| dc.description.abstract | In nearly every part of the world, languages in contact with others are shifting and
disappearing. When languages shrink and finally die, their paren~ cultures risk
devastation, the worldview that they represent gets restricted, the identity of their
speakers is eroded, and linguistic diversity as a resource silently goes to waste. In
Africa,the problem of language decline is pressing, given the plurilingual nature of the
continent. Likewise, the need to safeguard endangered languages has also been
growing throughout the world. Through revitalization programmes, for instance, a
number of shrinking languages are back in active use. Nevertheless, such intervention
programmesmay succeed or fail depending on a range of factors. Taking Kenya as a
case,there have been efforts to revitalize Suba, the language of the Suba. After years of
contactwith their Luo neighbours, the Suba are reported to have given up their mother
tonguein favour of Luo, the language of the Luo. Revitalization efforts (- dimensions,
approaches,activities, and strategies) put in place towards Suba revival by the Kenya
government and the community itself were examined in this study to determine
whether or not they have been successful at reversing the decline of Suba use. To that
end, the study sought to examine, using existing metrics of assessment of language
vitalityor endangerment, the extent to which the Suba language project is reversing the
shift from Suba to Luo. Data for the study was gathered by means of observation and
interview schedules. For the discussion and the analysis, the study primarily utilized
the parameters of assessment of language vitality an~ endangerment proposed by
UNESCO(2003)[butalso separately detailed in Grenoble and Whaley,2006; Hinton and
Hale,2001;Crystal, 2000;Yamamoto, 1998;Landweer,1998; Fishman,1991; and Bourhis
et al,1981]to gauge the revival initiative as well as report on the current state of Suba.
The study especially applied the frameworks of Ethnolinguistic Vitality by Giles and
.Byrne,the Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale by Fishman, and the Ecology of
Languageapproach propounded by Haugen in guiding the review and the analysis.
Among other things, the study found evidence that Suba use within the Suba
communityis still limited, the revitalization programme notwithstanding. It is hoped
that the study provides information about how the Suba project was approached, what
strategiesappear to have worked, what did not, and what could be done to make the
programme more effective. Most importantly, the findings of the study would be
helpfulin the formation of appropriate support measures for language maintenance or
revitalizationelsewhere in Africa or even on a global scale.
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