PHONOLOGICAL CHANGE AND SECOND LANGUAGE INFLUENCE: THE CASE OF EDO LOANWORD REPAIR STRATEGIES.

The work examined the phonological strategies by which borrowed items are nativized into loanwords in E̩do. It also examined the extent to which the nativization strategies in E̩ do language are active in the borrowing process to make the item fit into the structural pattern of E̩ do phonology.

    Data were gathered from a variety of sources, including several settings in which the native speakers use the language freely, as well as from published works in the language. Statements that contain borrowed words were extracted from the recorded discussions and interviews. The permissible structures of the borrowed words were checked against phonological constraints in E̩ do with the aim of observing how well, or otherwise, these structures have obeyed the constraints. The analysis employed in the study was based on the Optimality Theory which accounts for the permissibility or otherwise of given structures by considering their violations of given constraints.

    The study found that English lexical items are borrowed into E̩ do language with the expected modifications. The analysis reveals that the nativization of borrowed words is in stages, hence English sounds such as the voiceless palatoalveolar affricate [ʧ], the voiced palato-alveolar affricate [ʤ] and the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative [ʃ] are found in borrowed items that have not been fully nativized. The study concludes, amongst others, that borrowing is a process that borrowed items undergo before they can be selected as optimal (ie. acceptable) forms in E̩do.