The communicative functionality of code mixing structures in contemporary Luhya secular music texts

Abstract

This paper is based on the communicative functionality of code-mixing linguistic structures in contemporary Luhya secular music texts. The study aimed at finding out how intra-sentential and intersentential code mixed linguistic structures are used to facilitate the expression of the diverse thematic concerns in the music texts. The paper sought to identify the code mixing structures and to examine the communicative roles expressed through the linguistic structures. Fairclough's (1993) Critical Discourse Analysis theory’s aspect that considers language as a social practice was applied to the study. Critical Discourse Analysis theory, that is discourse as a social practice was used to explain the functional organization of the code-mixed linguistic structures to express social meanings such as identity, solidarity and power relations. As a social practice, CDA explains that language is shaped by the society’s linguistic needs and the society in turn dictates the do’s and don’ts of language. Critical Discourse Analysis theory posits that there is a systematic relationship between the social context, the functional organization of the language and the discursive production of relations of power. The study was a cross-sectional survey focusing on thirty contemporary secular music texts composed in the different Luhya dialects. The texts studied were selected using purposive sampling technique based on popularity of the musicians in the year 2015. The popular music texts were those frequently played on the local radio stations, Sulwe, West and Mulembe F.M. Data collected was analysed using corpus methods of linguistics that considered the different linguistic structures and the communicative functions of the linguistic structures in the text. Specifically formal elements such as cases of intra-sentential and inter-sentential code mixing as used in the music text were examined from the purposes they served. The findings reveal that there is frequent use of intra-sentential code mixing structures by Luhya musicians for different social functions such as expression of authority and the ethnicity of the musicians. The study contributes towards highlighting on the positive linguistic aspect of code-mixing as a communicative strategy.