Sheng slang

Shengis primarily aSwahiliandEnglish-basedcant,slang, perhaps amixed languageorcreole, originating among the urban youth ofNairobi, Kenya, and influenced by many of the languages spoken there. While primarily a language of urban youths, it has spread across social classes and geographically to neighbouringTanzaniaandUganda.
It is a language variety spoken as alingua francaacrossKenya. For many years, it has been used on school playgrounds and campuses and in political campaigns, and today It is forcing its way into spoken media.
Sheng expressions are neither standardised nor taught in any formal establishments, but rather function in daily discourse, usually in informal settings. Kenyan speakers regularly mix several slang in their conversations regardless of origin, but depending on the audience and the familiarity level with the listeners.
Sheng unites the different ethnic groups in the country, especially in their trade and social interaction with each other.EnglishandSwahiliis Kenya's official languages, and Sheng, despite its common use throughout the country, has no official status.
The word "Sheng" is coined from the two languages that it is mainly derived from:Swahili andEnglish. The "h" was included from the middle of "Swahili" because "Seng" would have sounded unusual. The term is first recorded in 1965.
Originating in the early 1950s in the Eastlands area of Nairobi (variously described as a "slum", "ghetto" or "suburb"), Sheng is now heard amongmatatudrivers/touts across the region, and in the popular media. Most of the Sheng words are introduced in various communities and schools and given wide exposure by music artists who include them in their lyrics, hence the rapid growth. It can be assumed to be the first language of many Kenyans in urban areas.
Like all slang, Sheng is mainly used by the youth and is part of popular culture in Kenya. It also evolves rapidly, as words are moved into and out of slang use. It found broad usage amonghip hopartists such as Kalamashaka and G.rongi in theAfrican Great Lakesregion in the '90s, both mainstream and "underground" (whose music helped spread the language and contribute to rapid changes or shifts in Sheng vocabulary), as well as among virtually all university and secondary-school students, the language was not always associated with people who cannot do much for the society until when theKenya Broadcasting Corporationnoted the rise in both class and diversity. Radio presenters John Karani, Jeff Mwangemi and Prince Otach, and many more, took it to the mainstream by presenting the first radio shows using Sheng phrases on the national broadcast. By 2010 almost every media show had some sort of sheng in it.
Although the grammar, syntax, and much of the vocabulary are drawn from Swahili, Sheng borrows from the languages of some of the largest ethnic groups in Kenya, includingLuhya,Gĩkũyũ,LuoandKamba. Words are also borrowed from languages that are neither a local language nor English – such as the Sheng wordmorgen"morning" – a Sheng word used in some areas with a similar meaning inGerman.
Sheng vocabulary can vary significantly within Kenya's various subdivisions and the larger African Great Lakes region, and even between neighbourhoods in Nairobi. Many youth living in the capital often use the argot as their everyday mode of communication rather than Swahili or English.
ManyGen ZandMillennialseasily adapt to other variants of Sheng likeShembeteng,ShengiloandShengtezo.
The use of social media platforms likeTikTokhave contributed to the growth of Sheng.
The written use of Sheng in literature is still a minor phenomenon. Some poems in the African literary magazineKwani?have been published in Sheng, but the first and only book in this language is "Lafudhi hip hop poetry in Sheng" (2015), written by G rongi.