An Optimality Analysis of Hausa Loanwords in Gwari Language: A Phono-Sociolinguistic Approach
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Date
2022
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Publisher
Department of European Languages, Federal University, Birnin-Kebbi
Abstract
Contact between languages often yields a different number of outcomes. The commonest of such outcomes is lexical borrowing - a language-universal phenomenon. This work examines how contact between speakers of the Hausa Language and the Gwari language has resulted into the incorporation of Hausa words into the Gwari lexicon. Gwari, a minority language of Northen Nigeria is a Nupoid language while Hausa is a Chadic language. As borrowing could be bi-directional, this paper seeks to look at borrowing of Hausa loan words into Gwari. The foci of this paper is twofold. One is to examine Hausa loanwords into the Gwari Language while the other is to analyse these borrowing using the framework provided by the Optimality Theory (OT). The aim is to show borrowing as one of the mechanisms that Gwari language