Bazes and Their Shibboleths: Lexical Variation and Sheng Speakers’ Identity in Nairobi

Abstract

This paper examines Sheng’s shibboleths that mark speakers as members of different social categories. Attention is paid to how these shibboleths are used in the bazes — local hang out joints, where the bulk of members’ interaction takes place in Sheng. The concept ‘baze’ carries the dual sense of members of these social groups, and the social spaces in which different images of ‘we’ vs. ‘them’ are constructed and negotiated. The relevance of lexical semantic differences is regarded as a consequence of deliberate strategies in which members of different bazes manipulate the meaning of words to draw categorical boundaries. Following this scenario, it can be concluded that with different bazes having their own shibboleths, Nairobi is not a melting pot where different languages converge to produce a single language. The traditional ethnic categories are displaced by the emergence of social categories which are as divisive as ethnic groups.