Lexical Changes in Gichuka (Kenyan Bantu Language) through Obsolescence and Word Coinage

Abstract

Obsolescence is one of the ways in which languages change. Obsolete lexical items are words which have been lost in a language and are also referred to as archaic. Languages also change through word coinage. New lexical items are formed to meet new communicative needs. This paper looks at obsolescence and word coinage in Gichuka. Functional theory of language informed the research. The data was collected using interviews and focused group discussions. Secondary data derived from Mwaniki (2004) forms most of the corpus of obsolescence lexical items. The results of the study indicate that obsolescence and word coinage especially in the naming system has taken place in Gichuka. The old naming system for women has been discarded and replaced with a new one. Men's names have also been coined and most of the old ones also retained.