Re-syllabification and morphophonological nativisation of English loans in Rukwangali

Abstract

We here examine and discuss the phonological and morphological nativisation of English loan words in Rukwangali. The analysis, couched within the theoretical explications of CV Phonology (Clements & Keyser, 1983) and Distinctive Features Theory (Chomsky and Halle, 1968), argues that Rukwangali evinces a high level of resyllabification of borrowed words – increasing syllable count in the nativised forms. This, we argue, is largely motivated by the desire to preserve the canonical Consonant-Vowel (CV) syllable structure. The historical contact situation between English and Rukwangali in Namibia culminated in a transference of lexical items between the languages. Being one of the most widely used languages of the world, English has developed into the most influential donor of words to other languages such as Rukwangali. Of course, in the Namibian context, because of the close genetic affinities between English and Afrikaans and similarities in lexicon, it is sometimes difficult to locate objectively the donor of some words in Rukwangali. The words were randomly collected from the English Rukwangali dictionary and tested through one of the authors, who is a native Rukwangali speaker and a teacher of Rukwangali for the past 11 years. The infiltration of English and Afrikaans words into the Rukwangali lexical inventory led to the adoption and subsequent nativisation of English words by the native Rukwangali speakers. Words from English are then adopted and nativised in Rukwangali, since Rukwangali asserts itself as an independent language that can handle loans on its own. The main focus of this study, therefore, is to try and account for the phonological and morphological behaviour and changes that take place in English words that enter into Rukwangali. Analyzing phonological processes that are employed during nativisation of loan words entails analyzing how Rukwangali speakers handle aspects of English language such as syllabification, diphthongs, triphthongs, cluster consonants, Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) syllable structure and sounds in repairing unacceptable phonemic sequences in Rukwangali.