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BORROWING IN TANZANIAN NGONI LEXICON:SOME SEMANTIC TRENDS IN A LANGUAGE

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dc.creator Mapunda, Gastor
dc.creator Rosendal, Tove
dc.date 2016-05-05T10:41:14Z
dc.date 2016-05-05T10:41:14Z
dc.date 2015-09-01
dc.date.accessioned 2018-03-27T08:45:27Z
dc.date.available 2018-03-27T08:45:27Z
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/1797
dc.identifier 10.1080/10228195.2015.1016093
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/1797
dc.description Borrowing is almost part and parcel of the Ngoni language.
dc.description The Tanzanian language Ngoni has interacted for long with Swahili, which is the more prestigious and dominant lingua franca in Tanzania. This language contact situation affects Ngoni, which frequently borrows terms from Swahili, both for concepts which are new to the Ngoni speakers, but also terms which replace existing Ngoni vocabulary. This paper investigates how borrowed words are integrated, based on a framework including semantic generalisation, specialisation and shift. The study is based on fieldwork conducted in the Songea District in the Ruvuma Region of Tanzania, in the three villages of Peramiho, Kilagano and Mhepai. It was found that borrowing was most frequent in the semantic fields ‘modern world’, ‘food and drink’ and ‘clothing and grooming’. Additive borrowing was found to be more frequent than substitutive. Only semantic widening of borrowed terms was attested. However, combined with a tendency of replacement of old Ngoni terms with both Swahili and Ngoni hypernyms, it indicates that speakers’ competence of the language is waning. This loss of competence may additionally be linked to a more general attrition of Ngoni culture and traditions, which may affect language maintenance
dc.description COSTECH, SIDA and WOTRO
dc.publisher Language Matters: Studies in the Languages
dc.relation Vol 46;Issue No. 2
dc.subject contact situation
dc.subject borrowing
dc.subject hypernymy
dc.subject Ngoni
dc.subject semantic trends
dc.subject Tanzania
dc.subject Songea District
dc.subject substitutive borrowing
dc.title BORROWING IN TANZANIAN NGONI LEXICON:SOME SEMANTIC TRENDS IN A LANGUAGE
dc.type Journal Article, Peer Reviewed


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