tycho wrote:@masukuma, @kenmac,and all the sheng opposers;
I think we need to take another look at the reasons for advocating for the use of sheng as a language of technology.
1. It takes an average person more than 16 years to learn English well enough to write a decent short story, and considering the fact that there are many Kenyans who have not gone past std.8,we should not place on ourselves an adult education program that will lead to great losses of time and funds.For example, if we took an 18 year old into an adult education program we'd have to wait till he is 34 before he can use English productively...when will he retire? How much will the government have spent on him?
2. Given that we (Kenyans) can't add words to the English dictionary, it follows that our use of the language is limited to the context of emulating,imitating and generally, waiting for native English speakers to create and name for us. But technology entails naming and creating, and as many have already noted, sheng offers us the licence to create and to name.
3. The usage of sheng as a language of technology doesn't preclude the usage of English and Kiswahili.
Finally about the objections raised regarding the great dynamism of sheng: Sheng is just another human creation and it can be brought under control quite easily through trade,the setting of linguistic standards much like English and Kiswahili are controlled.
Are you volunteering to write the first complete, unabridged Sheng dictionary and self-publish and print it?
I suppose that would be a starting point for your experiment, and it shouldn't be that difficult for you to do, since you've done a fair amount of typing here already. I feel that this is step number one.
We will be waiting with baited breath for it, so that we can review it amongst the Kenyan academia, after which you can seek the support of a few professors that would be willing to integrate it into their curriculum.
Until you can put a functional copy into our hands, and into the hands of some linguistics professionals that can help get us some clarity on this, we remain largely at a loss for logical reasoning around what exactly it is that you are attempting to do above and beyond causing a bit more confusion among the youth.
Best,
Hill