Simplifying the Rules in the Grammar of Kenyan English

Abstract

This paper looks at the grammatical (i.e. syntactic and morphological) features of
'Kenyan English'. With reference, as the target, to the grammar of what one could call
standard 'international' English, the features in question are non-target-like in some
way and in this paper they are referred to also as 'Kenyan English forms'. They are
discussed from the point of view of second language acquisition and use, which
provides a suitable framework for accounting for the variability which, as observed in
this study, characterizes their use. The paper concludes that the development of such
forms was inevitable: it is only natural that when a language is so widely used (as
English is in Kenya) as a second language, a number of such forms will come about
as a result of imperfect learning of the target language, and 'stick'.