Bio

Patrick Lugwiri Okombo is an East African linguist from Kenya. He holds a MA in Kiswahili studies from the University of Nairobi, and is currently a full-time PhD candidate of linguistics at Makerere University. His current research interest in the Kiswahili sociolinguistics is the understanding of Kiswahili sociolinguistics, and the use of Kiswahili as a lived practice in the socially multilingual settings that characterize the East African urban locales. He targets the ordinary citizens’ understanding and use of Kiswahili in their social life. His theoretical and methodological frames cut across various sub-disciplines such as contact linguistics, linguistic ethnography, interactional sociolinguistics, and the recent citizen sociolinguistics. The central thesis of his research echoes the argument that, because language is a social act, its social value should be best evaluated in the social contexts where the language is used. Other than academic pursuits, Okombo is an experienced Kiswahili/English translator, editor, and proofreader, having previously worked for several private publishing companies in Nairobi to the level of acting publishing manager.