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This study investigates the lexical-semantic and morpho-syntactic properties of English loanwords in Sukuma in the domains of the Determiner Phrase DP, Inflectional Phrase IP and Derivational Phrase VP. The primary data of English loanwords in Sukuma were collected through audio-recordings of spoken discourse-pragmatic contexts and the method of introspection, in addition to consultation of relevant published sources. The researcher consulted Sukuma native speakers in the provision of additional data and for confirming the data collected. The data collected were analysed and examined invoking the broad framework of generative syntax, as postulated by Chomsky in the Government and binding theory (Chomsky, 1981a; Carnie, 2006; 2013) and Principle and Parameter Theory, with specific focus on Abney’s syntactic Determiner Phrase (DP) hypothesis, as proposed by Abney (1987). In the framework employed in this study, the generative syntax theory is complemented by perspectives from language typology as postulated by Greenberg (1963) and later developed by Croft, (2003) and Haspelmath, (2009), and the argument structure properties of verbs.
The findings of the study demonstrate that English loanwords exhibit lexical-semantic and morpho-syntactic properties similar to inherent (i.e. native) Sukuma words. In the DP domain, English loan nouns are modified to conform to the Sukuma nominal morphology. Each English loan noun, for example, is assigned to a Sukuma noun class system exemplifying a noun class prefix. Furthermore, various inherent Sukuma nominal affixes are evidenced to occur with English loan nouns, similarly to inherent Sukuma nouns. The findings of the study give evidence that some of the English loan nouns in Sukuma undergo semantic broadening, semantic narrowing, or semantic shift, and that borrowed compound nouns are lexicalized in Sukuma.
In regard to the IP and VP domains, the findings of the study give evidence that English loan verbs are modified for integration into the complex agglutinative Sukuma verbal morphology. For example, English loan verbs inflect for the three tense forms and they occur with various Sukuma verbal derivational suffixes, such as the applicative and causative, hence exhibiting the same morpho-syntactic properties similar so inherent Sukuma verbs. The findings of the study, however, demonstrate that some English loan verbs do not exhibit properties similar to inherent Sukuma verbs. It is argued that some English verbs are not accommodated fully in the Sukuma verbal system, possibly due to the typological difference between Sukuma and English. The resistant English verbs in regard to the integration in the Sukuma verbal morphology include verbs denoting human activities, such as eating, swallowing and crying. It is proposed in this study that English verbs borrowed in Sukuma, in most cases, are associated with the development of science and technology, and innovation, thus, express new concepts and entities of which did not previously occur in the lexicon of Sukuma. |
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