ONSANSE’S LANGUAGE: NOT MORE THAN TWO-WORD UTTERANCES AFTER FORTY YEARS OF EXPOSURE TO FOUR LANGUAGES

Abstract

This paper set out to investigate the amount and nature of language the
subject of the study (Onsanse) has learnt for four decades of exposure to
several languages after being picked up at the age of 17, when he could
produce only one word and one interjection in Ekegusii. The data from
conversations and observations audio- and video-recorded for 154 hours
show that Onsanse has picked up an amount of vocabulary that enables
him to interact with people especially in Dholuo and Kiswahili. However,
he has not acquired a grammar that would enable him to produce an
utterance longer than two words. In another respect Onsanse’s grammar
is comparable to that of Specific Language Impairment subjects, since
its morphological component is selectively impaired: for instance, in
Dholuo, the language he seems to be most “competent” in, Onsanse has
greater difficulty in using the singular subject marker prefix than its
plural counterpart. At the phonological level, his speech was marked by
omissions and substitutions of phonemes, but no typical features stood
out as typical of his speech.