ATR harmony in English borrowed words in Ng’aturukana: An optimality theory account

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Published: Jul 1, 2021
Keywords:
Language Contact, Ng’aturukana, Borrowing, ATR Harmony, Alignment, constraints

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Celestine Nkieny Tioko
Department of Literature, Linguistics and Foreign Languages, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Henry Simiyu Nandelenga
Department of Linguistics, Literature and Journalism, Kibabii University, Kenya
David Barasa
Department of Language and Literature Education, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya

Abstract

Ng’aturukana, a language spoken by the Turkana people of North Western Kenya, gets into contact with English through trade, education, among other fields. As a consequence, the borrowed words have to be assimilated, especially through vowel harmony to befit Ng’aturukana. Vowel harmony which was observed to be bidirectional (both progressive and regressive) under the rule-based Generative Phonology was problematic in rule ordering. Optimality Theory was the better option to account for the vowel harmony phenomenon noted in this paper. From the analyses, this paper reports three outcomes of Vowel Harmony in the borrowed words; firstly, regressive sharing of ATR feature was observed in situations where the root or suffixes ATR feature was stronger than the preceding root vowels. Secondly, both progressive and regressive ATR harmony simultaneously occur in situations where the root ATR was stronger than the preceding and following roots vowels. Lastly, some vowels manifested opacity where regressive ATR was blocked from spreading to the preceding vowels.

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How to Cite
ATR harmony in English borrowed words in Ng’aturukana: An optimality theory account. (2021). Journal of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, 2(2), 7-19. https://royalliteglobal.com/jlfl/article/view/620
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Vol. 2 No. 2 (2021)
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Articles
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How to Cite

ATR harmony in English borrowed words in Ng’aturukana: An optimality theory account. (2021). Journal of Linguistics and Foreign Languages, 2(2), 7-19. https://royalliteglobal.com/jlfl/article/view/620

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