i presumed this was 'the' kernel of the device (rather than the davlik emulation layer), and so asked if the android build of the linux kernel was replacing the mer build of the linux kernel in future jolla devices. this didn't seem entirely unreasonable given that people are running sailfish UI over android derived cyanogenmod kernel.
to my limited understanding, 'the' kernel is the mer build of linux with its customised config/drivers/versions. additionally, my limited understanding is that the jolla phone is packaged with the davlik emulation layer, which mimics android 4.4 (the last version of android that used the old style apk files used in older android phones.