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Kenyan English
English in Kenya is a stable post-colonial variety that is used as an inter-ethnic lingua franca in private domains, is the medium of instruction as well as the language spoken in parliament and court rooms. Yet so far no comprehensive research monograph on Kenyan English has been published that surveys its characteristic linguistic features. The present book closes this gap by giving a full description of the characteristic linguistic features of Kenyan English.
The book provides an in-depth overview of Kenyan English phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics and also gives a meticulous account of the diachronic evolution of this post-colonial variety.
The book provides an in-depth overview of Kenyan English phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics and also gives a meticulous account of the diachronic evolution of this post-colonial variety.
272 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 5, 2019
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December 20, 2025
Many articles that describe English in Kenya are prescriptive in nature – they discuss common grammatical errors that should be eliminated in order to align more with Standard International English. This book argues that these so-called errors are actually deeply-entrenched features of Kenyan English, a post-colonial variety of English.
Have you ever been made to feel like your English is different? Not up to standard? Beyond the most obvious aspects like pronunciation and some phrases that are conspicuously Kenyan, have you ever at some point thought that maybe the English we speak is not the 'neutral' one? When was that? Was it during university applications? Teaching English abroad? Working in international/ multilingual environments? How did it feel?
When I experienced that othering, I was propelled to research on English in Kenya, a topic that has fascinated me for half a decade now. So coming across this book was just magical!
I went in reading thinking I could identify the ways our English diverged from International Standard English really quickly, only to find out that there are a lot of things we take for granted.
I particularly loved this extract in chapter 5.7 on lexis and semantics: “The present author’s claim is that it is not the lexical features that everybody can easily notice which form the backbone of the lexis and semantics of Kenyan English but those that only language analysts can easily detect… in terms of sheer numbers, KenE vocabulary is actually more characterised by its less visible features, less visible because almost all he words and phrases involved either sound like Standard International English or do indeed exist in StdIntE but with additional meanings."
I enjoyed this book, whilst academic, it is quite easy for lay audiences to follow. I highly recommend it if this topic has ever tickled your fancy. I promise you will discover 'Kenyanisms' you have never noticed before!
Now, I can’t authoritatively say whether I agree or not about the existence of the Kenyan variety of English, or comment on the quality of the research methods, as I am not a linguist, but it was quite a fascinating read. Thank you for your wonderful and thorough research, Alfred Buregeya.
Have you ever been made to feel like your English is different? Not up to standard? Beyond the most obvious aspects like pronunciation and some phrases that are conspicuously Kenyan, have you ever at some point thought that maybe the English we speak is not the 'neutral' one? When was that? Was it during university applications? Teaching English abroad? Working in international/ multilingual environments? How did it feel?
When I experienced that othering, I was propelled to research on English in Kenya, a topic that has fascinated me for half a decade now. So coming across this book was just magical!
I went in reading thinking I could identify the ways our English diverged from International Standard English really quickly, only to find out that there are a lot of things we take for granted.
I particularly loved this extract in chapter 5.7 on lexis and semantics: “The present author’s claim is that it is not the lexical features that everybody can easily notice which form the backbone of the lexis and semantics of Kenyan English but those that only language analysts can easily detect… in terms of sheer numbers, KenE vocabulary is actually more characterised by its less visible features, less visible because almost all he words and phrases involved either sound like Standard International English or do indeed exist in StdIntE but with additional meanings."
I enjoyed this book, whilst academic, it is quite easy for lay audiences to follow. I highly recommend it if this topic has ever tickled your fancy. I promise you will discover 'Kenyanisms' you have never noticed before!
Now, I can’t authoritatively say whether I agree or not about the existence of the Kenyan variety of English, or comment on the quality of the research methods, as I am not a linguist, but it was quite a fascinating read. Thank you for your wonderful and thorough research, Alfred Buregeya.
Displaying 1 of 1 review