Sexism in the Sabaot Language: A Case of Semantic Derogation of Women

Abstract

The work focused on semantic derogation of women in the Sabaot language. a sub- tribe of the Kalenjin community occupying the slopes of Mt. Elgon. The objective was to investigate sexist and discriminative notions of women evident in the way Sabaot language constructs sexist ideologies and images of women. The investigation was necessary because sexist notions of women breed an under-dog feminine position through an offensive. patronizing and demeaning vocabulary. The research suggests why people should adopt and use language forms. which recognize the identities and values of women in daily discourse and a sense of social responsibility towards others in language use. The research was based in Cheptais Division of Mt. Elgon district and drew eighty interviewees from the four locations in the division. It employed use of audio taped discourse- session excerpts from the village heads" and chiefs‘ Barazas. focus group interviews and observation field notes. Data was analyzed in three thematic categories. Percentages and degrees Of the themes were calculated. The research was based on Critical Discourse Analysis model as an interpretive framework. It also incorporated Post-Feminist approaches in the analysis. The analysis revealed that women in the Sabaot community are discriminated linguistically. It is hoped that this work would contribute to knowledge in other disciplines like Anthropology. Sociology and Philosophy.