Language Culture and Curriculum
Editor and Book Reviews Editor: Eoghan Mac Aogain (St Patrick's College)
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Volume: 16 Number: 2 Page: 130–145
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English Variety for the Public Domain in Kenya: Speakers' Attitudes and Views
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Angelina Nduku Kioko and Margaret Jepkirui Muthwii
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The study sought to establish the attitudes of Kenyan speakers (n = 210) towards three varieties of English: (1) ethnically marked Kenyan English, (2) standard Kenyan English and (3) native speaker
English (British, American, Australian, etc). Of the three varieties, the most preferred by both rural and urban respondents for use in the media and education was standard Kenyan English. Most of the respondents
also considered this as the variety used by successful professionals like lawyers, doctors, engineers and successful business people. Contrary to expectation, intelligence, ambition, expertness and confidence
are attributed to speakers not when they use native varieties of English but when they use the non-ethnic-marked variety of Kenyan English. The study suggests that further research should be less concerned
about the deviation of Kenyan English from native speaker norms and concentrate more on the formal description of the variety of English that Kenyan speakers overwhelmingly prefer.
© Multilingual Matters 2003
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