Kiswahili Personal Names Selection in Tanzania: A Sociolinguistic Analysis

Abstract

This paper deals with form and use of proper names, specifically Kiswahili personal names. The paper carries out research into various social issues behind Swahili personal names. It focuses on identifying what is behind Swahili personal names and analyzes different sociolinguistic issues that make people to be named as they were named. The paper contributes to sociolinguistics especially on how language serves and shaped by social and cultural context. However, the paper tries to evaluate if people know the meaning of their names and the circumstances under which a child was given the name. The paper argues that a proper name refers not to a referent, but to a set of true propositions that uniquely describe a referent (Seeman (2014).