Ethnicity, Language, and Identity in Kenya

This article unravels the manipulation of language and nonlinguistic communication strategies in political and sports discourses to negotiate various identities in Kenya. Kenya is multilingual with over 42 stable and unstable languages1 whose users are, historically, “forced” into one country. Through a historical sociolinguistic approach, the article analyses code choice, stereotypes, jokes and nicknames for ethnic and other identity negotiation. It shows that negative ethnicity based on “we” versus “they” dichotomies enhances ethnic cleavages but Sheng pervades ethnic boundaries and politicians use it to endear and identify themselves with the youth. The present article calls for responsible language use.

Crude Meaning, Brute Thought (or: What Are They Thinking?!)

I address here the question what sense to make of the idea that there can be thought prior to language (both in ontogeny and among nonlinguistic animals). I begin by juxtaposing two familiar and influential philosophical views, one associated with the work of Paul Grice, the other associated with the work of Donald Davidson. Grice and Davidson share a broad, rationalist perspective on language and thought, but they endorse conflicting theses on the relation between them. Whereas, for Grice, thought of an especially complex sort is a precondition of linguistic meaning, for Davidson, there can be no genuine thought without language. I argue that both views present us with unpalatable alternatives concerning our understanding of the natural origins of objective thought and meaningful language. Drawing on what I take to be key insights from Grice and Davidson, I then lay out some broad desiderata for an intermediate position. I finally turn to a certain form of nonlinguistic communication of the sort of which both prelinguistic children and languageless animals are capable, viz., expressive communication. I propose that a proper appreciation of the character and function of expressive communication can help us trace the outlines of the desired intermediate position.

The process of linguistic communicating at Roman Jacobson: عملية التواصل اللغوي عند رومان جاكبسون

Lingual lesson has significant development at the level of modern approaches to the study of language, And this development has generated various interpretations on the level of language function; Either linguistically or socially exclusive, resulting in differences in the interpretation of linguistic phenomenon in itself, As well as the serious procedural tools that help us interpret the text or speech which language, newest vehicles, Jacobsen is a scientific contribution theory appears in the context of the analysis of the linguistic phenomenon. And the theory of linguistic communication is one of the most important modern theories of linguistics, and Roman Jacobson is a true parallax them; as it is attributed to him at all despite The first signs appeared to Saussure where this theory has shown that the language is based on the basic functions in the process communicative identified six elements: the sender: the expressive function, and the receiver: the evocative function, and the message and function of poetry, and the channel: the phatic function, and the context: referential function, the code: the metalingual functions. Jacobson interested in linguistic communication and nonlinguistic communication, and given the importance of the context; where to put its mark in many areas of knowledge; including pedagogy, sociology, media, science and communication, among others.