THE RELEVANCE OF ETHNOBOTANICAL STUDIES TO LINGUISTIC VITALITY: THE CASE OF PLANT USE AND CLASSIFICATION AMONG THE DIGO OF KENYA

Abstract

This article summarises the findings of ethnobotanical research conducted among the Digo
people of Kwale District, Kenya, together with applications of this research for the benefit of
the local community and implications of this for language vitality. The article consists of four
sections. Section 1 provides background information on the Digo people and language, the
ecology of the region, and the research methodology employed. Section 2 discusses Digo
botanical folk taxonomy, that is, the way in which Digo speakers classify plants, and the ways
in which this differs from botanical folk taxonomies reported for neighbouring Swahili
speakers. Section 3 provides details of medicinal and other uses of a sample of 30 plants.
Finally, in Section 4 the relevance of such studies is related to the current debate on the
maintenance and interrelation of linguistic, cultural and biological diversity.