The Adaptation of Swahili Loanwords From Arabic: A Constraint-Based Analysis.

This paper shows the processes that loanwords undergo when they are adapted from Arabic into Kiwahili. The data used is from Bosha (1993) and a constraint-based analysis is used in this paper. Although a number of studies have been carried out on Kiswahili loanwords, none that I know of has used Optimality Theory. This therefore makes the paper different from the others. Issues tackled herein include pitting the faithfulness of Kiswahili's open syllabicity (NOCODA) against the markedness of the sonority hierarchy (SON-SEQ) in borrowed words. For example, the paper discusses whether to maintain NOCODA when syllabifying "sultani" (chief, ruler, king) as /su.lta.ni/ or whether to look at the sonority of /l/ and /t/ vis-a-vis syllable margin (SONSEQ) and thus syllabify it as /sul.ta.ni/. Occasionally in casual speech this is resolved by inserting a vowel between the consonants thus producing /su.lu.ta.ni/, but at other times prestige overrides well-formedness. Furthermore, this paper also shows that Kiswahili mainly uses vowel epenthesis to repair syllables but other procedures like consonant deletion, cluster tolerance and feature change are also used. It has also been confirmed that Kiswahili is susceptible to consonant clusters within syllables because of its long association with non-Bantu languages, mainly Arabic and English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]