The role of MSC's in Oshikwanyama loan phonology

Abstract

This paper takes its data from OshiKwanyama, a Bantu language spoken in Namibia and Angola; the paper is an investigation of the phonological incorporation processes at work in the loanwords of this language. When loanwords are taken into a language the degree to which they undergo such phonological modification varies. There appears to be a hierarchy of such modifications in OshiKwanyama, such that some always apply, others normally apply, and yet others apply rarely and in special circumstances. These modifications are often based on, though not necessarily identical to, the MSC's of the borrowing language. The modifications appear to work in terms of a hierarchy of application. The paper describes several loanword incorporation processes and delineates the modification hierarchy.