Sexism and (mis)representation of women in Sheng

Peter Githinji

Department of Linguistics, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

Gender issues have not received much attention in previous studies on Sheng. Although many
studies have noted the sex-distinctive differences in the use of this contact code, none has
specically addressed the question of gender. In this paper, gender issues are discussed
under sexism encrypted in word connotations and word structure. Although sexism
encompasses linguistic discrimination of both sexes, we are cognizant of the fact that more
often than not, it is the women who are the victims of sexism. I examine the asymmetry in
terms of frequency of referential terms that denote the two sexes and the parallel
connotations between the words for males and those of females. By paying deliberate
attention to womens lexical choices in the words for girls and female body parts, I argue
that women are not just passive recipient of male lexical labels but are also agents who
participate in self denition. The parallels in terms of denotation and connotation of male
and females words is discussed within the intergroup relations with males constituting the
ingroup and females the outgroup. The paper also examines the role of the Swahili class
6-classier prex [ma]. This contribution of linguistic structure in the encoding of sexism
in Sheng is discussed within the Whoran notion of the interplay of phenotypes and
cryptotypes in the construction of meaning.
1. Introduction
The relationship between language and cognition has been an intriguing issue for linguists and
psychologists, amongst others. In cognitive linguistics, the focus has mostly been on the organ-
ization of language into structural properties that inuence categorization of the world into pro-
totypical models. This has seen a renewed interest in the Whoran Hypothesis that postulates
that the way we think is determined by the structure of our languages (see Whorf 1956).
Earlier opposition to the Whoran hypothesis stemmed from the implications of its strong
version that views language as a prison of thought, i.e. language as the cause and thinking the
result (Ying 2000). The weaker version of the hypothesis is usually favoured because it views
language as a window of thought. In spite of this controversy, studies in linguistic relativity
have vindicated the claim that language plays a key role in shaping speakers thoughts.
Boroditsky (2003) for instance, reports that German and Spanish speakers differ in the way
they ascribe feminine or masculine properties to similar objects because the two languages
assign them to different grammatical gender categories. Using the key, as an example,
Boroditsky observes that it is masculine in German but feminine in Spanish. In an experiment
German speakers described it as hard, heavy, jagged, metal, serrated and useful (ibid.: 920)
to match its masculine classication. Spanish speakers, on the other hand, were more likely
to describe the key as golden, intricate, little, lovely, shiny and tiny to match its feminine
classication. Similarly, the difference between English and Mandarin speakers perception
of time depended on whether the languages placed emphasis on vertical or horizontal metaphors
Journal of African Cultural Studies
Vol. 20, No. 1, June 2008, pp. 1532

Email: githinji@ohio.edu
ISSN 1369-6815 print/ISSN 1469-9346 online
# 2008 Journal of African Cultural Studies
DOI: 10.1080/13696810802159230
http://www.informaworld.com
(Boroditsky 2001). These and other cases provide credible arguments that language orients
speakers of different languages to attend to different interpretation of their experience. Lucy
(1997: 294) remarks:
Language embodies an interpretation of reality and language can inuence thought about that reality.
The interpretation arises from the selection of substantive aspects of experience and their formal
arrangements in the verbal code. Such selection and arrangements is, of course necessary for
language, so the crucial emphasis here is that each language involves a particular interpretation,
not a common universal one.
Selection of substantive aspects of experience implies that language is not natural, neutral or
static. It is subject to human manipulations in order to reect those aspects of experience that
users wish to express. In many societies, the patriarchal order has selected those aspects of
experience that sustains it. This interpretation of reality from a males point of view has resulted
in a sexist society, and language, as one of its institutions, has come to reect that gender bias
(see Spender 1985). The languages different characterization of men and women has attracted
the attention of feminists who have deplored its biases, innuendos, connotations and nuances,
which are derogatory to women. For this reason, they have called for language reform to rid
it of its inherent sexism. Following this awareness, Blaubergs (1978) proposed different strat-
egies for reforming the language such as indirect change, circumvention, and emphasis on fem-
inine terms. Most recently, Lei (2006) list some of the sexist words and provides a glossary of
alternative non-sexist replacements. While all these efforts should be hailed, similar studies on
non-European languages have received little or no attention. This paper therefore aims to
examine the way Sheng a Swahili based linguistic hybrid (Bosire 2006) manifests discrimi-
nation against women.
2. Background: sexism in language
Frye (1981: 8) denes sexism as anything whatever which creates, constitutes, promotes, or
exploits any irrelevant or impertinent marking of the distinction between the sexes (sic).
Although this broad denition encompasses the two sexes, many studies on sexism gravitate
towards the discrimination against women. Lakoff (1975) for instance, discusses how women
experience linguistic discrimination in the way they are taught to use language and the way
language treats them. Lakoff observes that while the semantics of male words is mostly deno-
tative, that of female words is both denotative and connotative. The ascription of connotations
in female words such as woman creates perceptions of unpleasantness and embarrassment,
prompting their masking with euphemism such as lady. Unfortunately, lady itself conveys mean-
ings that promote sex role stereotypes. In contrast, words for males, even the seemingly negative
ones, are not masked with euphemisms. Other issues that Lakoffs work covered include: differ-
ent communicative patterns based on sex (e.g. colour description, common adjectives, tag
questions and swearing), different interpretation of generic nouns and pronouns e.g. man,
human, he, his etc., titles e.g. Mrs, Miss and Ms, and connotations in polar lexemes like bachelor
and spinster.
Lakoffs claim about titles nds support in Connor et al.s (1986) study that linked the use of
titles and different perception of women. They found out that women who used Ms were less
trusted because they were regarded as concealing something, which in this case would be
their marital status within a patriarchal system. Their ndings differed from those of Heilman
1975 (cited in Connor et al. 1986) on a similar topic. In his study, students had rated the
courses listed under instructors using the titles Miss or Mrs as potentially less enjoyable, or
16 P. Githinji
less intellectually stimulating compared to courses listed under a female using the title Ms. These
two studies highlight the dilemma confronting women in the use of titles; they are torn between
conservative and liberal values whose values can change according to different circumstances.
A similar dilemma is discussed in Mills (2003) study where British women were shown to
display different values in the negotiation of their individuality within the context of overlapping
discourses.
The asymmetric nature of the so called neutral pronouns and generic nouns has been studied
by Briere and Lanktree (1984). Their study showed that while generic and masculine nouns and
pronouns decreased the attractiveness of a psychology career for female judges, they had the
reverse effect on male judges. This makes sense when we consider Lakoffs (1975), Martynas
(1980) and Spenders (1985) claims that neutral masculine pronouns like he, his or a generic
masculine noun like man have context-specic uses that excludes women. Even gender
neutral stimulus words like child and adult have been found to be infused with masculine refer-
ence in experimental conditions (see Wise and Rafferty 1982). Elsewhere, Lipton and Hershaft
(1984) demonstrated that while the use of gender neutral label like person upgraded the female
artist, it devalued the male artist. They hypothesized that that since the image of the male sanc-
tioned by society was that of an assertive masculinity; neutral labels were regarded as non-
assertive and were thus regarded as emasculation by male judges. On the other hand the positive
evaluation neutral terms by female judges could be attributed to the fact that due to womens
powerless status in society, the neutral terms elevated their social status and hence their positive
perception by female judges.
Apart from marital titles, professional titles and names in English have also been shown to
exhibit similar gender asymmetry. This is demonstrated in gender distinction in titles and
names as indicated by marking; male terms are unmarked; while female are marked (Mills
1995: 93; Lei 2006; see also Lakoff 1975). Structurally, gender marking is done by addition
of phonological materials that function as sex-identiers afxes like -ess, -ett, -in, etc. Attach-
ment of words such as woman, girl, lady or female to professional words such as female
professor, salesgirl, cleaning lady, and policewoman can also be viewed as gender marking. It
has been argued that since male words taken as the norm are therefore rarely marked, addition
of sex-specier markers not only specify the gender of the female, but also implies that
females are a deviation from universal male norms. In essence the markers signify the devalua-
tion of the unmarked masculine term while associating the referents with negative connotations.
It is no wonder then that feminization of generics through addition of markers has come to be
opposed by language reformers as a manifestation of sexism. Examples include oppositions such
as governor/governess, host/hostess, master/mistress, god/godess (Mills 1995: 110111).
As Mills argues, the trivializing connotations of sufxes results from the fact that some of
them derive from diminutives that carry the sense such as smaller than or less than. In the
above examples, we can see that the function of sufxes extends beyond binary specication
of gender. A governess is not a female governor but a nursemaid, while mistress refers to
a lover (Lakoff 1975). While courtier retains the meaning of someone attached to the court,
courtesan refers to sexual servant or prostitute. Mills goes on to explain that while a god is
associated with power in the mainstream religion, goddess has been downgraded to a deity of
lower status. The same can be said of the priest as a person (male) whose duties are sanctioned
by the mainstream religion while priestess is identied with deviant cults.
Lakoffs critics cite the weakness of her intuitive methodology on account that it is subject to
different interpretations, and that it also ignores the circumstances in which the words are used.
While accepting that words can demean, Fortunata (1981) argued that they could only do so if
Journal of African Cultural Studies 17
they elicit feelings of being demeaned on the part of those concerned. According to Fortunata, if
the speaker did not intend to demean, or the victim is unaware of the overtones, then the lin-
guistic use of the terms can hardly be described as demeaning. Though Fortunatas arguments
are valid, she ignores the fact that language enshrines a set of dispositions (Bourdieu 1999)
that regularize human negotiations. Bourdieus notion of habitus, and the way it is subcon-
sciously built to regularize behaviour is in line with Whorfs (1956) idea of habitual thought.
You cannot for instance, swear or use taboo words in public and claim that you did not
intend to offend anyone. Mills (2003) approach of combining the Bourdieus notion of
habitus and the communities of practice theory thus provides a better model for treating
sexism in languages. According to Mills, words are not frozen and are subject to negotiation
(even by the women themselves) depending on changing contexts and motivation. In her
study, she was amazed to discover that women who considered themselves feminists adopted
their husbands names after marriage or adopted titles such as Mrs for a variety of reasons
ranging from marking new afliation, aesthetics, lack of attachment to maiden names as well
as professional considerations. This notwithstanding, it is important to bear in mind that an
analysis of any discourse such as sexism must have a focus, which in this paper, will be the
words and structure in Sheng.
3. Sheng in brief
Scholarly work on Sheng has been going on for two decades now. Research has covered areas
ranging from its emergence and development (Osinde 1986, Spyropoulos 1987, Abdulaziz and
Osinde 1997). Its linguistic classication as a slang, pidgin, Creole or dialect has been discussed
in Githiora (2002) while Mazrui (1995) looks at its slang and codeswitching elements. Ogechis
(2005a) study focuses on lexicalization while its role in youth identity, especially in popular
culture, and youth rebellion, has been studied by Githinji (2006 a, b), Samper (2002, 2004)
and Mbugua (2003). Attitudes towards Sheng have also attracted attention: e.g. Migunda-
Ettyang (2007), Fink (2005) and Githinji (2003) while Bosires work (2006) looks at linguistic
hybridity in Sheng. Apart from scholarly work, Sheng has also been a hot subject in numerous
newspaper commentaries especially with regard to its contribution to poor performance in
Swahili and English and transgressive behaviour by the youth. It still continues to attract a lot
of interest among the policy makers, journalists, scholars and laymen alike.
Sheng has been dened as a Swahili based street language (actually an acronym of Swahili
English) slang that has borrowed many words from English and other local languages. It is
believed to have evolved in the late 1960 and early 1970s, e.g. Osinde (1986), Abdulaziz and
Osinde (1997), Spyropoulos (1987) Githinji (2003, 2006a, 2006b), but see Mazrui (1995)
who claims it might have existed as early as the 1930s. It is believed to have originated in
the poor neighbourhoods of Nairobi before spreading to different parts of the city. In spite of
this spread, typical Sheng is still identied with the poor neighbourhoods of Nairobi, though
its use in areas far removed from Nairobi has also been studied (e.g. Ogechi 2002, 2005a,
2005b). Although there are claims that some adults carry Sheng into adulthood, the youth
have remained the bulk of its speakers. Almost every study has mentioned Shengs tendency
to mark the residential origin of the speakers, their age group and sex. In spite of its appropria-
tion in popular culture (Mbugua 2003; Samper 2004), negative attitudes towards it and its speak-
ers (Githinji 2003) still persist. While its reliance on Swahili structure (Githiora 2002; Mbaabu
and Nzunga 2003) justies its treatment within the broad context of Swahili language, its status
as a marginal code dominated by males provides an interesting arena where we can observe
18 P. Githinji
unequal representation of the two sexes. This paper begins by looking at the way females
are underrepresented in Sheng as well as the way they are misrepresented by the mainly
male researchers.
3.1. Where are the women? Blackout of female speakers by researchers
In addressing the under-representation of women in Sheng, three factors must be taken into con-
sideration: (1) domination of the eld by male researchers; (2) the distinction between the street
level/deep Sheng and the basic Sheng (Samper 2002: 8); and (3) the asymmetric perception of
Sheng speakers based on sex. Male dominance in Sheng research has had far-reaching impli-
cations on the conclusions drawn from these studies. As outsiders, male researchers are
unable to penetrate the female networks, which constrain their account of interaction patterns
that take place outside the male domains. Secondly, the hierarchical ranking of Sheng varieties
into street level and basic Sheng mutes the female voices by labeling their versions deviant,
which in a way contests their legitimacy. As a result, female varieties of Sheng attract little inter-
est among researchers because they are not deemed authentic. Thirdly, the patriarchal insti-
tutions are so organized that women are allocated the social roles that inhibit their
participation in the street culture. Eventually, the identication of Sheng with street culture
where women are marginal participants justies the exclusion of their variety from the study
of Sheng. The few women who succeed in breaking this barrier are confronted by a biased
value system that ensures that they do not derive the covert benets of using the street level
Sheng. Samper (2002: 154155) captures this asymmetry when he notes that:
Men derive cultural capital from the use of Sheng . . . but women lose those benets. Sheng for men
is a source of interpersonal power, and womens avoidance of it reects womens lack of power in
Kenyan society. . . the socioeconomic condition in Kenya and the enduring strength of traditional
gender roles make it impossible for women to change current low status of their interpersonal
power . . . Sheng could change this perception, but the patriarchal symbolic order closes this
avenue of access to symbolic power by equating womens skillful use of Sheng with prostitution
and low moral values. In these terms, Sheng does not carry the same advantage for women as it
does men (sic).
Although Samper falls shy of direct mention of sexism, his asymmetric characterization of the role
of Sheng based on sex leaves no doubt of the codes inherent sexism. Considering that Sheng was
invented by boys, it ts Spenders (1985) man-made language label in the literal sense of the
phrase. While so much has changed regarding women participation in Sheng over the years, the
long history of their marginalization and conservative society that employs double standards
based on sex has resulted in disproportional representation of the two sexes when it comes to inno-
vation and assigning names. Not only do variants for female words exceed those of males, but even
the words for female body parts are derogatory. For the rest of this paper, I will focus on the mani-
festations of sexismthrough assigning of derogatory words to women and their body parts, speci-
cally buttocks and breasts. Following Lakoff (1975), it is expected that the semantics of male
labels will be denotative while that of females will be both denotative and connotative. This
will be attributed to the interpretation of reality from the point of view of one gender which has
prompted Spender (1985: 143) to lament that:
Males and the dominant group, have produced language, thought and reality. Historically, it has been
the structures, the categories which have been invented by males though not of course by all
males and they have been validated by reference to other males. In this process women have
played little or no part. It has been male subjectivity which has been the source of those meanings,
including the meaning that their own subjectivity is objectivity (1985: 143).
Journal of African Cultural Studies 19
Apart from the polarity and muting of women voices as pointed by Spender, I will discuss how
women claim agency by exploiting Shengs innovative power to coin words that portray them in
a more positive light. Unfortunately, this is the area that has been ignored by previous research.
The womens rejection of the terms coined by males implies that ridding Sheng of sexism can be
accomplished by erasing the boundary between deep and basic Sheng distinctions in order to
accommodate non-sexist variants used by females. Although such negotiation and co-construc-
tion of reality might not completely rid Sheng of its sexism, it is an endeavour that can contribute
in changing the way women are portrayed and perceived within the Sheng culture.
3.2. The data
Data for this study were collected in Nairobi during the summer of 2004 as part of a broad
project on Shengs variations and speakers multifaceted identity. 212 students from four
primary schools (age: 1217 yrs) and six secondary schools (age 1319 yrs) lled the open
questionnaires in their respective schools. Since the difference in age according to school
levels (secondary vs primary) was insignicant, it will not be discussed in this paper. The
data relevant to this study, especially section 4 comes from question 11, which investigated
lexical variation. Subjects were given a list of 17 English words and asked to write down
their Sheng equivalents. Of these 17 words, the 4 words that are relevant in the discussion of
gender labeling are; mother, father, boy and girl. Other words addressed other aspects
of the research. Apart from students, oral interviews were conducted on 54 non-student subjects
divided into 12 groups: eight all-male, two mixed and two all-girls groups. These groups were
interviewed in their local networks known as bazes (Githinji 2006b) and comprised of an
average of four subjects per group (min. three, max. eight). The age of non-student subjects
ranged between 1828 years. The data from their oral interviews were transcribed and coded
and is used in the discussions in sections 4.1, 4.2 and 5.
3.2.1. A note on the sex/gender of respondents
I mentioned earlier that most researches on Sheng are conducted on male speakers to the exclu-
sion of females. A shortcoming in this study is that out of 212 students who lled in the ques-
tionnaires, 57 were females while 155 were males. The researcher was denied permission to
distribute questionnaires in two girls secondary schools which could have reduced the disparity.
With regard to primary schools, the researcher had no control on the composition of students in
the classes. A similar problem arose with non-student subjects. Out of the 54 subjects inter-
viewed, 13 were females and 41 males. Getting a group of women to interview as a group
proved a difcult task. Some were shy and unwilling to participate, others claimed not to
speak Sheng, while others chose not to participate. Overall, we can see that for both student
and non-student, the female to male ratio is approximately one to three. This gender imbalance
might have affected the outcome of the interviews. However, this does not affect the validity of
my argumentation. I will begin with the discussion of the asymmetry in naming practices and the
connotations in female labels.
4. Androcentric naming practices: word frequency and connotations
The results from the student respondents showed that there were more words for women than
for men. Apart from the fact that female students in most cases provided fewer variants there
20 P. Githinji
was no signicant distinction between the words elicited from males and those from female stu-
dents. The word father for instance elicited 17 variants compared to the 25 for mother. Unlike
English, words for females in Sheng are not distinguished from those of males through addition
of sufxes as we can see from the data in Table (1). This is hardly surprising because gender is
not morphologically marked in Shengs base language, Swahili.
The discrepancy between phonology and orthography is pervasive in Sheng and needs to be
resolved when determining what should count as a variant in order to eliminate the redundancy
in lexical frequency. The difference between muthama and mthama for instance, does not justify
their consideration as different words. This is because in the M and MU are allophones of [m]
the prex of class (1) nouns in Swahili.
1
Similarly, the difference between muthes and mwothes
can be attributed to the discrepancy between phonology and orthography. Since the phonology
of the Kenyan English lacks the postvocalic -r, mathor and matha are pronounced the same and
are therefore treated as a single word. Knowledge of the morphological structure of Swahili
helps us understand that mathako is derived from the attachment of the possessive sufx -ko
and it has no bearing on the nominal root. It can therefore be classied together with matha
and mathor into the same paradigm. This whittles down the variants for mother to 21, in
effect reducing the signicance of the lexical frequencies between the variants for father
and those for mother. Conation of phonologically identical data to rid them of redundancy
is justied by Shengs lack of written conventions. Although we have seen that the difference
in the number of referential terms for the two sexes is insignicant, this does not mean that
those words are devoid of sexism. This becomes apparent when we move away from denotation
to differences in connotation between the words assigned to both sexes.
The three words in bold in Table 1 deserves special attention since they emphasize the central
theme of my argument regarding the asymmetric representation of women. Beginning with the
appearance of the word buda, which is an exclusive word for father under mother, it is quite
surprising that although the word may have appeared here by mistake, it is also possible that the
use of buda for mother is comparable to the use of generic man in English. The context-specic
use of buda is apparent from the impossibility of the statement mabuda wangu walidivorce my
parents divorced referring to both father and mother. This assignment of a context sensitive
generic to mother has a detrimental effect of making women invisible. It has been pointed
out that when the semantics of neutral words narrows to refer to female, they become negative.
This results from the polarity in many languages where female words are normally semantically
downgraded while male words are semantically upgraded (Ng et al. 1993). If the word buda con-
tinues to be used for father and mother, its neutrality will strip it of the power associated with
masculinity,
2
with a possible abandonment by males.
3
Two other words that exhibit gender polarity are kize for father and mokoro for mother. It
is not yet clear if kize
4
is derived from augmentative form of Kikuyu muthee or the diminutive of
Swahili mzee. While mzee in Swahili refers to an elder, male or female, the Kikuyu word muthee
(borrowed from Swahili) only refers to an elderly male. Mzee can undergo diminutive derivation
Table 1. Lexical variants for father and mother.
father buda, budeng, budengdeng, fatha, fathe, fusebox, gadabu, kize, mbulala, mdabu,
mdagala, maze, oldman, papa, tifar, warinzu, zeiksman
mother buda, gadama, mama, masa, matha, mathako, mathe, mathor, mdhema, myaka, mokoro,
monthere, monthero, msa, mtassi, mthama, mthas, munthre, muthama, muthes,
mwothes, themaa, therma, tima, zeikswoman
Journal of African Cultural Studies 21
in Swahili as kizee or kijizee while its augmentative form is jizee. Similarly, its borrowed
counterpart in Kikuyu muthee derives augmentative and diminutive, yielding g thee and
gathee respectively. It is possible that g thee
5
is borrowed into Sheng from Kikuyu augmentative
with the hardening of [g] and the spirantization of th [], in which case it inherits meaning
associated with augmentative such as monstrosity, invincibility and power. If borrowed from
the Swahili diminutive, then it inherits the endearment associated with diminutives (adorable
little things) with a possible pejorative sense e.g. abnormal or defcient, normally associated
with diminutives. Whether kize is derived from Swahili diminutive or Kikuyu augmentative,
we note that the endearment or respect and power associated the term is not extended to
women. In contrast, womens age seems to be emphasized. The word mokoro for mother is
borrowed from Kikuyu mukuru old person especially in the grandparents age group. Nowa-
days, its meaning has narrowed down to refer to females only, especially mothers. Elevating
mothers to the age of grandparents is pejorative because men are not treated the same way.
As Mills (1995: 114) explains, one way of insulting women is giving them terms which refer
to their lack of attractiveness to men. This can be seen when fathers are assigned words that
call on their adoration, respect and power while mothers are assigned terms that shows their
expired value as sex objects.
In terms of numbers, the difference between words for mother and father is insignicant
because parents are not creators of Sheng; they neither label themselves nor each other.
Fathers and mothers are outsiders in the Sheng networks irrespective of their gender. Although
we have seen that the words for mother are not devoid of sexism, it is safe to argue that since
Sheng is a youth code; the age distinction is more salient than sex differences. Intergroup bias is
therefore expressed in terms of age. This changes when focus shifts to the words for boys and
girls. Since age is not salient amongst the youth, we expect intergroup distinction based on
sex to be more prominent. Indeed, we nd that words for boy and girl exceed those for
father and mother. More importantly, words for girl far outnumber those for boy as illus-
trated in Table 2.
Girls are assigned almost twice as many words as those for boys. There are 24 variants for
boy compared to 45 for girl. Just like we did with words for mother, the phonetically
similar words are combined in order to reduce redundancy and give a more realistic number
of variants. For boy, three paradigms can be conated as shown below:
(i) boi, boy, boyii, huyu boy boi
(ii) dume, ndaume dume
(iii) muthii, mthi, mdhi muthii
Despite the seeming similarity of the words muthee, msee and mzee in Table 2, there is enough
justication to treat them as different words on account of their origin. Muthee comes from
Table 2. Lexical variants for boy and girl.
boy beshte, boi, boy, boyboy, boyii, kaboy huyu boy, chali, licha, charty, dume, ndaume, bro,
hommie, jamaa, kijana, mdhi, mthi, muthii, muthee, msee, mzee, mru
girl azguoba, bogola, chibela, chik, chile, cholosa, dame, dem, gala, gwaru, hoe, jaba, kemfaa,
kenta, kff, kichuna, kidalipo, mama, man, mandu, manyake, manzi, nzima, mbas, mbus,
buss, miogar, mlosho, mresh, mroro, roro, mtoto, toto mtoi, mshe, mshi, msusu, mtasi,
nyambizi, nyangwe, shore, shwala, siste, supuu, wanyina
22 P. Githinji
Kikuyu without undergoing any derivation while mzee comes unchanged from Swahili. Msee,
sometimes written mse is the coined words for boy which sometimes refers to person. Con-
ation of phonetically similar words reduces the number of variants for boy from 24 to 18.
Applying the same treatment to words for girl, the following combinations are possible
(i) dame, dem dem
(ii) mshe, mshi mshi
(iii) mbass, mbuss, buss mbuss
(iv) mtoto, toto mtoto
(v) mroro, roro mroro
This conation eliminates six variants, bringing the nal tally to 39. Still, the words for girl
exceed those of boy by a ratio of two to one. Assignment of more words to girl can be com-
pared to gender marking in English, only that in Sheng, deviance from males is indicated by a
plethora of lexical items instead sex-specifying sufxes. Abundance of words for girl can be
explained using (Spender 1985) logic that since language is literally man made,
6
it represents
a reality skewed in favour of men. This is conrmed by the difference in connotations
between the words for boy and those for girl.
Beginning with the word man for girl, we can accept Abulaziz and Osindes (1997) obser-
vation that it is an innovative strategy designed to obfuscate meaning among certain sections of
Sheng speakers.
7
Nevertheless, its unconscious use echoes the use of generic terms whose effect
of making women invisible is similar to the use of buda for mother. Caution should be exer-
cised in treating man in this case as a generic noun because of its context specic use as illus-
trated by mandu (man-du), another word for girl. With its addition of the grammaticalized
sufx -du, it is the only word that exhibits a sex-specifying sufx similar to English. The
word du in Sheng means fake or dubious. Characteristic of patriarchal order, man is the
norm while its counterpart mandu is deviant. The etymology of manyake and the images associ-
ated with it has led to its contention by females (Githinji 2006). The informants reported that
manyake could mean meat, women with overhanging esh, butt, female genitalia or
women themselves. All these senses bear the connotations of sex. Meat is eaten, which in
this case refers to the sexual intercourse where men eat women and not vice versa (Ogechi
2005b: 144).
8
Using eating as a euphemism for sexual intercourse looks at agency in the
sexual experience from a male perspective an interpretation regarded as sexist in previous lit-
erature (e.g. Mills 1995). Back to manyake, women with overhanging esh are not considered
sexually appealing, while buttocks and female genitalia are tropes that enforce the perception
of women only in sexual terms. Girls are also called mama mother in reference to their percep-
tion within stereotypical sex roles of child bearing and motherhood. The fact that boys are not
called baba, the antonym of mama, shows that boys are let on the loose, and are not conned to
any stereotypical role. In a different sense, the elevation of the girls ages to that of mothers is
similar to the elevation of mothers to the grandparents age mentioned above signifying their
diminishing sexual appeal (bearing in mind that sexual experience is interpreted from the
male point of view). In contrast, the agelessness and youthful vitality of boys is evident in
the broad paradigm for the word boy in boy, boi, boyboy, huyu boy and boyii.
At the other extreme, girls are depicted as childish and immature through the use of generic
words for babies and children. The word mtoto child, toto big child and mtoi (derivation from
mtoto) are all derogatory because they evoke images of powerlessness, helplessness and vulner-
ability. It is by no accident that mtoto, which is generic is not extended to boys. Here, we note
Journal of African Cultural Studies 23
that Sheng follows the trend observed in other studies (e.g. Briere and Lanktree 1983, Lipton and
Hershaft 1984) where generics are not preferred by males because they reduce the power associ-
ated with masculinity. The use of mtoto in Sheng compares well with the use of babe in English
slang. As a diminutive, babe might be considered affectionate, but its negative meanings of
attractiveness (women as sexual objects), innocence, naivety, or simply immature cannot be
ignored. The pervasive sexual connotations are also evident in nyambizi submarine that sub-
merges the men. In warfare, a submarine is elusive and unconventional, a sense that can
easily be extended to females through the use of the term nyambizi. Space would not allow
me to discuss the connotations in all the female words in Table 2; but before I go to my next
discussion, it is imperative that I briey examine the words for boy for a better representation
of the asymmetry.
Apart from eliciting fewer variant, words for boy are very positive compared to those for
girl. The boy paradigm of boy, boi, boyboy, huyu boy and boyii are all borrowed from
English with their positive semantic. Chali (derived from English Charlie) is also a general
name in Sheng that is devoid of negative connotation while dume bull or stallion foregrounds
males sexual prowess and positive perception of promiscuity comparable to English stud. The
word beshte best friend male or female is usually narrowed to refer to boys, but unlike in the
case of girls where narrowing of generics leads to negativity, the narrowing of generics to refer
to males only makes the terms very positive. Other generics like muthii person when narrowed
to male reference behave the same way as beshte. While calling a boy mzee, muthee or msee
might at rst seem derogatory by elevating him to a level of old people, this is hardly the
case because the words are borrowed packaged with salient positive attributes of elder
(power) and wisdom which overrides the age association. Mzee is thus used affectionately in
ingroup circles and is normally not used on strangers. If a stranger refers to someone as mzee,
s/he gets an angry rebuff mzee ni wewe It is you who is old or unaniita mzee unakiri mimi
ni babako? You call me an old man you think I am your father? The positive attributes of
old age (for the males) thus ensure that boys do not feel insecure when told they are old in a
jocular manner. In fact, it is a sort of compliment.
To sum up this section, we need to point out that assignment of words is a disproportionate
affair in favour of males. The positive words for males and the negative words for females
arise from the fact that males are in most case the creators of words (although it also could
be because words are only collected from males). Addressing sexism in Sheng from a social
psychological perspective, we can dene intergroup relations in terms of boys as insiders and
girls the outsiders. Outsiders are labeled more, but insiders have no use of creating labels for
themselves. Insiders view themselves favourably but this is not extended to outsiders. It is
expected that an exploration of female networks would reverse this insider/outsider dynamics
yielding a discourse that rids Sheng of sexism. In the next section I examine the connotations
of words for girls and some of their body organs as provided by males.
4.1. Sexism in outgroup labeling
In this section the words used by males to refer to breast, buttock and girl are put under
scrutiny. The logic of choosing these three words is because women are more likely than
men to be referred using words of their sexual organs. According to Mills (1995: 104) the
words for female genitalia can be used abusively to refer to the woman herself, so that
sexual organs come to dene the whole person. Interestingly, it seems that the taboo associated
with the word vagina in Swahili and other African languages extends to Sheng. Although senye
24 P. Githinji
or maku are used by both males and females, their reference does not extend to girl. Instead, the
buttocks which represent the perception of female beauty (Ogechi 2005) is used as euphemism
for female genitalia. This in turn functions as a trope in which the female personality is per-
ceived. The data comes from eight male groups, two mixed groups and two female groups
(see section 4.0). This data from spontaneous discourse shows that the use of derogatory
words for women and their body parts among the male speakers of Sheng cuts across networks
and geographical locations. During the interview, women were uncomfortable with derogatory
words and actually avoided them. Instead, they volunteered words that were very different from
males as shown in Table 3.
Reference to breasts as number plates shows that women are viewed as appendages of their
body parts. If number plates identify cars, a question begs as to what could be the male number
plates, unless their identity is taken for granted. The metaphors created by the words KCC and
matuzo (two dairy companies) place women at the same level with dairy animals. In addition,
breasts are turned into spiteful appendages by magnifying their size to undesirable proportions.
9
In ma-earphones earphones womens breasts are further objectied and equated with toys for
male entertainment. However, the buttocks are the most labeled female organs. The asymmetry
here is that while both male and females have buttocks, only the generic word rasa applies to
male buttocks while most of the other words are used more in reference to womens buttocks.
Womens buttocks are compared to car tyres (matyre), overhanging meat (manyake), work
equipment (chombo cha kazi), the rear (mathutha, manyuma, manyu), carrier, mudguard, and
sitting allowance (ma-sitting allowance). One might be misled by the seeming neutrality of
some of these words, but the structural encoding on the ma- prex (to be discussed in section 5)
adds some nuances that accentuate the negative connotation to the words it attaches to. A
problem arises when the semantics of words like manyake, masianda, maketho maloso and
matyre become metonyms for girl. Since their original referent buttock is a paired body
part, it becomes impossible to detach plural prex ma- in order to derive the singular form
for girl. The ma- prex constrains the perception of females as people without individual per-
sonality. Viewing women as groups rather than individuals in turn becomes the fodder for nega-
tive stereotypes because individuals cannot be stereotyped, but groups can. Something else that
needs to be mentioned about metonymic use of words for buttocks to refer to girl is that they
Table 3. Words for breast, buttocks and girl.
Word applied
to girls . . . by females . . . by males
breasts machungwa [oranges],
matinyo, [cf Std
matiti breasts]
KCC, matuzo [milk factories], number plate, ma-
earphones
butt manishings, matina, maduda,
madusko, mathutha
matyre, manyake [meat], masianda, carrier,
mudguard, nyungu [pot], masitting-allowance,
chombo cha kazi [work tool], mathutha, manyuma
[behinds], manyu [see nyuma], maketho maloso
[supposedly , Dholuo]
i
girl Waitherero [proper name],
Chakachaka [proper name],
Msupa [, Eng. super]
manyake [meat], mtoto [child], rst lady, kitu yangu
[my thing], maketho maloso [see above], wifey,
masianda [butt], matyre
i
. The respondents claimed that the word came from Dholuo and refers to the large buttocks because Luo
women famed for their large behinds. The word is however not recognized by the Luo speakers I spoke to.
Journal of African Cultural Studies 25
already bore negative connotation in their initial referents (buttocks and breasts). These negative
connotations are transferred to their eventual referents (girl). When the body part concerned
(buttocks), is associated with sexuality, then the perception of women as sex objects become
even more derogatory. Kitu yangu my thing, wifey wife and rst lady are another set of
words used by males to refer to females. Although kitu yangu may be regarded as a diminutive,
likening of women to thing implies objectication of women which is reinforced by the pos-
sessive yangu mine, implying ownership by males. In addition, diminutives further liken
women to cute little animals (Mills 1995: 117), irrespective of age and this is normally not
extended to males.
To sum up, it is evident that although Sheng is regarded as a dynamic code that challenges
mainstream norms, words like wifey shows that girls are still dened according to their tra-
ditional sex roles. Even words derived from titles that on the surface appear harmless like
rst lady bears connotations of possession by the males, in addition to implying that there
may be other ladies. The negative connotation in these words is what we would expect from out-
group labeling. The males dene women from their own point of view. Ingroup loyalty dictates
that everything ingroup is okay while everything outgroup is an aberration. What would happen
if reality were perceived from the other side? This question is answered in the next section.
4.2. Ingroup labeling, expurgation of sexism and female agency
Are womens words for themselves different from mens word for them? Answering this ques-
tion takes us back to Lakoffs assertion (1975) that women have a choice of lexical items that
distinguish their language from that of males. These include the colour adjectives, tag questions
and empty particles. When we shift our attention to the number and the semantics of words pro-
vided by women it becomes clear that the use of denigrating terms for women is a male preoc-
cupation. In their self perception, women do not identify themselves in sexual terms, in gender
terms, as playthings, or as animals; only males use nonneutral terms to identify women (Baker
1981: 168). The womens word for breasts machungwa oranges lacks the negative connota-
tions of playthings or milk factories that we saw in male terms. Although it could be argued
that the term also objecties the female body, it does not bear the deep sexual connotation
such as the ones we nd in male terms for female breasts. Oranges extol the beauty of breasts
in terms of size and colour. On the other hand, matinyo breasts is neutral because it is
derived from Swahili word for breasts, matiti. From an aesthetic angle, the female words for but-
tocks like manishings associates buttocks with the nesse, beauty and completeness, but it can
also give the literal meaning of organs that appear at the rear. Similarly, mathutha, madusko and
maduda, all lack the negative preponderant that we see in male terms on account of their neutral
meaning. Finally, matina which is borrowed directly from Kikuyu seems to have retained its
neutral meaning.
In contrast to the male tendency of broadening the words for buttocks to refer to girls,
none of the words for buttocks provided by females exhibits these characteristics. Instead,
women preferred words like msupa the superb one, or went for proper names like Chaka-
chaka and Waitherero.
10
The choice of these two words show that women chose names that
portray their personality as whole persons rather than projections of their body parts. They
also avoid the use of derogatory words assigned by the males. This rejection of derogatory
words shows that women are agents in Shengs innovative project who negotiate for their
positive identity and are not mere passive recipients of male lexical labels. When
womens lexical choices and innovations are taken into account, a different social reality
26 P. Githinji
emerges where the discourse reduces to parallel innovation and lexical choice. Following this
argument, it is prudent to re-examine some of the words regarded as oldskool by male net-
works (Githinji 2006a/b). The fact that males have abandoned them does not mean that
women have done so too. In fact, they might be the preferred words by females due to
their neutrality.
This examination of female lexical choice shows that it is possible to envisage Sheng that
is not riddled with sexism. Again, intergroup dynamics comes into effect where ingroup
loyalty drives women to assign themselves more positive words. Failure to appreciate
womens ingroup loyalty may be blamed for the continued marginalization of womens var-
ieties of Sheng. The obscuring of womens modes of expression by Sheng researchers may
thus be blamed from the failure to consider the intergroup dynamics. An account of Sheng
will always be incomplete if the marginalized discourse of women continues to be ignored.
5. Linguistic structure and the encryption of nuances
Many of the words used by males discussed above are not just laden with pejorative attitudes and
stereotypes, but they also contain sexist nuances that are encrypted in the structure of Sheng in
the form of cryptotypes. According to Whorf (1956: 71, see also Clarke et al. 1984), a cryptotype
is a submerged, subtle, and elusive meaning, corresponding to no actual word, yet shown by
linguistic analysis to be functionally important in the grammar. Cryptotypes differ from pheno-
types which are dened as the linguistic category with a clearly apparent class meaning and a
formula mark or morpheme which accompanies it; i.e. the phenotype is the classical morpho-
logical category (Whorf 1956: 72). Aware of the limitations of phenotypes in grammatical
analysis, Whorf proposed that cryptotypes also need to be factored in. He recognized that in
some languages at least, linguistic meaning is [an] interplay of phenotypes and cryptotypes,
not from phenotypes alone. Drawing from Whorfs insight, I examine some of the words
that bear the ma- prex in my discussion of the interaction between the structure and sexist atti-
tude in Sheng. Taking the classier morpheme ma- as the phenotype, the semantics of the ma-
nominal class will be discussed as the cryptotypes that together with the phenotypes enshrine
sexism in Sheng.
To begin with, there is no unanimous view about the semantics of the Bantu nominal classes.
Attempts at generalizations of the types of nouns in various noun classes are hampered by the
fact that virtually all noun classes contain what grammarians call miscellaneous nouns or
something similar (Maho 1999: 63). This does not rule out the possibility of nding generaliz-
able regularities. As Maho (p. 64) remarks noun classes are not completely devoid of regular
semantic tendencies. What then are the semantics associated with the ma- prex? For this,
we examine Ashtons (1966/1947: 64) list of the types of nouns that appear in the JI/MA
noun classes. Only the plural forms are of relevance in this discussion since the singular
forms lack the ma- prex. Some of the underlying ideas associated with the ma class as listed
by Ashton include the following:
(a) names that occur in quantities but have singular counterparts such as:
(i) parts of the body e.g. meno teeth, masikio ears
(ii) constituent parts of trees e.g. majani leaves, matunda fruits
(iii) phenomena which occurs in quantities e.g. mawe stones, mayai eggs
(iv) deverbal nouns (derived from verbs) e.g. maneno words cf kunena to speak and
mapigo hits, blows cf kupiga to hit
Journal of African Cultural Studies 27
(b) miscellaneous word, some of foreign origin e.g., mashoka axes, mashamba planta-
tions, masoko markets
(c) names of foreign titles and rank e.g., mabwana masters
(d) some relationship terms e.g., mashangazi aunts
(e) words expressing amplicative ideas majoka huge snakes, majiguu big legs (sic)
Excluded from Ashtons list is the liquid category that has no singular manifestation e.g. maji
water, mafuta oil, fat, maziwa milk and mate saliva where ma does not behave like a
decomposable prex.
11
Attachment of the ma- prex to female body parts is congruent with the
conventional grammatical processes of assigning the phenotypes in these categories the semantics
of paired body parts (a/i) and parts of trees (a/ii). It can even be argued that in a way, matuzo refers
to the milk that comes out of breasts. However, we begin to get suspicious when ma- prex
attaches to words for girl as in manyake, maketho maloso and masianda. It is not possible to clas-
sify girl under Ashtons (c) and (d) because the word does not denote a foreign title (unless we
imply she is foreign to males) or relationship (to the males), both of which are in any case, sexist
associations. This leaves us with cryptotype (e) amplicative idea, or augmentative, which is
indeed supported by male speakers of Sheng as, illustrated by the following exchange between
the researcher PG and respondents Karis and Dau from Kabete baze.
KARIS: . . . unajua kwa hawa wasichana utakuta . . . unajua ile shape yake ndiyo itam-describe
PG: Enhe
KARIS: hata pengine ako na titi kubwa utasikia watu wakimwita Tuzo.
PG: Tuzo?
[laughter]
PG: Tuzo ni yule ana matiti?
KARIS: Mm-hm
[laughter]
DAU: yaani inatokana na . . . si unajua hii factory ya maziwa hii ya Tuzo?
PG: Ooo ooo ooo ooo!
[laughter]
DAU: . . . ako amebeba the whole factory [laughs]
KARIS: you know for these girls, you will nd that their shape is the one that will describe them
PG: Enhe?
KARIS: like maybe she has large breasts, people will be calling her Tuzo
PG: Tuzo?
[laughter]
PG: Tuzo refers to the one with breasts?
KARIS: Mm-hm
[laughter]
DAU: that is, it derives from. . .you know this milk factory called Tuzo?
PG: Ooo ooo ooo ooo!
[laughter]
DAU: She is carrying the whole factory [laughs]
From this exchange it is clear that reference to milk is not about secretions from the mammary
gland. Instead, it refers to the nuances associated with the massiveness of a factory, any factory.
The factory metaphor also encrypts images of exploitation production, commerce and prot.
Taking into account the fact that big buttocks dene the African conception of beauty (Ogechi
2005), the contribution of the ma- prex in amplifying the size of the woman buttocks becomes
obvious. When we consider the etymology of manyake from nyake, we see how addition of the
ma- prex amplies the conception of ordinary meat to extraordinary proportions. The males
28 P. Githinji
would prefer the size of female buttock to be different from that of males, so that the sexual
appeal could be enhanced. This is evident from the fact that ma- prex does not attach to
rasa which also refer to male buttock.
If amplication portrays women in a derogatory manner, what then can we say about the words
with the ma- prex that women use to refer to themselves? It can be argued that careful choice of
words by females ensures that the semantics of the root word before ma- afxation cancels out
possible negative cryptotypes that may result from ma- afxation. In ma-nishings for instance,
if the aesthetics attributes of nishings is taken into account, we nd that amplication
enhance the qualities of the referent. Interpretation of ma-nishings as behinds or rear areas
gives a one-to-one connection with buttocks contributing to its neutral sense of paired body
parts. Machungwa ts Ashtons (a/ii) category of paired body parts, freezing the addition of
extra nuances. The use of mathutha rear areas by both sexes seems to imply that it is neutral.
Possibly, the conversion from abstract noun thutha behind or rear to concrete noun in the deri-
vation of mathutha freezes the semantics of mathutha to paired body parts, hence blocking the
encryption of negative connotations. If this is true, its variants which are used by females like
maduda (formed by replacing the interdental fricatives [] with voiced alveolar stop [d]) and
madusko (formed from clipping [da] from maduda before adding sufx sko) inherits this
neutral meaning. It can also be argued that the matinyo is devoid of negative connotations
because it is a modied version of a borrowed word matiti breasts which bears the same seman-
tics. Caution should be observed here because Sheng tends to make class 6 i.e. the ma class the
default plural class (Bosire 2006) for many nouns that are traditionally classied in other noun
classes in Swahili.
6. Conclusion
This paper showed that Sheng discriminates against women in different ways. Not only do
researchers shun their discourse, but also the language portrays them negatively through assign-
ments of more words compared to men. In addition, most of the words for women are derogatory
and portray them as deviants. This can be interpreted within the patriarchal order where social
roles are biased against women. Masculine roles are associated with power and prestige while
feminine roles are considered unimportant and useless. Language reects and reinforces existing
social structures which in turn are constructed to womens disadvantage. It was argued that in
Sheng, linguistic structures place women at the margins of two extremes. At one end, diminu-
tives portray them as helpless, powerless and vulnerable while at the opposite extreme, augmen-
tatives portray them and their body parts as outrageously big. Women do not assign themselves
negative words, instead they choose words that enhance their own positive self-identity. The dis-
parity between the male and female labeling of females and their body parts was interpreted in
terms of intergroup dynamics where males regard females as outgroups and hence legitimate
targets of negative stereotyping. In contrast, womens positive self-portrayal was interpreted
as ingroup loyalty driven by the need to cultivate a positive self-image.
The arguments advanced in this paper question the strict adherence to the Saussurean para-
digm about the relationship between the signier and signied in a linguistic sign (Saussure
1959). This is because it fails to completely address the connotation of words or the attitudes
that speakers associate with those words. While this paper is not a criticism of Saussure, its
focus on the connection between language and thought shows that linguistic structures are not
always arbitrary as is widely assumed. They are loaded with nuances and innuendoes that
only become apparent after a critical look.
Journal of African Cultural Studies 29
Although the paper looks at Sheng as more manifest amongst the males, it was also shown that
females also participate in Sheng, only that their styles do not attract the attention of researchers.
Just because women are not using the words that are popular with the males does not mean that
they do not speak Sheng, neither does it justify giving them a linguistic blackout. For a fair rep-
resentation of both sexes, as well as purging Sheng of its sexism, the articial boundaries
between deep and basic Sheng that contest the legitimacy of women styles need to be discarded.
Finally, it is expected that deliberate attention to female styles in Sheng would help address its
sexism from two perspectives. First, it will restore women agency, ensuring that they are also co-
participants in the construction of reality. Since their words are less vulgar, their competition
with male terms in Sheng discourse will lead to abundance of lexical choices by the users
thus reducing the prominence of derogatory words. Luckily, Sheng is a uid code where every-
thing is up for negotiation. It is not beyond salvage.
Notes
1. Though in Standard Swahili the morpheme for noun class one is m, some upcountry speakers add u,
which is analogical to a similar morpheme in the same category in their respective rst languages.
2. This is similar to Lipton and Hershaft (1984) nding that a change from the masculine he to a neutral
person downgraded the male artist because it was regarded as emasculation of males.
3. In Githinji (2006a, b), I explained that names that are no longer in use are called oldskool. Buda is one
of the words considered oldskool in some Sheng networks.
4. The name mzee in Swahili means an elder. Augmentatives jizee, and diminutives kizee seem to exhibit
gender sensitivity in that while augmentatives are usually applied to males, diminutives are most often
applied to women. Kikuyu has borrowed the name muthee from Swahili to refer to an old man. The
augmentative form in Kikuyu is g thee and its dimunitive gathee. Both refer to males (see also
Githinji 2006).
5. In Gikuyu, g is realized as a velar fricative [g]. In Sheng, this phone converts to a voiceless velar stop
[k]. In addition grapheme [e] changes to [i] changing the name githee to kizee.
6. Marginalization of girls prevents their lexical innovations from surfacing while the patriarchal order
that perpetuates the impression that girls Sheng is deviant ensures that no importance is attached to
their innovations.
7. Abdulaziz and Osinde (1997) observed that Engsh speakers in the Westlands areas of Nairobi called
their girlfriends man.
8. Another common word for sexual intercourse is manga a Romance borrowing that means to eat.
Although this word is borrowed from French manger [maze], the phonological disparity can be
attributed to the fact that Sheng speakers could have accessed this borrowing through its written
form and then adapted it to the local phonology. This is a common feature in Sheng, even with
words borrowed from local languages and can be attributed to Shengs freedom in innovation as
well as its lack of orthographic conventions as we can see in this section.
9. We should bear in mind that young men prefer women with a small chest and big buttocks as captured
by the song Vile (ni)Tafanya What I will do by Jua Cali, Nonini and Prezzo: . . . awe na kifua ndogo,
na nyuma mahaga . . . she should have a small chest and large buttocks.
10. Yvonne Chakachaka is a popular South African musician who was very popular in the 1980s and
1990s and still commands a huge following in Kenya. Waitherero is a Kikuyu female name
11. It is however important to group these nouns in this class because their grammatical manifestation is
similar to the nouns listed in the text. We should also bear in mind that other Bantu language have
nouns with paradigms that shows that some of these nouns are decomposable. In Kikuyu for
instance, you can say maa water, tuu little water, ruu river.
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