ABSTRACT
Kenya is a multilingual country that has seen rapid urbanisation and industrialisation. In the 1960–’70s, in the slums of its capital, Nairobi, youth created an anti-language, “Sheng”, based on spoken urban Swahili. This slang register became popular among Kenyan youth mainly through music. It has developed into a national marker of modern Kenyanness, and it is no longer restricted to youth, the slums or Nairobi. Its lexical innovation and continual expansion are unprecedented. As a reaction to the emergence of Sheng, a much “posher” counterpart developed, “Engsh”, which is based on English, borrows from Sheng and has its centre of gravity among educated modern youth. While Sheng and Engsh are increasingly used in public life, the differentiated functions of these varieties continue to exist and require constant innovation, thus escaping codification and official recognition.
