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Loanword Adaptation in Lama: Testing the TCRS Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2016

Charles H. Ulrich*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia

Abstract

When words are borrowed from one language into another, they are often adapted to conform with the phonological constraints of the borrowing language. This article looks at the adaptation of six hundred loanwords from French and English into Lama in light of the predictions of the Theory of Constraints and Repair Strategies. The Lama data support the Minimality Principle, which predicts that ill-formed structures will be repaired as economically as possible, and the Preservation Principle, which predicts that epenthesis will be favoured over deletion. They also support the claim that the form in which loanwords are stored in the borrowing language is equivalent to the output of the phonology of the source language, even when that includes segments which are ill-formed in the borrowing language. However, the Lama data do not support the Threshold Principle, which predicts deletion when adaptation would be too costly.

Résumé

Résumé

Lorsque les mots d’une langue sont empruntés à une autre, ils sont souvent adaptés pour obéir aux contraintes phonologiques de la langue emprunteuse. Cet article examine l’adaptation de 600 mots français et anglais en lama à la lumière des prédictions de la théorie des contraintes et stratégies de réparation. Le corpus lama soutient le Principe de minimalité, qui prédit que les structures mal formées seront réparées aussi économiquement que possible. Il soutient aussi le Principe de préservation, qui prédit que l’insertion est préférable à l’élision. Il soutient également la proposition que la forme dans laquelle les mots d’emprunt sont conservés dans la langue emprunteuse est équivalente à l’output de la phonologie de la langue source, même quand cela inclut des segments qui sont mal formés dans la langue emprunteuse. Mais le corpus lama ne soutient pas le Principe du seuil de tolérance, qui prédit l’élision lorsque l’adaptation serait trop coûteuse.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Linguistic Association 1997

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