An Assessment Of Lexical Change In Matengo: The Case Of Mbinga District

ABSTRACT

This study aimed at investigating Matengo lexical change in Mbinga district. It was guided by three specific objectives namely: to explore the extent of Matengo lexical change; to examine the linguistic factors for Matengo lexical change and to determine non-linguistic factors contributing to Matengo lexical change in Mbinga district. The study used assimilation theory centring on the ideas of Gordon (1964) as one of the sociologists. Gordon devised the theory into seven stages which are: acculturation where newcomers adopt a language, structural, civic, identification, attitude reception, behaviour reception and marital assimilation. However, in this study only acculturation stage has been discussed. The study involved 60 informants: 10 informants were involved in interviews, 44 were involved in filling in questionnaires and 6 were involved in sociolinguistic interviews. The data of the study were therefore collected through sociolinguistic interviews, interviews and questionnaires. The data collected were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively.

The findings of the study revealed that Kiswahili and other languages are greatly replacing most of the Matengo vocabularies that were formerly used by ancestors. The study also revealed the linguistic and non- linguistics factors that influence change in Matengo lexical items. Therefore, the study recommends policy intervention in order to attract people to keep on writing Ethnic Community Languages (ECLs) because they contain some values that are helpful to the target community. Additionally, Matengo community should build the habit to preserve original Matengo lexical items. Furthermore, parents are recommended to retain the values of the language for the identity and local socialization.