Morphophonemics of Yorùbá borrowed nouns in Standard British English

Abstract

The contact between Yoruba and English has resulted in lexical and post lexical exchanges between the two languages, with such contact-induced changes as code-switching, and borrowing, among others. This paper investigates how Yoruba words have been borrowed into Standard British English (SBE). It discusses the nature of the borrowings, in relation to their forms, structures, and morphophonemic characteristics. The paper also identifies the phonological rules that trigger them, and their adaptation strategies. The theoretical analytical tools adopted for the study was Generative Phonology. Findings of the study reveal that the most active phonological processes for lexical adaptation are place assimilation and laryngeal assimilation. At the post-lexical level, morphophonemic analysis reveals that [-s] plural allomorphs are realised as either [s] or [z], depending on its phonological environment. Borrowed items are adapted through the activation of assimilation rule, deletion rule, as well as bleeding and feeding rule ordering relationships. The paper concludes that Yorùbá borrowings in English are real, manifest in both lexical and post-lexical forms, and have come to stay. Finally, this study recommends that a similar, but cross-linguistic study be carried out on borrowing forms from other African languages into English and other European languages.