Multilingual discourse practices in community development in Nyanza Province, Kenya

Abstract

Effective communication is at the centre of development practice. Even though in the recent past there has been considerable concern with the place of language in communicating development messages and concepts, multilingual environments, which characterise many developing countries, have not been fully explored (Robinson, 1996). Using Nyanza Province, Kenya as backdrop, the paper explores the linguistic options available to multilingual interactants in community development in Western Kenya. Of particular interest is the fact that it is implied in scholarship that the use of a single language will suffice in disseminating development messages. However, in multilingual contexts such as Kenya's the linguistic choice is not always as obvious and clear cut as commentators have implied. This paper therefore examines discourse practices and communication strategies with regards to development messages in Nyanza Province, Kenya. Multilingual discourse practices, in which Dholuo, English and Kiswahili are functionally used for effective communication of development messages, are explored.

Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 2008, 26(1): 1–11