Women, Politics, Language Shift and Maintenance in Kenya: Case of Lullogoli in Diglossic Uriri Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Kenya is a typical African multilingual state with well over 43 languages. All these languages are spread across the 47 counties. Migori County, one of the 47, is a dynamic potpourri of multilingual county: Cushitic, Nilotic and Bantu. These language families have found themselves in contact for close to eight decades due to interceding factors like politics, exogamy marriages, education, work, migration and search for land, resulting in language maintenance and shift. Of pronounced concern to our debate, here is women and politics in maintenance and shift of Lullogoli. Women have been known, since time immemorial, to be agents of language change, shift and maintenance. This can also be said about politics. Politics (positive and negative) have led to maintenance and shift of indigenous languages in various countries, including Kenya. These factors are under investigation in our current study. We aim to find out their role in shift and maintenance of Lullogoli in Migori County. We seek answers for the following questions: what is the role of women in maintenance and shift of Lullogoli; how has local and national politics contributed to maintenance and shift of Lullogoli?