| dc.description.abstract | This study entitled, "The semantic distinctiveness of Kenyan English," looked at the divergences
of the meanings of words in Kenyan English. These meanings were gauged from the Standard
International English. Meanings entered in International English dictionaries. The meanings of
the words in Kenyan English were accounted for within the lexico-semantic dynamism and Stern's
seven classes of meaning change. The processes of meaning change and the factors that cause
them are also discussed.
The study targeted Kenyan speakers of English with post-secondary education, and who have
either had or are in the process of undertaking university education. These are speakers who are
expected to exhibit high standards of proficiency in Standard International English. Forty-one of
such speakers were the respondents to the questionnaire specially designed to determine the
acceptance level of the Kenyan English meanings. A total of fifty - four words were selected and
several meanings, including at least a Kenyan English meaning and a standard International
English meaning, provided for each word. The standard International English (StdnE) meanings
were picked from the Oxford Advanced Leamer's Dictionary, 6th Edition (2001) and the Longman
Dictionary of Contemporary English :rt Edition (1995). These meanings were counter-checked
from the multi-volume Oxford English Dictionary, ?' edition (1989).
The respondents to the questionnaire were required to mark a tick (~ ) against the meanings
that were familiar or acceptable to them. The number of 'ticks' for each meaning were counted
and expressed as a percentage. The higher the percentage, therefore the higher the
acceptability level for the KenE meaning.
From the study, there are words with high acceptability levels (70% and above) of the Kenyan
English meanings to the extend that less than 20 per cent of the respondents marked
acceptability of their StdintE meanings. This is the group of words that have acquired altered
meanings in KenE. There is another category of words whose KenE meanings are used together
the StdIntE ones. The acceptability percentages of the KenE and StdINTE meanings of these
words do not vary a great dear. The third group comprises words that have acquired distinct
KenE forms through morphological rules of the English language and given KenE meanings.
Comparative acceptability percentages for this group are not provided because the words have
not yet been absorbed into StdintE. The final category of words consists of words borrowed from
the local languages and integrated into English. The findings of the study reveal that the
meanings of words are bound to have a recognizable character that is distinct to the Kenyan
English variety | en |
