two dialects compared in this study are the Kimasaku dialect and the Kitui Central dialect. The researcher, being a native speaker generated the data that was put in the questionnaire and used it as a guide during the research. The objective of the research was to investigate the varied lexical items used as euphemism for the same taboo word in the two Kikamba dialects. It was also investigated the difference in attitudes evoked between the two dialects through the use of taboo words and euphemisms. It was also to investigate whether the social variables of gender, age and dialect affects people's attitudes towards the choice and frequency of use of euphemisms.
Data was collected mainly through interviews and questionnaires that were filled by selected respondent. The collected data was analyzed using Hallidays (1978) Sociosemiotic Theory. The two theoretical frameworks, namely the situation and the language and social structure have been used in the analysis of the data. Attitudes are analyzed using Gardner and Lambert (1972) socio-psychological theory. This study hypothesized that: the two dialects account for varied usage of euphemisms for the same taboo word, and that the variations in lexical words that are used as euphemisms in the two dialects under study evoke different attitudes among the speakers of Kikamba depending on the different social variables.
The findings of the study show that: indeed for one taboo word we find very varied choices of euphemisms used to replace the taboo word, and that these variations are dialect, gender and age depended. The results of this study raised questions on how other variables like level of education, family background, rural setting verses urban setting may affect the use of taboo words . | en_US |
