Writing Kalenjin dictionary tough

By Kipkirui K’Telwa

How does one write a dictionary for the Kalenjin when the members of the community speak different dialects?

This is the question that linguist Kibny’aanko Seroney tackles in the newly released dictionary, Samburtaab Ng’aleekaab Kaleenchin.

This work attempts to unite the over ten Kalenjin-speaking ethnic groups to create a single talking point.

Kibny’aanko defends his work saying: "Kalenjin language users still understand each other, meaning there is an underlying principle of sameness of language."

Writing a vernacular dictionary is one way of preserving indigenous languages. Photo: Jenipher Wachie/Standard

In his work, which has taken him 15 years to research, Kibny’aanko attempts to address, in a broad way, the elusive question of Kalenjin orthography (writing system).

"The missionaries and colonial administrators, as we know, didn’t analyse the Kalenjin language in a broad sense but took isolated cases based on the territorial confinement to develop the language," he says.

They subverted the development of Kalenjin language to their convenience, he says.

"They put down Kalenjin words in a manner that suited them and not as it was used by the indigenous speakers themselves," he notes.

To reverse this negative trend, Kibny’aanko has put together a huge volume that is also available online.

This makes Kalenjin one of the first indigenous African languages in East Africa to go online.

There is also an electronic version, which is available at: http://www.africanlanguages.com/kalenjin/dictionary; http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/samburtaab-ngaleekaab-kaleenchin

The author refers to the online version as a European version while the Mvule Africa published copy is labelled Nairobi edition.

He describes online publishing and editing as a friendly venture because it allows users to add new words or comments, thus it auto-updates itself.

Desire to correct mistakes

Kibny’aanko attributes the success of his work to information technology and adds that this has enabled many people to publish their works both online and offline.

The Warwick University-based scholar says he compiled the dictionary because of his desire to correct mistakes made by missionaries.

"Only the late Dr Taita Towett made meaningful attempts to record Kalenjin words," says Kibny’aanko.

Kalenjin vowels function differently from Kiswahili and English ones.

"It is important to preserve indigenous languages which are fast-disappearing. If books are being written then the disappearance of languages will be stopped," counsels the scholar who also authored From Strength To Strength, a biography of Ambassador Peter Rono.

His dictionary needs support from other Kalenjin scholars for improvement and expansion.

Unfortunately, the absence of a committee for Kalenjin language standardisation poses a challenge to Kalenjin linguists and speakers.

For example, technical and emerging words require a committee to construct and standardise them based on meaningful concepts. It is difficult to acquire the equivalent of words such as ‘computer.’

Human appetite for knowledge

Recording language helps to convey concepts that reflect human appetite for knowledge. If a language is not used, then it becomes redundant or impotent. That a useful language is used to convey human products such as literature, drama and theatre is not in dispute.

Tragically, absence of mother tongue textbooks has made it difficult for most African languages to grow. Teachers are not generating teaching material to fit the ever-changing knowledge.

Therefore this dictionary will generate both knowledge and controversies in equal measure among Kalenjin scholars and readers.

For example, a Kipsigis-Kalenjin will accuse Kibny’aanko of either inverting or reversing most Kalenjin words. For example, whereas Toweettian and colonial writers would easily identify the word ‘Kalenjin’, Kibny’aanko has presented it as ‘Kaleenchin.

But while appreciating the new challenge, Kibny’aanko avers that the late Dr Toweett was aware of the acute problems of orthography.

"Studying the variants of Kalenjin linguistic groups in isolation helps create imagined linguistic differences rather than the real difference."

Even the Kipsigis/Kibiskis scholars and speakers will be left confused.