Sheng

Sheng ni lugha ya mitaani nchini Kenya inayochanganya Kiswahili na Kiingereza pamoja na lugha mbalimbali za kienyeji kama vile Kikikuyu, Kijaluo n.k. Sanasana hutumiwa na vijana katika mji wa Nairobi. Hata hivyo lugha hii inasambaa katika sehemu mbalimbali za Kenya na watu wa matabaka mbalimbali wanaitumia. Sheng inatumiwa kwenye mabasi, redio, muziki, na hata wakati mwingine kwenye bunge la Kenya. 

Sheng ilianza kutumika mwanzoni mwa miaka ya 1970 katika kitongoji cha Eastlands katika jiji la Nairobi. Wanamuziki, hasa wa mtindo wa "rap" wamefanya lugha hii kujulikana na kuanza kukubalika. Wanamuziki kama vile Kalamashaka jua kali na Nonini wamekuwa wakiitumia sana kwenye nyimbo zao. 

Ingawa misamiati mingi, muundo, na kanuni za Sheng zinatoka kwenye lugha ya Kiswahili, Sheng inatumia maneno ya Kiingereza na pia lugha za makabila nchini Kenya. Ingawa kuna watu wengi wanaoipenda na kuitetea Sheng, wako wengine, wakiwemo walimu wa lugha shuleni na vyuoni, wanaoipinga kwa maelezo kuwa inaharibu lugha ya Kiswahili na pia inahatarisha uwezo wa watoto na vijana kumudu Kiingereza na Kiswahili sanifu.

Baadhi ya maneno ya Sheng 
 manzi, slay queen mshi, dame, chikidee, chile, chick, mradi, mresh, msupa = msichana
 fiti!, fiti sana! = mzuri, okay
 Kanairo = Nairobi
 sasa = habari yako (ya sasa, ya saa hizi)
 chali, mhi, kijanaa, aguy, jamaa = mvulana
 kitu zii sana = kitu kibaya
 kucheki = kuangalia
 kuenda tao = kuenda mjini
 kukatia = kumwambia unayempenda maneno matamu ("flirting")
 kujiskia, kufeel fly/poa, kuji-do (do = fanya) = kuwa na maringo
 kupata ball = kupata mimba
 kugonga wall, kugonga mawe = kujaribu kumwongelesha msichana lakini hataki kujihusisha nawe
 kulapa mtu = kujidai kuwa humwoni mtu
 tia ritho = kuangalia (literally: put to the eye); katika Kikuyu, jina 'ritho' lamaanisha 'jicho'.
 kushona = kupata mimba. Mfano: Dame ameshona
 kuchill = hali ya kutofanya mapenzi kabla ya ndoa
 kusota = hali ya kuwa bila pesa ama hela (being broke)
 kuhanya = kufanya mapenzi holelaholela 
 keroro, kamunyueso = mvinyo, pombe
 kugotea = kusalimia
 kuwa gauge = hali ya kuwa mlevi
 mahaga = sehemu ya nyuma ya msichana, matako
 ndae = gari 
 kutia ndani, kuishi = kula 
 kupewa = kunywa pombe
 Karao, Daewoo, = polisi (Daewoo kutoka jina la gari linalotumiwa na polisi nchini Kenya)
 mchoro = mpangilio wa kufanya kitu (plan)
 mgondi = jambazi (thug)
 juala, CD  = kondomu
 kutia zii = kuachana na kitu ambacho unafanya
 kula vako = kuamini uwongo. Mfano: Alikula vako eti dame yangu ni mlami (He/she believed that I have a white girlfriend)
 veve = miraa
 kindugulu = bangi
 quarantei = karantini
 kujiaisolet= hali ya kuwa peke yako/kujitenga
 kuwa single = bila mke
 chapa na tarimbo/kemba/nyandua = kujamiana kimapenzi
 radha/ngori = shida
 risto = hadithi nichapie risto
 vajoo = bikra
 kamunyueso/wain =pombe
 bazenga = mtaalamu mi ni bazenga wa kucheza bukla
 motino/dogi = mbwa
 fwaka, fegi = sigara
 mushogi = gari la aina ya matatu
 kristi = mnunuaji
 njege, sange, mabeast = polisi
 yeng' = mwanamke
 chums, dooh, weng' = pesa
 sooh = shilingi mia moja
 finje = hamsini
 ashu = kumi
 mbao =ishirini
 kutypa = kumbuka
 bazu = mheshimiwa
 kuchum, kukis = kubusu
 Sa Good = Mungu
 mosmos = polepole
 chapchap = harakaharaka
 Njege = polisi

Tanbihi

Marejeo
Abdulaziz, Mohamed H. and Ken Osinde. 1997. Sheng and Engsh: development of mixed codes among the urban youth in Kenya. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 125 (Sociolinguistic Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa), pp. 45–63.
Bosire, Mokaya. 2006. Hybrid languages: The case of Sheng. Selected Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, ed. Olaoba F. Arasanyin and Michael A. Pemberton, 185-193. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
Fee, D., & Moga, J. 1997. Sheng dictionary.Third edition. Nairobi: Ginseng Publishers.
Githinji, Peter. 2005. Sheng and variation: The construction and negotiation of layered identities. PhD dissertation, Michigan State University.
Githinji, Peter. 2006. Bazes and Their Shibboleths: Lexical Variation and Sheng Speakers’ Identity in Nairobi. Nordic Journal of African Studies 15(4): 443–472.
Githiora, Chege. 2002. Sheng: peer language, Swahili dialect or emerging Creole? Journal of African Cultural Studies Volume 15, Number 2, pp. 159–181.
Kang’ethe, Iraki. 2004. Cognitive Efficiency: The Sheng phenomenon in Kenya. Pragmatics 14(1): 55–68.
Kießling, Roland & Maarten Mous. 2004. Urban Youth Languages in Africa. Anthropological Linguistics 46(3): 303-341
Mazrui, Alamin. 1995. Slang and Codeswitching: The case of Sheng in Kenya. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 42: 168–179.
Ogechi, Nathan Oyori. 2002. Trilingual Codeswitching in Kenya – Evidence from Ekegusii, Kiswahili, English and Sheng. Doctoral dissertation, Universität Hamburg.
Ogechi, Nathan. 2005. On Lexicalization in Sheng. Nordic Journal of African Studies 14(3): 334–355.
Samper, David. 2002. Talking Sheng: The role of a Hybrid Language in the Construction of Identity and Youth Culture in Nairobi Kenya. PhD Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
Spyropoulos, Mary. 1987. Sheng: some preliminary investigations into a recently emerged Nairobi street language. Journal of the Anthropological Society 18 (1): 125-136.

Viungo vya nje
Dikshonari ya sheng  Tupitie ucheki ma words za sheng za tene na zile nira
Tasnifu kuhusu Sheng  Talking Sheng: The role of a hybrid language in the construction of identity and youth culture in Nairobi, Kenya.
Kamusi ya Sheng/Kiingereza, Kiingereza/Sheng
Blogu ya Sheng Bloki ya Osporne

Lugha
Lugha za Kenya