The use of ethnic community languages in urban areas of Tanzania: a case study of Kikuria in Dar es Salaam

This study is about the use of Kikuria in urban areas in Tanzania. Specifically, the study investigates the patterns of Kikuria use by Kuria ethnic speakers living in Dar es Salaam. The aim is to ascertain whether the linguistic behaviour of Kuria speakers indicates signs of language shift or language maintenance. The study addresses three sociolinguisitic issues: First, to identify who uses Kikuria and who uses Kiswahili in urban areas. Second, to investigate domains in which Kiswahili is dominantly used and the domains which are reserved for Kikuria. Third, to investigate the patterns of language acquisition at home and use this information to draw relevant conclusions regarding language shift and maintenance taking Kikuria language as a case study. The study covered three municipal wards namely, Ukonga, Mwenge and Mbagala from Ilala, Kinondoni and Temeke municipalities (in Dar es Salaam), respectively. A total of 90 subjects participated in the study. The selection of the subjects was done using random selection procedure. The study used questionnaires, interviews and personal observation as major techniques of collecting data. The present study reveals that all social categories of Kuria ethnic speakers living in Dar es Salaam use Kiswahili as their primary language of social interaction. These results suggest therefore that Kikuria is losing loyalty among the Kuria ethnic speakers in Dar es Salaam. The fact that all Kuria ethnic speakers dominantly use Kiswahili in all the selected domains, indicates that language shift is taking place, that is from Kikuria to Kiswahili.