Phonological Adaptation of Loanwords into Ma da : An Optimality Theory Account

Abstract

This paper, using Optimality Theory (OT) as a framework, investigates thephonology of loanwords in Mad a, a Benue-Congo language spoken inNasarawa state, North Central Nigeria (Williamson & Blench, 2000). Datafor the study were obtained from two sources: Mad a- English dictionary andaudio recordings of relevant corpus from three native speakers of Mad a. Thestandard OT view of loanword phonology assumes that it is the hostlanguage grammar that acts on the foreign words by selecting the rightoutput form from a vast majority of candidates. The paper examines thestrategies that Mad a adopts in the process of adapting words borrowed fromother languages into it as well as the constraints hierarchy preferences. Theresults show that the phonological changes which foreign words undergowhen borrowed into Mad a are evident in a range of phonological processessuch as vowel deletion, coda simplification, cluster simplification, structurepreservation, and syllable deletion. In all, it is observed that, to a largeextent, the loanwords violate the syllable structure and Mad a phonotactics;but in order to preserve its structure, Mad a uses constraints that requirethe output material to be independent of input.