PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN CHAGGA NATIVIZED LEXEMES

PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN CHAGGA NATIVIZED LEXEMES

BORROWED FROM STANDARD SWAHILI:

A CHAGGA - ENGLISH COMPARATIVE STUDY

A THESIS

Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum.) Degree

In English Language Studies

Gerald John Mallya

Student Number: 166332017

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018

PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI

i




A THESIS

Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum.) Degree

In English Language Studies

Gerald John Mallya

Student Number: 166332017

THE GRADUATE PROGRAM OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2018


A THESIS


BORROWED f,'ROM STAIIDARD SWAIIILI:

A CIIAGGA. ENGLISH COMPARATTYE STUDY

{€ =ffi*^*ol- W 'oq*r

N fi e! lryri \\ -3by

Gerald John Mallya

Student Number: 166332017Student Number: 166332017

Approved by

Dr.B.B.Ilwiiatmoko. M.A.

Thesis Advisor

fr ru*ftYogyakarta, April 3d, 2018

\

11


A THESIS

PHONOLOGICALPROCESSESINCHAGGANATIVIZEDLEXEMESBoRRowED

FROM STANDARD SWAHILI:


Presented by

Gerald John MallYa

Student Number 166332017

Defended before the Thesis Committee

and Declared AccePtable

,1THESIS COMMITEE I

)

: Dr. E. Sunarto, M.Hum. {-Chair Person

Secretary

Members

: Dr.B.B.Dwijatmoko, M-A-

: 1. F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D.

z.Dr. Fr. B. AliP. MPd. MA

Yogyakarta, April 20th, 201 8

The Graduate Program Director

S anata Dharma UniversitY

'4 /1 il/1,/t/n/ WbL^ {/

{,

Dr. G. Budi Subanar, S.J.

111


STATEMENT OF WORK'S ORIGINALITY

This is to certifz that all the ideas, phrases, and sentences, unless otherwise stated, are

the ideas, phrases, sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands the full

consequences including degree cancellation if he took somebody else's idea, phrase, or

sentence without a proper reference.

Yogyakarta,The Writer

m"\^Gerald John Mallya

166332017

iv


LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN

PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIK

Yang bertandatangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:

Nama : Gerald John Mallya

NomorMahasiswa :166332017

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan

Universitas Sanata Dharma karyailmiah saya yang berjudul:




Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan

kepada PerpustakaanSanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk

med.ia lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikanya secara

terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan

akademis tanpa perlu minta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya

selama tetap mencantumkan narna saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian pemyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.

Dibuat di Yogyakarta

Pada Tanggal: 05 Maret, 2018

Yang menyatakan,

Stb(Gerald John Mallya)

v


vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The researcher would gratefully first acknowledge the great grace of God for

completion of this study. Secondly much gratitude goes to St. Augustine University of

Tanzania administration for the scholarship managed by Hon. Rev. Dr. Thadeus

Mkamwa (The Vice Chancellor), and the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference (TEC) for

the academic and financial support. This study is at stake due to the greatest

enlightenment done by my thesis advisor Dr. B.B.Dwijatmoko, M.A. It is his academic

intelligence and generosity that have made this phonological empirical study to be

academically promising. The researcher is also aware of prominent academic help hence

feels indebted to, Drs. F.X Mukarto PhD, Dr. E. Sunarto M.Hum, phonological

enlightenment by Dr. F.B Alip MPd, MA., Drs. Paulus Sarwoto PhD, Drs. Novita Dewi

PhD, M.Hum and Marnie SJ for her administrative assistance.

The author also acknowledge the Head of Kiswahili Department at St. Augustine

University Dr. Riro Matinde for academic and administrative support. As well as Mr.

Mashaka Ngwàje, Musa Nasibu, madam Mariane Koki Munyao, Wisni Yuliastuti, Mr.

Bakari Chongowe, madam Zena Machinde, Marry Mushi, Aggnes Gwaltu for their

academic and financial assistance. Furthermore would like to acknowledge, Listiana

Ikawati, Juma Imamu, Mashao Elizabeth, Octovianus Rojack and Maria Rosalia

Planaria for their technical assistance, Leah Lawi, Irene Massawe for financial

assistance and holistic assistance.

Special acknowledgement go direct to my gorgeous mother Ms. Veneranda John

Massawe. Kindly I would also present my gratitude to all students of my batch and the

seniors at Sanata Dharma University. Thanks to everyone who is not mentioned but

should have been.


vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE ........................................................................................................ ii

DEFENCE APPROVAL PAGE ................................................................................... iii

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ........................................................... iv

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN ............................................................. v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. vii

LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................... xi

LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... xii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION ....................................................................................... xiii

LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................................. xiv

ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. xv

ABSTRAK ..................................................................................................................... xvi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1

1.2 Background to the Study ............................................................................................ 6

1.3 Statement of the Research Problem ............................................................................ 9

1.4 Research Questions .................................................................................................. 10

1.5 Objectives of the Study ............................................................................................ 10


viii

1.6 Significance of the Study .......................................................................................... 12

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Review of Related Studies .................................................................................. 13

2.2 Review of Related Theories ..................................................................................... 18

2.2.1 Vowel Epenthesis ............................................................................................ 19

2.2.2 Consonant Deletion ......................................................................................... 20

2.2.3 Cluster Tolerance ............................................................................................. 20

2.2.4 Feature Change ................................................................................................ 21

2.3 Theoretical Framework............................................................................................. 23

2.3.1 Generative CV Phonology ............................................................................... 23

2.3.2 The Foundation of the Theory ......................................................................... 25

2.3.3 Theory Implication for the Study .................................................................... 26

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Type of Study ........................................................................................................... 30

3.2 Source and number of data ....................................................................................... 31

3.3 Data Collection and Data Selection .......................................................................... 31

3.3.1 Interviews ........................................................................................................ 31

3.3.2 Voice Note ....................................................................................................... 32

3.3.3 Introspection .................................................................................................... 32

3.3.4 Sample size ...................................................................................................... 33


ix

3.4 Data Presentation ...................................................................................................... 34

3.5 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................ 35

3.6 Result verification .................................................................................................... 35

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Sounds of Chagga ..................................................................................................... 38

4.1.1 Chagga Vowels ................................................................................................ 38

4.1.2 Long Vowels in Chagga .................................................................................. 41

4.1.3 Chagga Consonants ......................................................................................... 43

4.2 Chagga Syllable Structure ........................................................................................ 48

4.2.1 Consonant Cluster at lexeme Initial Position .................................................. 50

4.2.2 Consonant Cluster at the Word Middle Position ............................................. 51

4.2.3 Consonant cluster at word final position ......................................................... 51

4.3 Phonological Processes of Nativized Lexeme in Kibosho and Marangu dialects of

Chagga ............................................................................................................................ 52

4.3.1 Phonological Processes Motivated by Syllable Structure Rules ..................... 52

4.3.2 Phonological Processes in Chagga Language Affects Syllable....................... 60

4.3.3 Assimilation ..................................................................................................... 66

4.3.4 Phonological Processes Motivated by Phonemic Reasons .............................. 79

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

5.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 92


x

5.2 Suggestions for Further Research ............................................................................. 96

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 98

APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 101


xi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. The Chagga Vowel Sounds .............................................................................. 39

Table 2. Chagga Consonants .......................................................................................... 44


xii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Types of tier in Syllable Structure [Cited from Clements Keyser 1983] ........ 24

Figure 2: Vowel Shortening ........................................................................................... 25

Figure 3: Apocope in Swahili Language ........................................................................ 26

Figure 4: Vowel Sequencing .......................................................................................... 28

Figure 5: Gliding due to Phonemic change .................................................................... 28

Figure 6: Phonemic change ............................................................................................ 28


xiii

LIST OF ABBREVIATION

CV: Consonant Vowel

PSSRs: Phonological Syllable Structure Rules

RL: Recipient Language


xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix 1: The Interview Guide Questions ............................................................... 102

Appendix 2: Directory of Nativized Words from Swahili in Chagga- Noun Category 103

Appendix 3: Directory of Nativized Words from Swahili in Chagga - Verb Category 107


xv

ABSTRACT

Gerald John Mallya. 2018. Phonological Processes in Chagga Nativized Lexemes

Borrowed from Standard Swahili: A Chagga - English Comparative Study.

Yogyakarta: The Graduate Program on English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma

University

Linguistics as a present study, acts as an instrument towards promoting local

languages. This recent study aims at studying some of phonological processes in

Chagga language (Particularly Kibosho and Marangu varieties). Chagga is a Bantu

language family of Benue Congo spoken by Chagga people of Tanzania, south of

Mount Kilimanjaro. Borrowing is the act of taking a word or a phrase from one

language and used it in another language. The borrowing process influences the

researcher into empirical searching for the phonological processes in Chagga language

brought about this linguistic phenomenon.

The present study is carried out under Generative CV Phonology Theory,

developed by linguists, Keyser and Clements in (1983). This theory strives to guide the

present study on scrutinize phonological processes with their rules in Kibosho and

Marangu varieties. The very study is the phonological type of study which employs

qualitative method to scrutinize phonological processes of nativized loanwords in

Kibosho and Marangu dialects of Chagga language, from Standard Swahili language.

The study employs Interview to observe the pronunciation by native speakers, voice

note as linguistic variable need for homogenous resemblance of the uttered lexical items

and the phonological processes. The researcher applies introspection for cognitive and

empirical observation.

To address research question one, two and three the study discovered that

Chagga language has twenty four phonemes comprising five vowels and nineteen

consonants in all Chagga varieties. Chagga has the syllable general structure of `CCV`

constituting a nasal phoneme, an oral phoneme and a vowel. To answer research

question one and two as the rules the study observed there are four major causes of

phonological processes in Chagga as in English with very little variations namely:

Phonological processes motivated by syllable structure rules [insertion], Phonological

processes in Chagga language affecting syllable [deletion, rhotacism], Phonological

processes due to assimilation process [dissimilation, voicing, partial and distant

assimilation] and Phonological processes motivated by phonemic reasons [devoicing,

diaffricatazation, consonant substitution, cluster tolerance, vowel lengthening]. In

adhering problem three the study has found similar phonological processes between

English and Chagga with very little differences especially on phonemes which undergo

the changes hence advocates for further analyses in local African and Asian languages

to pursue a similar study or any nearly phonological study in order to preserve and

promote local linguistics contents from ones native language.

Key words: Phonological processes, Nativazation, Phonological rules, Chagga language


xvi

ABSTRAK

Gerald John Mallya. 2018. Phonological Processes in Chagga Language Nativized

Lexemes Borrowed from Standard Swahili: A Chagga - English Comparative Study.

Yogyakarta: Program Pascasarjana Kajian Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Linguistik sebagai penelitian saat ini, penelitian ini bertindak sebagai instrumen

untuk memajukan bahasa-bahasa lokal. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meneliti

beberapa proses fonologi dalam bahasa Chagga (terutama varietas Kibosho dan

Marangu). Chagga adalah bahasa Bantu yang merupakan rumpun dari Benua Congo

yang dipakai oleh orang Chagga di Tanzania, sebelah selatan Gunung Kilimanjaro.

Proses borrowing mempengaruhi peneliti dalam penelitian empiris terhadap proses-

proses fonologi dalam bahasa Chagga yang membawa fenomena linguistik ini.

Penelitian ini dilakukan berdasarkan Generative CV Phonology Theory yang

dikembangkan oleh ahli bahasa, Keyser dan Clements pada (1983). Teori ini berperan

dalam memandu penelitian ini dalam meneliti proses-proses fonologi dengan rumusnya

dalam variasi Kibosho dan Marangu. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian fonologi yang

menggunakan metode kualitatif untuk meneliti proses-proses fonologi dari nativized

loanwords dalam dialek Kibosho dan Marangu dalam bahasa Chagga, dari Bahasa

standar Swahili. Penelitian ini menggunakan interview untuk mengamati pelafalan oleh

penutur asli, voice note sebagai variabel linguistik yang diperlukan untuk kemiripan

homogen dari kosa kata dan proses-proses fonologi yang disampaikan. Peneliti

menggunakan instropeksi untuk pengamatan kognitif dan empiris.

Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa bahasa Chagga memiliki 24 fonem yang terdiri

dari 5 huruf vokal dan 19 huruf konsonan di semua variasi Chagga. Chaga memiliki

struktur umum kosa kata ‗CCV‘ yang terdiri dari nasal fonem, oral fonem, dan huruf

vokal. Dengan teori Generative CV, di temukan bahwa terdapat 4 penyebab utama

proses-proses fonologi dalam bahasa Chagga sebagaimana dalam bahasa Inggris dengan

sedikit variasi yaitu: proses fonologi yang disebabkan oleh rumus struktur kosa kata

[insertion], proses fonologi dalam bahasa Chagga yang mempengaruhi suku kata

[deletion, rhoticism], proses fonologi karena proses asimilasi [dissimilation, voicing

partial, and distant assimilation] dan proses fonologi yang disebabkan oleh alasan

fonemik [devoicing, diaffrication, consonan substitution, cluster tolerance, vowel

lengthening]. Kesimpulannya, penelitian ini menemukan proses-proses fonologi yang

mirip antara bahasa Inggris dan Chagga. Penelitian ini menganjurkan analisis lebih

lanjut dalam bahasa Asia untuk mencapai penelitian yang serupa atau penelitian

fonologi yang serupa untuk memperkuat bahasa asli.

Kata kunci: Proses-proses fonologi, Nativazation, Rumus –rumus fonologi, Bahasa

Chagga.


1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

The at hand study observes an English-Chagga comparative study. The chapter

includes research background and an overall introduction of the study. It observes

research background and the statement of the problem. Furthermore it discusses

research objectives, research questions, and research assumptions, significance of the

study also the scope and limitations of the study. Chagga is a Bantu language spoken by

Chagga people of Tanzania, south of Mount Kilimanjaro. Chagga people are also called

Wachaga, Jagga, Dschaga, and Waschaga (Mushi 2005). This language is categorized

into Bantu language families, as an indigenous African; language spoken by the third

largest ethnic group in Tanzania. Chagga people are traditionally living in the southern

and eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Meru and near Moshi. Dialect

continuum is a range of dialects spoken across some natural area that differ only slightly

between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences

accumulate such that the speech from opposite ends of the continuum is no longer

mutually intelligible.

Chagga people descended from various Bantu groups who migrated from the

east of Africa into the foothills of Kilimanjaro. Linguistic evidence proves that the

migration of these individuals predominantly came from the north and east of

Kilimanjaro (Lema 1973). Lema claims that, after Chagga arrival the development of

chiefdoms emerged whereby each of the overriding chiefdoms developed their speech

traditions emerged was not a unified Chagga language but a variety of dialects of the


2

2

same language. That is why these people have several dialects while they are all Chagga

people, staying in the same geographical location. Though there are no clear proofs

about how these people arrived at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, it is estimated that

their arrival was gradually happened until they are fully established.

There is no evidence of a mass migration to Kilimanjaro; it appears

that small groups of wandering people came to settle gradually on the

mountain at different times and are incorporated into the population.

Famine, drought or political instability forced them to leave their

homes searching for food, better pastures, and higher rainfall areas

and more secure subsistence farming (Lema, 1973).

Chagga people descended from various Bantu groups who migrated from elsewhere in

Africa to the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. The migration began around the beginning of

11th

century (Mushi 2005). Their language is related to Kamba of north-east Kenya and

Dabida, Pokomo in the east. Mushi further says that the Chagga people live at the foot

of the famous and tallest mountain in Africa Mount Kilimanjaro.

The Chagga ethnic group has their homeland around southern slopes of Mount

Kilimanjaro, on the Tanzanian side of the Kenya and Tanzania border (Fisher (2012).

Chagga population is difficult to estimate because of the migration from Kilimanjaro to

urban and rural areas elsewhere in Tanzania. Fisher gave an example on how 2002

census gives the population of the Chagga dominated districts of Moshi Rural, Rombo

and Hai giving a total population of 908,868, since the population of Moshi Urban is of

more mixed ethnicity though mostly comprises of the descendants, and is given as

144,336 people. Furthermore, within most of the literature and self-observation, Chagga

people themselves readily are acquainted with the situation of diverse origins away from

Kilimanjaro.


3

3

Early migration of the Bantu from the Niger – Congo led the Chagga to settle in

the North Pare Mountains, home of the ancestral Chagga (Mtalo & Rubagumya 2015).

As the increase in demography, some of descendants looked for a new place to live.

They later settled in the Southern and eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro which was a

thick forest by then. All these movements contributed to lexical addition and reduction.

The Chagga phonemes have all parameters of Bantu languages specifically in its

phonological features. Thereafter, comprehending Chagga phonological system

particularly Kibosho and Marangu varieties act as a helpful language instrument for the

research to make a deep analysis of Phonological Processes of Nativized words in

Kibosho and Marangu dialects of Chagga from Standard Swahili. Through this the

researcher observed which features are reassigned from Swahili to Chagga, and those

which are not. Sounds of Chagga are derived from field data as the researcher could not

find enough materials on Chagga since there is no enough phonological documentation

of the researched language.

The phonological parameters used to categorize vowels in Chagga language with

its varieties are the same as those applied in English language which marks a similarities

within a comparative study as: tongue height, tongue position and lip shape. In English

language as well as Chagga language the tongue height parameter is concerned with

raising part of the tongue involved when producing a vowel sound. Similarly to vowels,

Chagga has the various consonant sounds in its phonemic inventory. Stops [/ p /, / b/, /t/,

/ d/ and / k/], nasals / m, n. ɳ and ŋ/ fricatives [/ f/, / v/, / s/, / ʃ/ and / h/], one affricate /

ʧ/. Also the lateral / l / and the trill / r/ and /w and y/. In Chagga language especially in

Kibosho variety glides cannot function as syllable nuclear without a vowel. Sounds of


4

4

Chagga are derived from field data as the researcher could not find enough materials on

Chagga since there is no enough phonological documentation of the researched

language.

The study exceeds other Chagga dialects including, Machame, Mochi Dialect,

Uru dialect and Rombo dialect, which said to borrow also from Standard Swahili. The

researcher focuses on Kibosho and Marangu dialects which shares the same

geographical boundaries, which enabled him to congregate synchronized data. The

study limits itself into analyzing Phonological Processes of nativized words in Chagga

language borrowed from Standard Swahili. Moreover, this study is limited only on

phonological processes of nativized words specifically on vowel epenthesis, consonant

deletion, cluster tolerance and feature change.

The phonological processes taking place on Chagga loanwords nativization are

caused by different factors. Such factors are phonological processes that occur due to

phonemic reason. Second, group of phonological processes is triggered by non-

assimilation and assimilation rules. The third are the phonological changes that are

motivated by Chagga PSSRs. Phonological processes motivated by syllable structure

conditions as in English, also occur on Kibosho and Marangu varieties of Chagga

loanwords in that the loanword adaptation or nativization at the phonological level is

governed by syllable well-formedness in the RL. The phonological processes involved

are aimed at realizing well-formed or permissible syllables in a given language. For

example in Kibosho and Marangu varieties, the phonological processes include segment

deletion, insertion and substitution. The study is restricted in analyzing Phonological


5

5

processes that involved in Marangu and Kibosho dialects. The researcher uses five

prominent respondents two from Marangu and three from Kibosho.

Chagga language is classified by Guthrie (1948) as a language belonging to

Niger – Congo class under the Bantu language family. Chagga language is classified as

a language that belongs to Niger-Congo; Atlantic-Congo, Volta- Congo, Benue-Congo,

Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, E, Chagga. Another classification claims

that, Bantu languages into language families that show genetic relationships (Greenberg

2009), as the historical criteria. Greenberg believes that languages share a common

ancestor by making a list of words in the potential languages that exhibit lexical and

grammatical similarities meaning to say, they are similar in sound and meaning. He

used Niger-Congo to cover the whole family as the proto languages of Bantu languages

with Marangu and Kibosho dialects of Chagga being included.

Chagga language has six dialects namely Marangu, Kibosho, Rombo, Machame, Uru,

and Old Moshi. Chagga people speak various Kichagga dialects as their first languages

(Mushi 2005). One of these dialects, specifically Marangu, was standardized as the

Chagga standard variety.

Kirombo, Kimashami, Kikibosho, Kiuru, Kimochi, and Kivunjo are varieties of

the same language namely Kichagga since they are small in size as they are spoken in a

single geographical area (Mtalo & Rubagumya 2015). For instance, Kikibosho is

spoken in Kibosho ward only, Kimarangu is spoken in Marangu ward only. Thus, each

variety has a few numbers of speakers to consider it as an independent language.


6

6

1.2 Background to the Study

This study is brought about by the foundations of borrowing phenomenon as the

word formation process. It is defined as the act of taking a word or a phrase from one

language and used it in another language. Mwaliwa confer on levels of borrowing, as,

pure or adopted borrowing and adjusted or adapted borrowing (2014). The concept of

pure borrowing as a type of borrowing involves taking the word in the recipient

language without making any structural alterations in the word whereas adjusted

borrowing as a type of borrowing whereby the loanword undergoes significant

structural changes when it gets into the recipient language. These two categories of

borrowing occur in all languages, depending on the structure of the languages involved.

Furthermore asserts that pure borrowing will take place if the structure of the Source

Language is similar to the structure of the Recipient Language.

On the other hand, the structure of the Source Language is different from the

structure of the Recipient Language there will be adjusted borrowing will occur in that

loanwords are usually modified to conform to the structure of Recipient Language. In

addition, the recipient language adopts loanwords in order to fill semantic or stylistic

slots not occupied by native words (Mutua 2007). Thus, there are some cases where

loanwords co-occur with native forms as doublets. Such linguistic phenomena is

referred as core borrowing and it is, in most cases, motivated by the prestige attached to

the donor language when imported from a source to a borrowing language, loanwords

often contain structures that violate phonological well-formed constraints of the

borrowing language. Consequently, the beneficiary language typically modifies the new

items in keeping with the pre-existing structure of the language. Mutua also observes


7

7

that although languages share some basic sound characteristics, no language has exactly

the same sound patterns as the other. The phonemic inventories and syllable structures

of languages vary considerably. For example, most Bantu languages have a preference

of open syllables.

In the study of language borrowing, one of the types of borrowings may occur

across language boundaries. The speakers of a language have various options when

confronted with new items and ideas in other languages. Borrowing has the nature in the

sense that speakers may adopt the item or idea and the source language word for each

(Hoffer 2005). This nature of borrowing he termed it as Loanword. These forms now

function in the usual grammatical processes, with nouns taking plural and/or possessive

forms of the new language and with verbs and adjectives receiving native morphemes as

well. Another process that occurs is that of adapting native words to the new meanings

(loan shift) further gave another nature which is Loan-translation where morphemes of

borrowed words are translated item by item in the borrowing language. On the other

hand loan blend is defined as mixed borrowing as there is an element of mixing

characteristics of borrowing and lending languages. Phonological processes affect

nativazation in order for a linguistic item to incorporate features of received language.

The phonological processes of loanword in Bantu languages undergo various

phonological processes (Gardner 2012). He said that when two vowels come together,

various phonological processes can occur to remove the hiatus, including: high vowels

becoming glides, vowel deletion/elision, and vowel coalescence/merging resulting in a

long or short vowel, and even glide insertion usually at the phonetic level. He believed

that Glide formation is common in many Bantu languages like Swahili for the


8

8

underlying /m(u)-/ to be realized phonetically as /mw-/ before a noun stem beginning

with a vowel, as in;

a) /mu-aka/ (mwaka) Year

Bantu languages maintain a phonemic distinction between long and short vowels, which

results into compensatory vowel lengthening following glide formation or before a

prenasalized consonant (Gardner 2012). It also provides prove of the subsistence of a

metrical tier distinct from the segmental. When two vowels come together, one vowel

may delete or a long vowel /e: / may merge with a high vowel, resulting in a mid-vowel

(such as /a + i/ /o :/) and /a + u/ which he term it as vowel merging and deletion

whereby the result may be long or short vowel. Language incorporates linguistic feature

from another language for some reasons. However, through the process of borrowing,

loanwords acquire features of that particular language.

Loanword adaptation or nativization at the phonological level is governed by

syllable well-formed in the recipient language (Mwita 2009). When a word is borrowed

from one language to another, in most cases it violates some constraints of syllable

well-formed. The recipient language moves fast to fix the problem. He gave an

example, by saying that many languages try to avoid complex onsets and codas. He

explains how loanwords from Arabic fit into syllable structure of Swahili language

therefore it uses to revamp the nonconforming syllables of the borrowed words like:

Cluster tolerance, Feature change, Vowel epenthesis and Consonant deletion.

It is phonology that determines which combinations are permitted and which

ones are not in any given language/sound patterns of the phonological hierarchy can

combine. Hence the study strives to establish the means by which the words of the


9

9

addressee system deals with phonologically diverse lexical borrowed from the

benefactor languages.

1.3 Statement of the Research Problem

Phonological adjustment of loanwords is a fundamental process accurate to all

languages. Nevertheless since the status of universal constraints is language specific, it

is important to institute the machinery used by Chagga to indicate how words from

Standard Swahili are nativized by focusing on the possible modification the loanwords

undergo in order to conform to the phonotactics of Chagga. Even though Chagga

language has the mechanism of adapting loanwords into its system, other factors have

made it retain the phonotactics of the donor language leading to changes in its

phonology. Meaning to say, the operation of phonological processes on Chagga

loanwords, triggered by some phonological or non-phonological factors, has led to

changes in the phonology of Chagga language that are worth investigating.

Because Chagga language has not been researched much as English language

and others Bantu languages, the study proposes to investigate phonological processes of

nativized words that may occur in Chagga language, particularly Marangu and Kibosho

dialects of the mentioned language by exploring the phonological rules that may take

place in its Phonology.

Prominent linguistics scholars discussed the phonological processes that take

place in different Bantu languages such as Ci-Ruuri and Swahili languages (Massamba,

2010). Having reviewing different researches done by various scholars, the study of

phonological processes of nativized words become a point of interest in Chagga

language and with clear attention on two major dialects as Marangu which said to be


10

10

standardized variety of Chagga language and Kibosho dialect, that have not been

researched according to the best of my knowledge as I could not come across with any

related materials concerning phonological processes.

Most of scholars focus on Generative Phonology which could not capture certain

features bigger than the segment, such as tone, vowel harmony, and syllables. The

generative phonology never considered the syllable to have a role in the phonological

organization. Hence, the study focuses explicitly on the phonological processes of

nativized words that take place in Marangu and Kibosho dialects of Chagga language.

1.4 Research Questions

This study is guided by three major questions which encouraged the researcher to

conduct this phonological study. The questions are as formulated as follows:

1. What are the phonological processes of loanword nativization in Marangu and

Kibosho dialects of Chagga?

2. What rules underlie the phonological processes of nativized words occur in Marangu

and Kibosho dialects of Chagga?

3. What are the similarities and differences between Kibosho and Marangu varieties of

Chagga and English in terms of phonological processes in lexeme nativization?

1.5 Objectives of the Study

The study is guided with three specific objectives. This research was aimed at

describing the phonological processes in Chagga lexeme nativization of loanwords from

Swahili. Meanwhile the study has general objective which caters the general and

extensive overview of the study as the title advocates. The specific objectives helps the

study to be narrowed for the linguistic verification of the searched data on the at hand


11

11

study. Scrutiny phonological processes of nativized words of Chagga language

particularly Marangu and Kibosho dialects. Since the study observe that Marangu and

Kibosho varieties said to be more standardized they are used to scrutiny phonological

processes and their rules. This general objective develops three specific objectives to the

present study as stipulated below.

This study aimed to identify phonological processes involved in nativization in

Marangu and Kibosho dialects of Chagga language. The study observes the stated

phonological processes as used in English language and analyses if they exist and how

they happen/used. In doing so, the study is limited only on phonological processes of

nativized words specifically on vowel epenthesis, consonant deletion, cluster tolerance

and feature change. This will derive some of English phonological processes and their

realization in the two varieties of Chagga.

The study also aimed to discover the underlying rules of the phonological

processes for nativized words in Marangu and Kibosho dialects of Chagga. Since the

study come with the phonological processes that occur in Kibosho and Marangu

varieties, the study also analyses the possible formal and informal rules that govern the

processes. The rules are verified by CV-Generative Syllable structure. By the help of

such theory, the study is developing varieties of phonological rules that easily explain

the processes.

The third objective is describing the similarities and differences between English

and Kibosho and Marangu dialects of Chagga language. This study is implicitly

observing possible variations occur in between English loan words from different


12

12

languages of the world and that of Chagga from Standard Swahili. The variation is

explained in each process.

1.6 Significance of the Study

This study provides assistance to linguists with information that they may little

have or never been aware of with view to phonological processes of nativized words.

The study also is of, significant as it inserts knowledge to the continuing studies on the

loanword phenomena in Bantu languages. It is expected that this study on nativization

of Marangu and Kibosho dialects of Chagga language loanwords is an important source

of information on African linguistic studies and it will add to scholarly knowledge

through the use of ‗CV‘ Phonology theory. It is a useful linguistic study for it emphasize

on upgrading local contents. The study also invites language scholars to engage in the

use of smart instruments for data collection and by doing so one improves his/her

techknowledge ability.

The at hand study is believed of promoting local and Bantu language for it alert

language users all over the universe to come up with the improvement of the same study

and even rather related study. Chagga users get to know how their native language is of

important on how they are to promote, protect and preserve their local linguistics

studies.


13

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

In this section with its focuses on, a review of relevant literature related to the

study and the theoretical framework is well observed. The foremost, session advocates

empirical review of related studies. The second part discuses the theory which the study

is based on and its relevance. The last section of this chapter discusses the tenets of

‗CV‘ Phonology Theory that is be used in this study and the applicability of the theory

in accounting for the loanword phenomenon in Marangu and Kibosho varieties of

Chagga language.

2.1 Review of Related Studies

This part is about literature review based on the works of various scholars who

have conducted study on Phonological Processes and Phonological adaptation in their

respective language including; Newman (2010), Zivenge (2009), Massamba (1991),

Chimhundu (2002), Mahlangu (2007), Ziegler & Goswami, (2005), Mwihaki (1998),

Mwita (2009), Massamba (2010), Ndambuki (2013), Mwaliwa (2014).

Although languages have certain basic properties which they tend to share; it is

very unlikely that any two languages will have exactly the same sound patterns

(|Massamba 1991). Moreover, each language has its own sequential constraints. He

claims that, those sequences of sounds that are acceptable in the formation of words of a

language are said to be well-formed while those that are not are said to be ill-formed.

He further clarifies that, it is also possible to have a form which, according to sequential

constraints of a given language, is ill-formed but it is found in the lexicon of that


14

14

language. He gave an example of [skw] as not allowed in Swahili language but it occurs

in [skwea] adapted from the English word [square]. His observation is of great

significance in the present study as the aspect of phonological change as a result of

borrowing will be investigated. Consequently this observation is very important to this

study that looks into how such illicit clusters are dealt with in Chagga language. Later he

came with the discussion on the inventories of some African languages and argues that,

―All languages cannot be the same‖ because each language chooses only a limited

number of phonemes to represent its sounds (Massamba 1996). xTo view the

inimitability of languages, Massamba argues that, ―Each phonological system utilizes

sound segments from the central pool of sounds in its own way (Massamba 1996:14).‖

He moves on to dispute that; ―Each phonological system has its own order of

occurrence of sounds, its own number of possible sounds, its own processes that effect

sound changes, its own nature of distinctiveness of sound features and its own

redundancies (Massamba1996:14).‖ His work is of much use to the at hand study in the

following ways. Firstly, some of the phonological processes he discusses also obtain in

varieties of Chagga language. The discussion on the phoneme systems of languages is

also useful in that the at hand study aims at coming up with Chagga phoneme catalog.

A loanword is a word adopted from one language the benefactor language and

incorporated into another language without translation. This is in contrast to cognates,

which are words in two or more languages that share an etymological origin in

common. Loanword nativization in some Bantu languages has, to some extent, been

explored by various scholars. Mwihaki has conceded out A Phonological Study of

Kikuyu Loanwords Borrowed from English (1998). His study identifies three aspects of


15

15

loanword adaptation: phonemic, phonotactics and prosodic. Phonemic adaptation

addresses the grammatical constraints of unitary sound substitution. Phonotactics

adaptation defines the harmonic motivation for phonemic combination and distribution

in the loanword. Prosodic adaptation considers the principles of syllabification and the

assignment of the prosodic features. The main variation between Mwihaki‘s study and

the present study is on the theoretical orientations. Whereas Mwihaki‘s study employs

Auto segmental and Metrical Phonology in the analysis of loanwords, this study focuses

at Generative ‗CV‘ Phonology.

A study on ‘Comparative Linguistics of African languages’ was done by

Newman 2010. He provides a paradigm of Hausa language which, before the influx of

Arabic loanwords, did not have /h/ as a distinct phoneme. The sound /h/ existed, but

only as an allophone of /f/ before back vowels as in: ‗dafu’ [dahu] meaning {be

cooked}. As a result of wide reaching Arabic influence, subsequently reinforced by

loanwords from English, /h/ emerged as a fully functional consonant in the language.

This over view is of essential as it will guide the research in establishing the extent to

which Kikamba phonology has been affected by borrowing.

Chimhundu writes on the Adoption and Adaptation of English Words into the

Shona language. He looks at consonant and vowel nativization that he prefers to refer to

as adaptation (2002). In his argument, some sounds and consonant clusters that are

found in the English language are not recognized in Shona and as a result they are

rephonologized so that they become agreeable with Shona linguistic rules, the receiving

language. This notion of adaptation in the context of Shona, will provides the in

progress study insight into some of the processes of nativization such as substitution.


16

16

Chimhundu‘s account of adaptation is also insightful in that he establishes that usually

monolinguals completely adapt foreign words, at the same time as bilinguals sometimes

choose to incorporate some aspects of phonology of the foreign language into the native

form. Chimhundu does not account for the various phonological changes that occur

during nativization which will be the major focus of this particular study.

A research on the Effects of Spelling Consistency on Phonological Awareness

and found out that among natural languages, no writing systems without spoken

language but there are spoken words without writing systems (Ziegler and Goswami,

2005). In other words, it is by and large the sound system that determines the writing

system but not otherwise. They further claim that studies on the impact of the first

language orthography thus cannot rule out the confounding variable of spoken language

results may be attributable to first language phonology rather than to first language

orthography.

Besides, Mahlangu (2007) has studied and depict how Ndebele, a South African

Bantu language, phonologically and morphologically adopts lexical items that come

from Afrikaans and English. Mahlangu‘s study considers the possible rules that Ndebele

applies in the adoption of foreign words. The study reveals that not all Afrikaans and

English consonant clusters conform to the Ndebele consonant system. Some of the

donor languages‘ consonant clusters, for instance, are adopted ‗as is‘, meaning that they

do not conform to the CV syllable structure of Ndebele as is the case of most African

languages. Although the approach taken by Mahlangu, is different from the one taken

by the present study, his study is relevant as it lays foundation for the phonological

scrutiny of Chagga language which is also a Bantu language.


17

17

Nativization is the process of adapting a loan word to the phonetic structure of

the native language. Nativization is the process of developing a pidgin language into

Creole. Zivenge (2009) in Phonological Nativization of English Loanwords in Tonga

accounted for the phonological performance and changes that take place in English

words that enter into Tonga. The study analyzed phonological processes that are

employed during nativization of loan words by analyzing how Tonga speakers handle

aspects of English language such as diphthongs, triphthongs, cluster consonants, CVC

syllable structure and sounds in repairing unacceptable sequences in Tonga.

He found that many phonological processes found in Tonga‘s main purposes are

to break English diphthongs, triphthongs and cluster consonants which are illegal in the

language. He discusses the language‘s syllable structure. He notes that like many Bantu

languages, the optimal syllable structure in Tonga is the canonical CV. His study is

advantageously in the scrutiny of phonological processes in Chagga language. Ziveng‘s

study considers only substitution and vowel epenthesis in the adoption of foreign words

whereas at ease study observes much on all possible phonological processes that occur

in Marangu and Kibosho dialects of Chagga loanword nativization.

A donor language refers to the language from which a loanword is derived.

Standard Swahili is a donor language in this perspective. Meanwhile a receiving

language can refer to language which acquires a loanword. Hence Chagga language is

hereby a receiving language. Mwita did research on The Adaptation of Swahili

Loanwords from Arabic and came up with results that the processes that loanwords

undergo when they are adapted from Arabic into Swahili (2009). The data used is from

Bosha (1993) and a constraint-based analysis was used. The results also shows that


18

18

Swahili language mainly uses vowel epenthesis to repair syllables but other procedures

like consonant deletion, cluster tolerance and feature change are also used.

It has also been confirmed that Kiswahili is susceptible to consonant clusters

within syllables because of its long association with non-Bantu languages, mainly

Arabic and English. He further claims that rules of phonological borrowing contain little

actual analysis of the phonological adaptations that loanwords undergo in the course of

being borrowed. He noted that the P rules (Phonological rules) accounts for only

phonetic information in their environment. The phonetic information includes syllable

boundaries of borrowed words which is the use features which have instristic phonetic

content. His conclusion is on phonological rules which occur in loanword nativization;

assimilation, strengthening and weakening. The morphemes deleted and inserted in the

borrowed word justify these rules.

2.2 Review of Related Theories

Borrowing refers to the act of taking a word or a phrase from one language and

used it in another language. Mwaliwa confer on levels of borrowing, as, pure or

adopted borrowing and adjusted or adapted borrowing (2014). The concept of pure

borrowing as a type of borrowing involves taking the word in the recipient language

without making any structural alterations in the word whereas adjusted borrowing as a

type of borrowing whereby the loanword undergoes significant structural changes when

it gets into the recipient language. These two categories of borrowing occur in all

languages, depending on the structure of the languages involved. In borrowing

processes, one of the types of borrowings may occur across language boundaries. The

speakers of a language have various options when confronted with new items and ideas


19

19

in other languages. Borrowing has the nature in the sense that speakers may adopt the

item or idea and the source language word for each (Hoffer 2005). This nature of

borrowing he termed it as Loanword. The researcher needed to review the related

theories from various sources for adhering to the objectives and research questions

particularly the first and the second question. The study goal is to find any differences

and similarities in between English and Chagga languages pertaining some selected

phonological processes. The discussed theories provide a range of the study to be of

equal observation hence avoidance of biasness in study discussion. The following are

the related theories that this study cater to discuss.

2.2.1 Vowel Epenthesis

This phenomenon deals with the insertion of vowel between two consonants or after

a consonant in a syllable final position. The below example provide lexemes from

Arabic language to standard Swahili with its transcriptions and the gloss of such

lexemes. This is shown in data beneath;

Arabic Coding Swahili Coding Formal Transcription English Coding

a) Sebab sababu /sa.ba.bu/ reason

b) Unwan anwani /a.nwa.ni/ address

c) Adhuhr adhuhuri /a u.hu.ri/ trouble

d) Urs arusi /a.ru.si/ wedding

The above data provide the vivid of what is referred to be phonological vowel

epenthesis whereby some vowels undergo changes soon after been borrowed from

Arabic language to Swahili. The process happens also for making native speakers of

Swahili easier pronunciation of nativized lexemes.


20

20

2.2.2 Consonant Deletion

In this phonological process, some words violate consonants so as to respect the

syllable structure of the Bantu languages which is CVC. The process is done for that the

lexemes adopt the word system of the target language. Examples are stipulated below;

Arabic Coding Kiswahili Coding Formal Transcription English Coding

a) Ammar amiri /a.mi.ri/ begin

b) Budd budi /bu.di/ alternative

c) Assubh asubuhi /a.su.bu.hi/ morning

This is to say the nativized lexemes from Arabic language are experiencing consonant

deletion phonological process for making phonotactics resemblance of the borrowed

lexemes. The syllable structure of Bantu language influences the process to take place

hereby speakers could easily utter the nativized words.

2.2.3 Cluster Tolerance

There are few cases where recipient language maintains the cluster that was in

borrowed language as stipulated in the below extract.


a) Izz enzi /en.zi / power

b) Unwan anwani /a.nwa.ni/ address

c) Amr amri /am.ri/ command

As stated above the example provided are borrowed lexemes that abide with the rule of

retaining their former state of phonetics. The change of the phonotactics are not

emphasized in such lexemes from Arabic language shifted to Swahili. Thus there is a

great retain of lexeme cluster as the words do not change their structure.


21

21

2.2.4 Feature Change

Sometimes, features of the borrowed words like as observed in English language,

are changed since it might happen that there are some phonemes that are in borrowed

language but not found in the recipient language. If this happen, then it has to be

changed to the nearest equivalent in the recipient language. The following are the

examples where Arabic /q/ and /kh/ are realized as /k/ and /h/ respectively.


a) Waqf wakfu /wak.fu/ religious endowment

b) Usquf askofu /a.sko.fu/ bishop

c) Waqt wakati /wa.ka.ti/ time

Afterward, Massamba states that in phonology of a language there are some

natural processes which could not be found in every language (2010). He further argues

that during the phonological processes a sound segment is made alike to behave more

like a neighboring segment? In other words a segment may acquire features from a

neighboring segment. The process may be whether progressive or regressive. Moreover,

there also non assimilatory processes which could also occur in a language and it is very

difficult to provide clear reason as to why they occur.

Ndambuki studied on A Constraint-Based Analysis of Kikamba Nativized

Loanwords .His study has investigated the strategies used by the recipient system,

Kikamba, to handle phonologically different words from English (2013). The study

noted the beneficiary language has open syllables and does not allow consonant clusters

in the onset. English has closed syllables and allows consonant clusters in both onset

and coda positions. Moreover the phonemic inventories of the two languages also differ


22

22

considerably. The borrowed words are, therefore, significantly modified in order to

conform to the phonotactics of Kikamba. The scrutiny have revealed that in dealing

with disallowed codas and consonant clusters, three main strategies: insertion, deletion

and feature change are used in order to satisfy high-ranked markedness constraints in

Kikamba. In addition he points out that content word are borrowed more easily than

function words since the former have a clear link to cultural content and the latter do

not. The findings are very important as it contribute to analysis of phonological

processes of nativized words in Chagga from Standard Swahili language.

Additionally, Mwaliwa conducted a study on Analysis of the Syllable Structure of

Standard Swahili Loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic and argues that syllable

structure rules {PSSRs} are the rules that convert complex or abnormal syllable

structures to simpler or normal ones (2014). PSSRs are the syllable structure processes

that are motivated by syllable structure constraints of a language. That is, these

processes determine the positions of consonant and vowel segments in a syllable or

word as governed by the language‘s phonotactics rules. For instance, preferred syllable

structure rules in Kiswahili are vowel coalescence, segment deletion, glide formation

and segment insertion. Maximum differentiation rule is also referred to as a

dissimilation rule. In Kiswahili, glide formation is an example of maximum

differentiation rule. This process occurs in the environment of two contiguous vowels,

where one of the vowels changes to a glide due to this change, one of the vowels

becomes less similar to the other, such that there is a sequence of a glide followed by a

vowel.


23

23

2.3 Theoretical Framework

This study is carried out by Generative CV Phonology developed by linguists,

Keyser and Clements 1983. This theory strives to guide the present study on scrutinize

phonological processes with their rules govern in Marangu and Kibosho varieties. This

theoretical framework provides a great and prominent significant role on a Bantu

language analysis from north eastern part of Tanzania.

2.3.1 Generative CV Phonology

Phonological environments refer to the surrounding sounds of a target speech

sound, or target phone, in a word. The phonology environment of a phone can

sometimes determine the allophonic or phonemic qualities of a sound. Meanwhile

phonological processes are prescribed ways of analyzing speech sounds of any language

of human. They are the patterns that young children, use to simplify adult speech.

Generative CV-Phonology is a non-linear model focused on the syllable structure that

was developed by Clements and Keyser 1983. The theory grasps that many

phonological rules only receive appropriate formulations regarding the syllable.

Clements and Keyser affirm that a syllable is a phonological unit that plays a

noteworthy role in determining the organization of segments in a language. Many

phonological processes in language are motivated by the need to maintain the preferred

syllable structure of the language.

The Generative CV Phonology model was built upon Kahn‘s 1976 theory of

syllable representation. Kahn‘s model of the syllable has two tiers, to be exact the

syllable line and segmental level. Clements and Keyser modified Kahn‘s model by

introducing a third layer, known as CV tier to reconcile between the syllable tier and the


24

24

segmental level. The CV line was introduced so as to tackle the shortfalls identified in

Kahn‘s model. Clement and Keyser clarify that in his study Khan proposed to expand

the notion of phonological representations assumed in such works as Chomsky and

Halle‘s Sound Pattern of English, 1968 by introducing a new tier of representation

involving strings of the symbol [s] representing the node ‗syllable‘ (1983: 3). Hence the

modification of Khan‘s notion was done.

Also, according to Clements and Keyser claim, ―The CV Phonology theory

provides a complete characterization of all statements and processes referring to the

syllable and its constituents.‖ In light of this observation, the present study will employ

this concept in order to insightfully account for syllable structure processes such as

glide formation, epenthesis, assimilation and substitution in Chagga language

particularly Marangu and Kibosho varieties. Clements and Keyser major concern is to

demonstrate a syllable structure. They argue that syllable is a hierarchical unit, which

has tiers as immediate constituents. Clements and Keyser, demonstrate that the syllable

has three tiers, the syllable node, the CV tier and the tier for the bundles to differentiate

the segments, as stipulated beneath:

Syllable node ζ ζ ζ

CV tire C C V C V C

Segmental tier M w a l i m

Figure 1: Types of tier in Syllable Structure [Cited from Clements Keyser 1983]


25

25

2.3.2 The Foundation of the Theory

Clement and Keyser (1983) provide that a universal theory of syllable has, in their

view, three specific tasks or main aspects (pp: 25). These are stipulated below;

commencing with, CV Phonology must specify the well-formed expressions of the

theory. Thus, it provides an alphabet out of which syllable units are constructed together

with a characterization of the permissible array of alphabetic units. Thus, it must specify

the parameters along which individual languages vary in their choice of syllable types.

Moreover, it must exemplify the class of language particular rules which modify or

extend the underlying syllable representations (syllabification rules) and state how these

rules are integrated into the general organization of the phonological component. The

theory can be clarify and exemplify by considering some examples from the following

study which have used the theory.

Clement and Keyser (1983) in CV Phonology: A Generative Theory of the Syllable

collected and analyzed some data from Turkish. In their analysis of Turkish syllable

they discovered that phonological processes have an effect of eliminating extra-syllabic

segments from representation either by deleting them degemination, inserting an

epenthetic vowel epenthesis or else deleting one mora of a long vowel/vowel

shortening. These processes are illustrated below:

ζ ζ ζ ζ

C V C V V C C V C V C

z a m a n [Earlier] z a m a n

Figure 2: Vowel Shortening


26

26

ζ ζ ζ

C C V C V C

M w a l i m [Teacher] (Apocope)

Figure 3: Apocope in Swahili Language

Thereafter, figure two (2) provided an example of phoneme shortening whereas Swahili

borrowed lexeme appeared to be shortened for easy articulation by speakers. The

shortening is observed while pronunciation of such lexeme. Meanwhile for figure three

(3), apocope happened to the nativized lexeme after deletion of the vowel and insertion

of semi vowel/approximant phoneme into the lexeme also purposely on utterance need.

In the analysis of phonological processes of nativized words in Chagga

language, the research focused much on Generative CV Phonology. The rationale is that

Generative CV Phonology is a non-linear model focused on the syllable structure that

uses the hierarchical model in analyzing a segment. Many phonological processes in

language are motivated by the need to maintain the preferred syllable structure of the

language. Under Generative CV Phonology model it was found that when the onset first

principle is applied, it obtains a different syllable structure. The stated syllable-based

theory will be applied to conduct an empirical analysis of the Phonological Processes of

loanwords borrowed from Standard Swahili language in Chagga language.

2.3.3 Theory Implication for the Study

Tanzania has got many scholars dealing with linguistics studies, but almost have

usual focus on the phonological studies that the Bantu languages apply in the


27

27

nativization on loan words especially content words like; verbs, noun. Never the less,

Linguists do not heated discussion the fact that borrowing is never the same in

borrowing languages. Adoption and adjustment of loan word in the phonological and

morphological system of the borrowing language are the key principles that every

borrowing language implies, meaning that area on loan item has to be pronounceable in

that receiving language.

A study using CV-phonology was done and came up with result that languages that

have C+C+V syllable pattern, vowel sequencing can be realized as VV (-C+V-C+V),

where each V element is a nuclear of a syllable. Example is drawn from the Tonga

language word /muenzi/ meaning visitor, where /ue/ is a VV vowel sequence. In other

words, these are two syllables (–C+V-C+V) and not diphthongs, since Tonga does not

allow diphthongization of vowels (Zivenge 2009). This VV sequencing is acceptable in

Tonga language. Conversely, glides may be epenthesised to have +C+V+C+V

sequencing. In the language, only glides may be epenthesised to function as onsets in

VV vowel sequencing but cannot function as codas, since it does not have codas on its

syllables.

a) ζ ζ ζ

C V V C C V

m u e d z i [moon]

VV {vowel sequencing}


28

28

Figure 4: Vowel Sequencing

b) ζ ζ ζ

C V C V C C V

m u w e d z i [moon]

{Phonemic change: Gliding}

Figure 5: Gliding due to Phonemic change

c) ζ ζ

C V C V

C C

m w e d z i

Figure 6: Phonemic change

The phonological process advocated by figure six shows its relationship from

the feature change occurred from figure five due to gliding process of the two long


29

29

vowels /u/ and /e/ changes to semi vowel/approximant, /w/. This process is affected by

the phonological environment. It is claimed that the change is experienced on segments

that are both dominated by V-elements, thus with greater sonority especially in English

language, it follows that the outcome should have vowel characteristics. The only class

of segments with vowel characteristics is that of glides. This provides a gap for the

recent study to be conducted.


30

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

In this section, the study observes research methodology and its design.

Discussed components include the type of study to be used for recent study, source and

number of data. Furthermore, data collection techniques thus methods to be used for

collecting data are shown. The section also includes data analysis steps and how data

are presented. Lastly this chapter discusses result verification of the study since it is an

empirical scrutiny.

3.1 Type of Study

This thesis is a phonological study in Bantu language particularly Chagga

language. The study employs qualitative method to scrutinize phonological processes of

nativized loanwords in Kibosho and Marangu dialects of Chagga language, from

Standard Swahili language. In order to understand well phonological processes occur in

Chagga language the study advocated by qualitative approach so as to sort out all

possible nativized Chagga loan words from the data source. A case study design is of

useful for this study.

Two study areas are used for the means by the researcher has a limited range of

time to conduct the study. He used the data source for interview to testify the borrowed

words and analyzing the phonological processes found in the words from standard

Swahili language. The studied areas provide at hand study with accurate information as

the chosen respondents were of well informants three from Kibosho and two Marangu

varieties of Chagga language. The number of respondents (five) shapes the study to be

of qualitative in nature by providing prominent information as was required.


31

31

3.2 Source and number of data

The well dexterity of (2009) with a total numbers of (201) data both verb

inventory and noun inventory category, is of useful data source with current usage of

the lexemes by the five prominent speakers of the two selected varieties of Chagga

language. The criterion used to select informants is the fact that the informants are

Chagga speakers and of the two selected variety with standard Swahili ability. Not only

native and active speakers were selected, but also aging was a prior factor for selecting

respondents for analyzing the corpus with much wisdom and credibility to the linguistic

knowledge for Bantu speakers.

The study covers Kilimanjaro region particularly Kibosho ward at Moshi rural

district, and Marangu ward at Vunjo district. Kibosho and Marangu five language

skilled native speakers of Chagga language are the target of the study. Also the selection

observes respondents who are well interactive with the standard Swahili language.

3.3 Data Collection and Data Selection

In this section the study discusses much on sample size and the study techniques

used in the study. The at hand study employs interview technique for stimulating the

knowledge on nativazation phenomenon towards respondents. The researcher employ

voice note to acknowledge advancement of science as well as getting the pure utterance

of lexemes from respondents. Furthermore he uses introspection linguistics data

collection for lexeme categorizing.

3.3.1 Interviews

It was worthy employing interview for that the researcher uses the secondary

data namely dexterity lexical data project. The point of view is to testify the


32

32

pronunciation by native speakers of Marangu and Kibosho dialects of Chagga language.

Respondents were also kindly requested to utter the corpus 2 and 3 of Swahili version. It

later helps in identifying the borrowed words from standard Swahili language by means

of voice note. Respondents without any prior information of such phonological

processes uttered the words from the provided corpus by the researcher and this

analyzes the homogeneous pronunciation of the sorted words from the two varieties of

Chagga language.

3.3.2 Voice Note

This study finds the need to acknowledge the advancement of science and

techknowledge, by using voice note from smart phones. Respondents are being recorded

willingly by the researcher using smart phone program on voice detection for

pronunciation purpose. Later the recorded voices are to be deleted by the researcher

after pronunciation verification since is the agreement between researcher and his

respondents. The researcher does not exemplify the notion of phonological processes to

respondents for the main reason of getting the pure utterance of the selected two

varieties of Chagga language. The other purpose of using voice note is a linguistic

variable need for homogenous resemblance of the uttered lexical items from the two

varieties hence the researcher easily determine the phonological processes.

3.3.3 Introspection

This study aims mostly on loan words. Introspection refers to linguistics data

collection procedure where at stake are inner states and processes. For a while it was

thought that in some strands of linguistics that the linguists could obtain data by

introspection. Therefore the use of introspection is purposely to clearly find the notable


33

33

Chagga words even out of noun and verbs that undergo phonological process before

shifted to beneficiary language. It is also mostly used by linguists for categorizing word

classes in a large number of lexeme (like the present study) for easy sorting.

The researcher mostly applies introspection since he individually wanted to get

data at hand. He didn‘t want to get all the data from respondents as he has competence

and well performing abilities on selected varieties. It is a cognitive and empirical

observation of the researcher on the word category of the selected (201) nativized

lexemes from standard Swahili. Meanwhile it has not only become empirically obvious

that such products are often unreliable, but there is also a consensus that in view of the

methodological standards set out in the section on data they are not data in the sense of

any scientific discipline as this of phonological processes.

3.3.4 Sample size

The study employs five native and active speakers of Chagga language. Three

respondents from Kibosho and two from Marangu variety were chosen. Respondents‘

selection is advocated by the age significant since the researcher believes the study

requires personnel of the studied language hence a range of 40 and above fits the study.

The sample size is believed to be of useful so as to avoid bias. The other prominent

criterion used by the researcher for selecting respondents is education level of his

respondents. The study requires most of the data to be of linguistics benefits and

avoidance of redundancy hence employs the best respondents to suit the intended

objectives.


34

34

3.4 Data Presentation

The study observed that there are four major causes of phonological processes as

those motivated by syllable by syllable structure rules, phonological processes in

Chagga language affecting syllable, phonological processes due to assimilation and

those processes motivated by phonemic reasons therefore the researcher discussed the

processes in the four range. In each of the processes discussed first the study observed

whether there is existence of such phonological process, then the study derived the rule

underlying observed process and at each discussion the study provided the variation

between English and Kibosho and Marangu dialects of Chagga for easy understanding

and avoidance of data redundancy.

Firstly; the researcher discussed the phonemes of studied language in

comparison with English language with its syllable structures and cluster. Then

empirical analysis is done to categorize collected corpus and arrange them

systematically referring to their word classes as data 1 to be named appendix one (1)

thus verbs, and data (2) two as nouns. This has softened the reduplication of contents.

Researcher then provides some interview to respondents for brainstorming their little

understanding about lexeme nativazation from Standard Swahili to Chagga. This will

provide the study with clear classification of the selected lexemes of (201) from the two

varieties of Chagga language which are said to be more standard.

Secondly; Phonological processed words are sorted for instrumentalizing

syllable structure that the researcher easily analyzes the collected data. Since the

researcher is prominent and an active speaker of Chagga language, he linguistically

transcribed the collected data (Phonetic transcription), and with the guidance of the


35

35

theory he determined the phonological processes that occur in the preferable dialects

(Kibosho and Marangu), of nativized Chagga language as a way of presenting the

collected data and come up with both formal and unceremonial/ informal rules. Each

process is separately presented with prominent examples from the required dialects and

the formulated rule(s), thus formal and informal ones. The English – Chagga

phonological processes comparison is in a range of observation by this study to find any

similarities and differences exist in between English and Chagga.

3.5 Data Analysis

The study data are sampled and collected from a well dexterity lexical project

data of 2009. Implicitly it was verified by respondents from Kibosho and Marangu to

find either there are any phonological processes occurred in those loan words. The

researcher systematically selects the respondents who suit the study. The required

respondents are from native and active speakers of the two dialects chosen. Expected

number of days to spend finding the prominent respondents is four to five days. Three

days were used for Kibosho speakers and two for Marangu speakers by confirming their

willingness and trustworthy on providing assistance towards fulfillment of this study.

3.6 Result verification

The study on phonological processes of nativized words from standard Swahili

is firstly verified by the help of the CV-Generative Phonology structure theoretical

framework. Thus the foundation of the study is guided with the overview of this theory.

The theory determines the results as when they co-occur one another. This phonological

rule is used to test the collected data and the information provided by respondents. The

researcher is using the theory to verify the linguistics empirical information obtained so


36

36

as to come up with rules that provide the vivid on existence of such phonological

processes in the two selected varieties of Chagga.

The related literature review also plays a great prominent role towards results of

this study as most of the studies are from Bantu languages as well as the most recently

searched studies which have close relation to Chagga. Various prominent scholars in

this linguistic field like lecturers, writers, are used for result verification in due their

knowledge about the present study. At most the implicit comparison between English

phonological processes with their rules and the two dialects of Chagga will provide a

vivid verification since there is great resemblance of the processes versus the formulated

rules.

The researcher also verified the study data by assuring that the provided research

questions have met their required answers. Since the study is a linguistics approach

thesis, its answers and the formulated rules if matched with known rules then the study

marked them as empirical verified analysis. The study questions and objectives were the

mostly targeted goal for this study verification. Hence this marks the third means of

study verification for the present research.


37

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This section scrutinizes the data collected by the researcher from the informants.

The main guide for the findings and analysis was the objectives of the study and

research questions more specifically the informants were interviewed and relevant as

well as required information was provided. This chapter includes sounds of Chagga and

the findings. The sounds were discussed here for easy understanding and reader friendly

of the present study. In order to understand sound of Chagga the study further discussed

the syllable structure so as to allocate how one can derive the phonological rules of a

certain phonological processes. It should also be noted that, the sounds of Chagga and

syllable structure are not the data analysis but they provide prior information for one to

understand how phonological processes and their formulated rules brought about. This

analysis deals only with the borrowed words from Standard Swahili.

The implicit comparison between the selected dialects and English language is

implicitly observed. It is phonologically enlightening for the study to make an easy

discussion for readers to understand the discussion by commencing with sounds of

Chagga language, also syllable structure rules for determining the rules underlying the

processes as well as the cluster in the studied language for one to comprehend how a

certain rule is derived. Then the study describe the processes according to their four

causes with their formulated rules and hence the comparison for readers easy adhering

to the study.


38

38

4.1 Sounds of Chagga

An inclusive scrutiny of the sound segments and the sequences in which sounds

appear could give us grounds for predicting which sounds a speaker would be likely to

substitute in each given case. It is necessary to describe the phonemic inventories of the

languages under study. The Chagga phonemes have all parameters dealt with the study

of lexicon of Bantu languages specifically on phonological features. Thereafter,

comprehending Chagga phonological system particularly Kibosho and Marangu

varieties is helpful language instrument for the research to make a deep analysis of

Phonological Processes of Nativized words in Kibosho and Marangu dialects of Chagga

from Standard Swahili. Through this the researcher observed which features are

reassigned from Swahili to Chagga, and those which are not. Sounds of Chagga are

derived from field data as the researcher could not find enough materials on Chagga

since there is no enough phonological documentation of the researched language.

4.1.1 Chagga Vowels

The phonological parameters used to categorize vowels in Chagga language with

its varieties are the same as those applied in English language which marks a similarities

within a comparative study as: tongue height, tongue position and lip shape. In English

language as well as Chagga language the tongue height parameter is concerned with

raising part of the tongue involved when producing a vowel sound. Hence, in terms of

tongue height, a vowel can be [+ high], [+ low] and [- high, - low]. The tongue position


39

39

parameter shows the point along the tongue that is involved in the articulation of the

vowel sound1.

Nurse and Philippson (1977) discussed on the Chagga sound inventory as a

result, they came up with five vowels: [a, e, i, o, u]. According to study observation,

Chagga language particularly Kibosho and Marangu varieties also has five vowels [a, e,

i, o, u]. The stated vowels of Chagga by this study constitute all varieties of Chagga.

The five dialects uses the same vowels regardless of their variation in either

pronunciation, orthography or even meaning. Chagga descendants recognize the vowels

in their level of language usage. The mentioned Chagga vowels are represented by the

following table with their tongue height, tongue position and lip shape as the basic

categories on classification of vowel sounds.

Table 1. The Chagga Vowel Sounds

Front Mid

Back

High

i u

Mid

e o

Low

a

Bantu languages are grouped into two. One group are languages with five vowels [a, ɛ,

i, ɔ, u], and in the second group are those with seven vowels [a, ɛ i, e, o, ɔ, u]. Guthrie

(1948)


40

40

The above Chagga vowels with their distinctive phonological features namely;

tongue height, tongue position and lip shape can be observed in the following Chagga

lexemes with the initial example of English lexemes for the study comparison.

1. /a/ {mid, low unrounded vowel} as in English lexemes; car/kar/, party/pa:r.ti/,

park/pa:rk/, calm/ka:m/, drama/dra:ma/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

a. ura /ura/ ‗buy‘

b. kumba /kumba/ ‗sell‘

c. maruu /maru:/ ‗bananas

d. nangu /nangu:/ ‗calabash‘

e. enna /enna/ ‗drink‘

1) /e/ {front, mid, unrounded vowel} as in English lexemes; let/let/, tell/tel/,

end/end/, send/send/, press/pres/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

a. deda /deda/ ‗talk‘

b. ende /ende/ ‗bring‘

c. madende /madende/ ‗legs‘

d. mremi /mremi/ ‗farmer‘

e. terewa /terewa/ ‗ask‘

2) /i/ {front, high, unrounded vowel} as in English lexemes; it/it/, tip/tip/,

pick/pik/, busy/biz:i/, pity/pit:i/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss


41

41

a. ichoondi /ičo:ndi/ ‘sheep’

b. ikari /ikari/ ‗ a car‘

c. ikumbi /ikumbi/ ‗hoe‘

d. kilima /kilima/ ‗mount‘

e. iriwa /iriwa/ ‗lake‘

3) /o/ {back, mid, rounded vowel} as in English lexemes; not/not/, copy/kop.i/,

rock/rok/, bottle/bot.l/, model/mod.l/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

a. mdo /mdo/ ‗head‘

b. mso /mso/ ‗flour‘

c. pfo /fo/ ‘not’

4) /u/ as in English lexemes; look/luk/, book/buk/, put/put/, could/kud/,push/puʃ/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

a. busua /busua/ ‗pour‘

b. ura /ura/ ‗buy‘

c. kulya /kulya/ ‗to eat‘

d. runda /runda/ ‗work‘

4.1.2 Long Vowels in Chagga

A long vowel in Chagga is the result of vowel coalescence. Heine and

Philippson (1977) claim in their study that in Chagga as well as in English language the

rules of vowel coalescence should be emphasized that the coalescence of any two

vowels does not automatically result in a phonologically long vowels. There are


42

42

basically four long vowels in Chagga language; /a:/ mid, low and lax vowel, /e:/ a front,

mid lax vowel, /o:/ a back, mid, rounded lax vowel, /o/ a more back low, rounded lax

vowel. The further illustration on their occurrence is stipulated in example six (6)

below. They said that we should not always consider the result of the coalescence to be

a phonologically long vowel. Let us consider the word lia in Chagga which means ‗(to)

eat‘

6) a. /lia/ [lya]

b. /lia / /li+a/ [la]

However in some cases the result of coalescence generates phonologically long vowels

as in data below:

aamelia ‗he has eaten‘

a+a a

/aamelia/ [amelya]

In Chagga as in English, phonologically long vowels can arise from the following cases

of coalescence.

Lexeme Gloss

5) a. /a + e/ [e:]

/wa-e-ke-ka-a/ [we:kekaa]2 ‗they usually stay/live'

b. /a + o/ [o:]

2 Almost 97 percent of Bantu languages are tonal and agglutinative in nature in which

verbs have an elaborative set of affixes. Most Bantu languages have SVO structure.

(Heine and Philippson: 2003).2


43

43

/wa-ose/ [wo:se] 'all'

c. /u + a/ [o:]

/wu-ah-w-a/ [wo:o] 'killed‘

d. /u + e/ [o:]

/su-e/ [so:] 'we'

Phonologically long vowels are also to be found before nasal clusters in at least one

case in Chagga. Let us consider the following data

6) a. /waandu/ [wa:ndu] 'people

b. /waana/ [wa:na] 'children‘

4.1.3 Chagga Consonants

Similarly to vowels, Chagga has the various consonant sounds in its phonemic

inventory. The phonemes found in Chagga language are categorized similarly to those

of English. There are five stops which are produced with a pose in oral cavity and

suddenly released with a burst sound [/ p /, / b/, /t/, / d/ and / k/]. Also nasal consonants

which are produced when oral cavity is in complete closure hence the air passes through

nasal cavity and they are four [/ m, n. ɳ and ŋ/]. The language is having five fricative

sounds; [/ f/, / v/, / s/, / ʃ/ and / h/] and only one affricate / ʧ/. Moreover there is one

lateral / l / as in English and one trill sound / r/ with the other two approximant which

are [/w/, /y/. In Chagga language especially in Kibosho variety glides cannot function as

syllable nuclear without a vowel. As claimed by Nurse and Philippson (1977) glide /w/

is realized into two allophones. They can be realized as phoneme [β] before sound /i/


44

44

and [e], meanwhile [w] before sound /a/, o and u/. Sound [w] realization is stipulated in

the following data;

a. /nguwe/ [nguβe] ‗pig‘

b. /nguwe/ [nguwe] ‗pig‘

At hand study provides the good example of Chagga consonant sounds with

their phonological place of articulation, manner of articulation as well as the state of

glottis. The study provided the Chagga consonant table that clearly illustrates the

manner of articulation of Chagga consonant, the place of articulation and thereafter for

easily predicts the state of glottis. The study clearly recognizes the great linguistic

resemblance of the phonemes used in Chagga language and those used in English

language. The following table two (2) provide a well phonological vivid on the

preferable consonant sounds used in forming lexemes by the major five varieties of

chagga.

Table 2. Chagga Consonants

Bilabial Labial-

dental

Alveolar Post-

alveolar

palatal Velar Glottal

Stops p b t d k

Affricate ʧ

Nasal m n ɳ

ŋ

Liquids l r

Fricative f v s ʃ h

Glide w y


45

45

Source: Researcher‘s Illustration (2017)

English consonants in comparison with Chagga consonant are elaborate below

with examples as analyzed phonemes are bolded. The first provided examples illustrate

the English lexemes and the bolded phoneme as comparison element. The researcher

considered the place of articulation of both language phonemes, manner of articulation

and state of glottis for the comparison;

/ p/ as in English lexemes; /priest/, /pick/, /top/, /public/, /paper/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Kapa ‗bit‘

Para ‗broke‘

/b/ as in English lexemes; /buy/, /best/, /baby/, /boy/, /ball/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Baka ‗cat‘

Subu ‗soup‘

/m/ as in English lexemes; /my/, /mother/, /make/, /more/, /money/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Malela ‗milk‘

Muna ‗child‘

Mndenyi ‗village dweller‘

/ t / as in English lexemes; /tune/, /time/, /tell/, /tender/, /task/,

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Terewa ‗request‘

Terii ‗soil‘


46

46

Tambua ‗innovate‘

/d / as in English lexemes; /dear/, /dog/, /die/, /duty/, /day/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Dooka ‗break‘

Uda ‗satisfied‘

/s/ as in English lexemes; /send/, /some/, /smooth/, /simple/, /songs/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Samba ‗wash‘

Somoka ‗left‘

/l/ as in English lexemes; /let/, /love/, /live/, /alone/, /late/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Lya ‗to eat‘

Lau ‗when‗

/n/ as in English lexemes; /student/, /never/, /need/, /funny/, /network/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Ndee ‗father‘

Ndoari ‗curse‘

/f/ as in English lexemes; /five/, /fast/, /female/, /found/, /fighter/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Fuma ‗gone‘

Fiadu ‗shoes‘

/v/ as in English lexemes; /give/, /vivid/, /voice/, /even/, /heaven/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss


47

47

Vuruga ‗disturb‘

Vinsha ‗potatoes‘

/tS/ as in English lexemes; /church/, /chose/, /chaplain/, /chair/, /cherish/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Nchaa ‗hunger‘

Ninchaa ‗well‘

/ ʃ/ as in English lexemes; /shoes/, /shine/, /fashion/, /sharing/, /show/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Oshoo ‗come‘

Msheku ‗grandmother‘

/k/ as in English lexemes; /kind/, /king/, /kill/, /kilogram/, /look/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Kitima ‗chair‘

Kwacha ‗far ‗

Nguku ‗cock‘

/ ŋ / as in English lexemes; /sing/, /going/, /song/, /sitting/, /fishing/,

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Ng‘ama ‗tomorrow‘

/ɳ / as in Nnywa ‗drink‘

/y/ as in English lexemes; /yet/, /yatch/, /yard/, /yield/, /year/

Chagga Lexeme Gloss

Yakwa ‗mine‘

Yaifo ‗absence‘


48

48

In Chagga language as in English the presented phonemes have same manner

and place of articulation characteristics. The study observes the absence of sound

phoneme /ɳ / in English language meanwhile in most of Bantu languages Chagga and

Standard Swahili inclusively said to observe the use of this sound. The notable

phenomenon is due is that, some phonemes in Chagga language are totally not found.

For instance phoneme /z/, / g /, /ð /, /ɵ/, / ʒ/ and /ʤ/. Hence native speakers tend to have

difficulties in pronouncing nativized words from Swahili with mentioned phonemes and

the solution is they use sound with similar place of articulation. The study observes that

English phonemes have same denotation as those in Chagga language due to the similar

place and manner of articulation also the state of glottis (voicing).

4.2 Chagga Syllable Structure

A syllable is a phonological unit of utterance that constitutes an onset, nucleus

and coda. The most important part of the syllable is the nucleus. Every syllable must

have a nucleus which can be occupied by either a vowel or a syllabic consonant. The

onset and the coda are optional and they are occupied by consonant(s). A syllable does

not have any grammatical or semantic function, but it breaks a word into units of

utterance of time.

The study data, observed that Chagga has three (3) syllable structures as VCV, CV

and CCV. This study advocates the similarities found in both English and Chagga

languages since English has the same syllable structure mentioned above as found in

Chagga. For instance in English lexemes we can have same syllable structure derived in

Chagga language; CV[bye], VCV[ego], CCV[tree]. In that Chagga language has


49

49

the general fixed syllable structure of CCV constituting a nasal consonant, an oral

consonant and a vowel, for instance:

7) a. Mburu (CCVCV) ‗goat‘

b. Mremi (CCVCV) ‗farmer‘

c. Mka (CCV) ‗wife‘

d. Mdima (CCVCV) ‗soul‘

Given that vein, another syllable structure that is found in Chagga language is a cluster

of two consonants with a vowel. This type is usually restricted to syllables with either a

nasal as the first consonant or the approximants /y/ or /w/ as the second consonant. The

study observes the similarity in English as in Chagga syllable structure of this pattern.

Meanwhile the difference appears only in example (b). Here are examples of words:

8) a. Mwaasha (CCVCV) ‗tall‘

b. Mwininge (CCVCVCCV) ‗give‘

c. Mwewu (CCVCV) ‗a black person‘

Another CCV syllable constitutes an oral consonant, a glide and a vowel, for

example;

9) a. Kwacha (CCVCV) ‗far‘

b. Kwi (CCV) ‗where‘

c. Yakwa (CVCCV) ‗mine‘

At present study takes these two sequences of syllables as CCV. Since the theory

applied in this study, that is, Generative CV-Phonology recognizes only the consonant

and vowel elements. According to this theory, the nasals and glides are observed as


50

50

consonants except when they function as nuclear in a syllable. Another syllable is the

CV which constitutes one consonant. Let us consider the following data.

10) a. Kinu (CVCV) ‗pestle‘

b. Madende (CVCVCCV) ‗legs‘

c. Nguwe (CVCV) ‗pig‘

d. Tereva (CVCVCV) ‗request‘

Also, Chagga has syllable structure of VC in that vowel is at the word initial position.

Consider the following data;

11) a. Ikanda (VCVCCV) ‗leaf‘

b. Ichondi (VCVCV) ‗sheep‘

c. Ikumbi (VCVCCV) ‗hoe‘

d. Itumfu (VCVCCV) ‗mountain‘

Although Chagga does not frequently have consonant clusters, when they occur

they are to be found at the beginning and end of words or syllables.

4.2.1 Consonant Cluster at lexeme Initial Position

In here the study observes little lexemes with consonant cluster at initial position of

the Chagga lexeme. The great similarity has been clearly observed in between English

and Chagga. For instance lexeme in English like [tree, free, cream, scream] are said to

be of prominent examples.

12) a. Kwacha /kwa:cha/ ‗far‘

b. Kwii /kwi:/ ‗where‘

c. Mmka /mka/ ‗wife‘


51

51

d. Mdima /mdima/ ‗soul‘

4.2.2 Consonant Cluster at the Word Middle Position

The at hand study came up with a single example from Chagga language as the

number of daily usage lexeme with such category are said to be of few. The same

recognition in English language whereas the syllable structure with consonant cluster at

the middle word position is rare. The two languages share the same phonemes that

found in middle position as the combination of nasal bilabial sound /m/ and a stop

bilabial phoneme /b/ to make a middle cluster of [mb]. Example fourteen provides a

vivid of Chagga lexeme with middle consonant cluster. i.e. English lexeme [limber,

limbo].

13) Sambuka /sambuka/ ‗walk‘

4.2.3 Consonant cluster at word final position

This study also tries to analyze a bit on the syllable structure on Chagga lexemes

with the consonant cluster at the final word position. These lexemes mostly are

accompanied with nasal sounds. In English language the same process takes place

whereas two nasals sound preceding one another ending to final consonant cluster. i.e.

English lexemes [tomb, country, comb, limb]. This provided the study with great

similarities between English and Chagga consonant cluster at the final lexeme position.

14) a. Emba /emba/ ‗sing‘

b. Marende /marende/ ‗legs‘

c. Sambia /sambia/ ‗wash‘

d. Yakwa /yakwa/ ‗mine‘


52

52

Generally, the study observes that Chagga has the open syllables VC, CV and

CCV. In a nut shell, whenever CCV appears in Chagga, they are realized in three

position; word initial, middle and word finally.

4.3 Phonological Processes of Nativized Lexeme in Kibosho and Marangu dialects

of Chagga

The phonological processes taking place on Chagga loanwords nativization are

caused by different factors similarly to those in English language. Such factors are

phonological processes that occur due to phonemic reason. Second, group of

phonological processes is triggered by non-assimilation and assimilation rules. The third

are the phonological changes that are motivated by Chagga PSSRs [Phonological

Syllable Structure Rules]. To answer research questions number one, two and three the

following discussions provide their answers by identifying the phonological processes,

then discovering their rules governed and lastly describing the similarities and

differences found in between English and Chagga language.

4.3.1 Phonological Processes Motivated by Syllable Structure Rules

The study discovered that: Phonological processes motivated by syllable

structure conditions as in English, also occur on Kibosho and Marangu varieties of

Chagga loanwords in that the loanword adaptation or nativization at the phonological

level is governed by syllable well-formedness in the RL. The phonological processes

involved are aimed at realizing well-formed or permissible syllables in a given

language. For example in Kibosho and Marangu varieties, the phonological processes

include segment deletion, insertion and substitution. These processes as in English


53

53

language occur on both vowels and consonants so as to realize the preferred syllable

structures in Chagga loanwords nativazation.

4.3.1.1 Insertion

To address research problem one the study observed that there is phonological

process referred to insertion. Insertion is also named as epenthesis whereby is a

phonological process in which a segment is added into a word. In English language,

epenthesis (insertion) is one of the PSSRs aimed at breaking up consonant clusters. This

is a dominant process in any language in that segment clusters are disallowed in

pronunciation as they make segmental sequence obscured. This process consists of four

categories namely; vowel insertion, anaptyxis, prothesis and consonant insertion at the

word middle position which are all found in English language lexemes.

Besides, Epenthesis refers to the process of inserting a phoneme in both English

and Chagga, either vowel or consonant in a word to break the consonant cluster system.

It is usually motivated by the need to meet the phonotactics constraints of a beneficiary

language. This process as mentioned above is categorized into major four categories.

The study observes all of them with their variation in English and application in

Chagga.

Firstly is the vowel insertion. Insertion in Chagga involves anaptyxis and

prothesis by inserting a vowel so that to have practically easy articulation. The

infringement of practicality in the epenthetic segment in Chagga has no equivalent in

the input. Vowel epenthesis in Chagga loanwords borrowed from Swahili may be

explained in view of the variations in the syllable systems of both languages. There are


54

54

different forms of vowel insertion occurring in the Chagga loanwords nativization:

prosthesis and anaptyxis. Prothesis is motivated by morphological factors; while

Anaptyxis is motivated by PSSRs in Chagga loanwords. Thirty words are absolutely a

result of vowel insertion.

The study found that, in English epenthesis is often motivated by the need to

make consonant contrasts more distinct. For instance in some English varieties such as

Ireland, South Africa and Scotland vowels are inserted for breaking the cluster. For

instance the English lexeme as, i.e. film. The study also observes that this category of

insertion can be brought about by different means in which the major cause is said to be

a non-standard pronunciation. For example: Lexemes, athlete, film. Thereafter this

study declares that the same process done in Chagga language appeared to be done in

English with the same rule. Observe the below English example:

i) Film / filəm/ [ epenthesis due to dialect distinction]

ii) /athalete/ athlete [epenthesis due to non-standard pronunciation]

iii) /filum/ film [epenthesis due to non-standard pronunciation]

The second category in insertion is what in English referred to as anaptyxis.

Anaptyxis is a phonological process where an extra vowel is inserted between two

consonants. From field data it is seen that this process commonly takes place in Chagga

nativized loanwords. Let us consider the following four derived data from the corpus

whereby their phonological environment are as similar to those of English:

Swahili Chagga Gloss

31) a. Shtua sutua ‗astound‘

b. Trekta itirekita ‗tractor‘


55

55

c. Shtuka isutuka ‗be astound‘

d. Boksi ibookisi ‗box‘

In fact number 31(a) and (b) vowel is inserted between the consonants for the

purpose of breaking the consonant sequences as well as to make easy for articulation.

This process is therefore motivated by PSSRs which results in obtaining the preferred

syllable structure in Kibosho and Marangu varieties of Chagga particularly, that is, CV.

To adhere the research problem two this process can be recapitulated with both

unceremonious and formal phonological rules derived in the study:

An unceremonious rule:

ø v c c

Formally, this process is represented by the following rule

ø + syll -syll -syll

- cons +cons +cons

Explicitly a syllable gets inserted in between consonants in order for Chagga speakers

particularly Kibosho and Marangu origin to have preferred syllable structure. To

address problem three of the study the phonological rule derived in this process denotes

that English anaptyxis is also adapted in Chagga nativized lexemes.

The third category that this study observes in insertion is prosthesis. Prosthesis is

among English phonological process involving vowel insertion at word initial position.

In English language, prothesis which is linguistically derived from post-classical Latin

based on Ancient Greek [πρόθεζις] to mean placing before.`` Thus the study concludes

that, it is the linguistics process that focuses on adding a sound or syllable in the word


56

56

initial word position without changing the lexeme`s semantic category or it`s

etymological structure.

It is observed that, in English language prothesis is highly utilized since Middle

English and Old one by scholars like William Shakespeare and Edgar Alan Poe in

poetic writing purposely on rhythmical manner and to raise emphasis. For instance Poe

in English language literary text; the stanza states:

i) …``Thus much let me avow, you are not wrong who deem``…

The vowel à` is inserted in the initial lexeme vow purposely to make literary piece

more rhythmic by Poe. Shakespeare in his poetic writing he provided an example of

English prothesis such in the following stanza saying;

ii) …``Tearing of papers, breaking rings a-twain, storming her world with

sorrows wind and rain``…

The poet wanted to put more emphasis on his reading by inserting vowel à` at lexeme

`twain` purposely by the vowel insertion in the initial word position. Furthermore

another Poe literary work is observed in the English stanza;

iii) …``What though that light thro` storm and might so trouble from

afar``...

The poet uses prothesis as vowel à` for giving pace of rhythm. Thereafter English

language uses mostly inserted vowel sound /a/ for as its prothesis marker. Meanwhile

this study claims that, in Chagga a high front vowel /i/ gets inserted at the word initial

position. For instance the below twelve stipulated Chagga lexemes nativized from

Standard Swahili:


57

57


32) a. Tawanya itawanya ‗stretch‘

b, Ua iwa ‗flower‘

c. Dirisha itirisha ‗window‘

d. Gari ikari ‗car‘

e. Godoro igodoro ‗mattress‘

f. Shati ishati ‗shirt‘

g. Boksi ibokisi ‗box‘

h. Shone ishona ‗stitch‘

i. Basi ibasi ‗bus‘

j. Trekta iterikita ‗tractor‘

k. Shimo ishimo ‗outlet‘

l. Yai iyai ‗egg‘

This process can be summarized as shown hereby:

An unceremonious rule:

ø v #

Formal rule

ø #slly +

-cons

At present study observed that in data number 32(a) a front high vowel /i/ is

inserted at the word initial position as triggered by environment of different

consonants/b/ ,/d/, /k/, /ʃ/ and /y/. The process is thus motivated by PSSRs which results

in obtaining the preferred syllable structure in particularly the two varieties researched.


58

58

Moreover, a front high vowel is inserted at the environment that is the result of

succession of the two vowels taken from Swahili language. Let us consider data 32 (b):

i.e. Ua iwa ‗flower‘

From the above data a high back vowel /u/ glides to /w/ so that to allow insertion of a

high front vowel /i/. This is because in Chagga a succession of three vowels sound is not

allowed.

*ua iwa

Therefore this is presented by the following rules;

u w #

Formal rule for gliding

+high glide #

+back

Therefore, a high back vowel /u/ changes to glide.

elmr l mulF

ø +high glide

-back

Thus a front high vowel /i/ is inserted at the word initial position as triggered by

environment of glide.

The last and the fourth category of insertion discussed in this study is consonant

insertion at the word middle position. As sound segments in English structure,

consonant insertion in Kibosho and Marangu dialects of Chagga involves the insertion

of a consonant between vowels to break a sequence of two vowels. This study observes

that, not only vowels can be inserted but in English sometimes consonant can be


59

59

attached at the middle of the syllable for the phonotactics reasons. Provided a prominent

example in English language on the use of definite and indefinite articles [a, an]. In

English language we can consider article àn` with consonant [n] to be useful in

phonology of breaking the cluster of two vowels. Consider the following; [a apple

an apple]. The study observes three Chagga lexemes of this consonant insertion at the

middle position.


33) a. Jua ruva ‗sun‘

b. Suruali suruvali ‗trouser‘

To address research problem two this process can be recapitulated with both

unceremonious and formal phonological rules derived in the study:

Unceremonious rule:

cons ø v-v

Formal rule

+cons +high -high

-syll ø +back -back

+lab

Hence a voiced dental fricative /v/ is inserted in between a high back /u/ and low

front /a/ vowels. In addition to that a glide /w/ is inserted in between a front high /i/ and

front low /a/ vowels.

c. Ua iwa ‗flower‘

The above data is therefore presented by the following rules;


60

60

Unceremonious rule

i #

ø w intervocalic

Formal rule

ø +high #

-back intervocalic

+cons

+syll

+glide

4.3.2 Phonological Processes in Chagga Language Affects Syllable

To answer research question one of the present study, it is observed that, there

are various phonological processes that involve syllable geared towards the realization

of Chagga language and particularly Marangu and Kibosho dialects, preferred syllables.

The study provided also English examples on such lexemes affected by reduction or

deletion of some sounds or syllables. In these processes, syllables are deleted or reduced

in Chagga nativized words.

4.3.2.1 Deletion

In English linguistics, a sound, such as a stress less syllable or a weak

consonant, is not pronounced; for example, most American English speakers do not

pronounce the phoneme [d] in lexeme "handbag", phoneme [n] in lexeme "condemn",

and phoneme [k] in lexeme "know". Hence, it can be denoted as a process by which a

sound present in the phonemic form is removed from the phonetic form in certain


61

61

environments forease of production. Thus there are three types of deletion in English

and some Germanic languages: aphaeresis which is initial deletion as in English phrase

[I am I'm, I have I’ve] or the initial loss of /k/ before /n/ as in know, knight,

syncope is formative internal deletion: the term is most frequently used with vowel loss,

but some authors broaden it to consonants as well. This can be seen in American and

British forms of certain lexemes:

i) /sɛkrɪtɛri/ vs. /sɛkrɪtrɪ/ 'secretary'

ii) ‗Sign ' assign.

Meanwhile apocope is the loss of a final element as phoneme /t/ before a word

beginning with another consonant in English language, ' last time', also low stress

words may lose their finals as in lexeme ['and', 'of'].

This study observed three categories of consonant deletion in Chagga namely;

Apocope, syncope and aphaeresis as is stated in English language above. In chagga

thereafter apocope is the deletion of a sound, usually a vowel at the word final position.

In Chagga loanwords, Apocope affects syllables. Two syllables at the word final

position are deleted as shown in the following example of Chagga loanwords.


34) Chakula chao ‗ food‘

Thus, two syllables get deleted at the word final position .This process can be sum up

as:

Syll ø #

The first category to be discussed in here is syncope. As stated above on English

likewise in Chagga language this process occurs when there is loss of a segment in the


62

62

medial position of a word. This affects syllable in Chagga loanwords nativization

especially in Kibosho and Marangu varieties which are the more standardized one.

Hence Chagga language loss of a vowel appears at the central of the word, not from

initial position, nor from word final position in rapid speech. Consider the following

four extracted data from Chagga language found in this study:


35) a.Kisu ‗kyandu‘ knife

b.Kikapu ‗kkabu‘ basket

c.Kijiko ‗kliko‘ spoon

To address the research question two this process can be stipulated with both

unceremonious and formal phonological rules resulting from the study:

Unceremonious rule

i ø k

Formal rule

+high ø +cons

-back -syll

+velar

-voice

Thus, a high back vowel is silent when preceded by a voiceless plosive velar sound. For

the study to adhere research problem three it discovered equal comparison between

English and Chagga languages. The minor different is easily observed only on the

deleted phonemes though the rule applied to both languages in their nativized lexemes.


63

63

Secondly, is the deletion in the initial position namely aphaeresis. In English;

Aphaeresis is a phonological process in which a segment is deleted at word or syllable

initial position as explained previously. This change occurs in six lexemes of Chagga

language particularly Kibosho and Marangu varieties whilst loanwords from Standard

Swahili are nativized. The following data as collected from field and written document

show how sound segments are word initial position deleted.


36) a. Baba aba ‗father‘

b. Kufa fo ‗to die‘

c. Kula lya ‗to eat‘

d. Kunywa nna ‗to drink‘

e. Nyumba mba ‗house‘

To continue addressing problem two of the study, this process can be informally noted

as follows;

Unceremonious rule for data b - e

Syll → ø #

Thereafter, the formal rule supporting such phonological process is,

+cons

ø #

-syll

Generally, in extract above (36 a- e), the bilabial plosive / b/, velar plosive /k/,

and nasal /ɳ/ in Chagga (Kibosho) is deleted in the process of nativization. From data b

– e, the whole syllable get deleted in the environment of word initial position. To


64

64

answer research question three thus, the study claims that the deletion of sounds at

initial lexeme is both recognized in English and in Chagga nativized lexemes.

Unceremonious rule for data a and f is;

Cons ø #

Then the formal rule is likely to be;

+cons

ø #

-syll

Thereafter to represent research question three, the study discovered that, a consonant

sound gets deleted at the word initial position during nativization of words from Swahili

in Chagga as sometimes occur in English nativized words from other languages.

4.3.2.2 Rhotacization

This is among the phonological process that affects the Chagga syllable.

Rhotacization is the phonological process in which phoneme /s/ or /z/ becomes r;

usually this takes place between vowels or glides. English Language especially

American standard variety rhotacization occurs into two types. The first type is a

situation in which a strident fricative changes to a trill often z changing to /r/. Secondly;

rhotacization also refers to a process in English language and other world`s languages in

which vowels are pronounced with a /r/ sort of coloring. In Chagga language especially

Kibosho variety during the process of nativization, /s/ (or z) becomes /r/; usually this

takes place between vowels as in the following nine extracted lexemes from the list:


37) a. Mbuzi mburu ‗goat‘


65

65

b. Mzimu mrumu ‗spirit of the dead person‘

c. Wazimu warimu ‗craziness‘

d. Uzito uritro ‗weight‘

e. Maziwa maruwa ‗milk‘

f. Mzinga mringa ‗beehive‘

g. Mwezi mwiiri ‗moon‘

h. Mwezi mwiri ‗month‘

i. Meza mira ‗swallow‘

To represent the research problem two this process can be stipulated with both

unceremonious and formal phonological rules resulting from the study:

Unceremonious rule

z (s) r v- v

Formal rule

+cons +cons +syll +syll

-syll -syll -cons -cons

+strident +trill

+fricative

Thereafter, in Chagga language an alveolar fricative /z/ changes to trill in between

vowel sounds. This address the study problem three with the phonological process of

rhotacization exist in Chagga particularly Kibosho lexemes as also observed in English.


66

66

4.3.3 Assimilation

Assimilation is a process whereby one sound causes an adjacent sound to be

more similar to it. Sounds become more like neighboring sounds [n] ➝ [m]/__

[+bilabial] Assimilation can be conditioned by preceding or following sounds. Thus

assimilation means that one sound becomes more similar to another in that a change in

a sound brought about by the influence of neighboring usually adjacent sound. Also one

can define assimilation to as all adaptive modifications of a segment in a chain of

segments by a neighboring segment. For example, in English lexemes with phoneme

/m/ is rendered [ɱ] (labiodental nasal) instead of bilabial [m]. Similarly, infant phoneme

/n/ is often rendered as [ɱ]. Also, phoneme /l/ is devoiced after placed in between

phoneme /f/ and /k/ in flight and clean and lips are rounded in the articulation of /p/, /k/,

and /l/ respectively due to the occurrence of rounded vowel /u:/ immediately after these

consonant segments. The assimilated English lexemes examples due to the mentioned

phonemes are stipulated below:

i) /p/ [pool]

ii) /k/ [cool]

iii) /l/ [loom]

iv) /m/[triumph , nymph]

Most English assimilations are partial assimilations in which the assimilated

sound becomes only more similar, but not identical, to the influencing sound. Partial

assimilation in English language can also refer to another assimilation which is called

contact assimilation in which the two sounds involved are directly adjacent. For

instance, the phrase 'ten pikes' is pronounced as /tembaiks/ in English instead of /ten


67

67

baiks/ in colloquial speech. Here, the alveolar phoneme /n/ changes to nasal /m/ which

is a bilabial sound under the influence of phoneme /b/ which is also a bilabial sound.

What is meant by complete assimilation in English language is that a sound is

totally affected by a neighboring sound in which both sounds become one, or become

identical. For instance, the following English phrase;

i) / ðæt pleɪs/ / ðæp pleɪs/.

It is clear that the phoneme /t/ sound is totally, or completely, assimilated to the /p/

sound and becomes identical to the one in the next word. Meanwhile in Chagga

assimilatory are classified in terms of distant and partial. The study scrutinizes the two

categories in both Marangu variety and Kibosho variety with examples taken from the

corpus chosen by the researcher. The stipulated examples in chagga passed through

phonological accepted rules which are similarly to those of English nativized lexemes.

4.3.3.1 Partial Assimilation

In Chagga language particularly Kibosho and Marangu varieties different from

English, partial assimilation occurs when the assimilating sound acquires some traits of

another but does not become fully identical to it. Partial assimilation in Chagga appears

at word initial position. Partial assimilation is realized in different sounds as stipulated

below the study observes in Chagga language to which it is clearly seen that there is no

such assimilation in English language.

Partial assimilation of Sound /d/ / s/


38) Damu samu ‗blood‘


68

68

Due that, to address the research question two this process can be stipulated with

both unceremonious and formal phonological rules resulting from the present study:

Unceremonious rule

d s #

Formal rule

+ cons +cons

-syll -syll #

+stop +fric

Given that a voiceless alveolar /s/ acquires some traits of voiced alveolar /d/. Although

the two sounds are articulated at the same point (alveolar) variation in between is only

in the manner of articulation in the sense that during the production of fricative the

sound is blocked as plosive but it released with gradual. Find the following eighteen

(18) assimilated Chagga lexemes due to different phonemes (assimilated phonemes), as

taken from the chosen corpus for this study:

Partial Assimilation of Sound /ʧ / /ʃ/


39) a. Chai shai ‗tea‘

b. Chafua shafuo ‗make dirty‘

c. Chama shama ‗party‘

d. Chako shako ‗yours‘

e. Changa shanga ‗collect‘

f. Chemsha shemsha ‗boil‘

g. Choroko shoroko ‗green gram‘

h. Chuma shuma ‗pick‘


69

69

i. Chumvi shumbii ‗salt‘

j. Chupa shuba ‗bottle‘

Therefore, also to adhere to research problem two, the above data can be presented

through the use of the following formal and unceremonious rules;

Unceremonious rule is ʧ ʃ #

Formal rule

+cons +cons

-syll - syll #

+affric +fric

Thus, in Chagga a voiceless palatal alveolar affricate /ʧ/ acquires some traits of a

voiceless palatal alveolar fricative /ʃ/ at the word initial position. Partial assimilation of

the two sounds is triggered by the point of articulation (palatal alveolar). Thus to

represent research question three the study observed no such process in English

language regarding such phonemes.

Partial Assimilation of Sound /b/ /v/, /g/ /v/


40) a. Debe ideve ‗tin‘

b. Mwoga mwoova ‗coward‘


70

70

Unceremonious rule g b v v - v

Formal rule +cons +cons

-cor -syll Intervocalic

+lab +lab

+voice

+cons

-syll

-cor

+voice

Using the above rule in generative phonology is costly as it misses the important

generalization about the behavior of consonant with regard to its point of articulation.

Therefore the above rules can be captured by one rule.

α +cons

-syll Intervocalic

+lab

Therefore a voiced bilabial plosive or a voiced velar plosive is assimilated to

labial dental fricative intervocalic ally. This is because /v/ sound subsumes many

features of / b/ and /g/. In relation to question three this study observed no such process

in English language.

Partial Assimilation of Sound /t/ /d/


41) a. Moto modo ‗fire‘


71

71

b. Ota oda ‗sprout‘

c. Pita ida ‗pass‘

d. Tua dua ‗put down‘

e. Tuma duma ‗send‘

f. Vita vida ‗war‘

The above finding which represent research problem two is governed by the following

unceremonious and formal rules:

Unceremonious rule for data a, b,c and f and e

t d v-v

Formal rule for data (a, b, c and f)


-syll -syll

-voice +voice -cons -cons

Thereafter a voiceless alveolar plosive is assimilated to a voiced

consonant alveolar plosive in between vowel sounds environment of Chagga. This study

also in relation to problem three it observed no such process in English language

phonemes.

Unceremonious rule for data e and d

t d #

Formal rule for data ( d and e)


-syll -syll

-voice +voice -cons -cons


72

72

One can therefore claims that, a voiceless alveolar plosive is assimilated to

a voiced alveolar plosive in environment of word initial position. In finding 41 (a, b, c,

d, e and f) the voiceless consonant triggers the two rules that account for the similar

changes. Hence the a voiceless plosive is affected in its point of articulation as it is

articulated in the same point with the preceding and following sounds or in between

vowel sounds. Given that the two rules have something in common.

Using the three rules in generative phonology using the three rules above is

costly as they miss the important generalization about the behavior trill with regard to

its point of articulation. That is to say, a voiceless plosive will be articulated at the same

point of articulation with the preceding and following sounds which now become the

conditioning factor.

4.3.3.2 Distant Assimilation

In Chagga language which varies with English language, assimilation at distant

is triggered by consonant in that a consonant is assimilated to the next consonant. In

which Chagga distant assimilation occurs in different position as triggered by place of

articulation. On the other hand distant assimilation is triggered by manner of

articulation. The data collected from the field indicate cases of distant assimilation in

Chagga. The recent study observes that in Chagga different from English there are

major three kinds of distant assimilation as from phonemes; /k/ /f/, /ʧ/ /s/, /ʃ/

/s/ respectively. The below phonemes with example of lexemes in chagga are providing

the phonological vivid:


73

73

Distant Assimilation of Sound /k/ /f/


42) a. Chako chafo ‗yours‘

To address the research problem two this process can be stipulated with


Unceremonious rule is;

k f #

Formal rule

+cons +cons

-syll - syll #

+ plosive +fric

Hence a voiceless velar plosive becomes more similar to voiceless dental fricative in

that a change in a sound brought about by the influence of neighboring usually

adjacent sound.

Distant Assimilation of Sound /ʧ/ /s/


43) Cheka seka ‗ lough‘

This can be presented by the following rules;

Unceremonious rule is ʧ s #

Formal rule

+cons +cons

-syll - syll #

+affric +fric


74

74

Thus a voiceless palatal alveolar fricative becomes more similar to voiceless

alveolar fricative in that a change in a sound brought about by the influence of

neighboring usually adjacent sound. This study to answer research question three it

observed no such process in English language phonemes.

Distant Assimilation of Sound /ʃ/ /s/


44) Shingo singo ‗neck‘

Unceremonious rule is

ʃ s #

Formal rule

+cons +cons

-syll - syll #

+affric +fric

Therefore a voiceless palatal alveolar fricative becomes more similar to

voiceless alveolar fricative in that a change in a sound brought about by the influence

of neighboring usually adjacent sound. This study also observed no such process in

English language phonemes.

4.3.3.3 Dissimilation

In English language; Dissimilation is the process whereby a sound becomes less

similar to one another. When a sound changes one of its features to become less similar

to an adjacent sound is what is referred to dissimilation, and usually to make the two

sounds more distinguishable. This type of rule is often seen among people speaking a


75

75

language that is not their native language where the sound contrasts may be difficult so

the rule is applied for ease of production and perception. In other words, one can

denotes as a phonological process that changes feature values of segments to make them

less similar. For instance consider the following English lexemes;

i) Annual annular

ii) Sexual secular

iii) Cultural cellular [to mean cell]

iv) Penal perpendicular

Dissimilation is not common processes in Chagga language particularly to the two

varieties chosen as most standard ones. Dissimilation in Chagga language often happens

at a distant especially when the less similar sound is in between vowels. Consider the

following extracted example:


44) Bakuli bakuri ‗bowl‘

To adhere research question two this process can be stipulated with both

unceremonious and formal phonological rules resulted from the present study:

Unceremonious rule

l r v v

Formal rule


-syll -syll +high +high

-Sibilant + sibilant +back -back


76

76

Thereafter a non-sibilant sound is assimilated to a sibilant sound especially

between vowel sounds in Chagga language. Hence to address the present study problem

three, both English and Chagga languages have dissimilation as a phonological process

for nativized lexemes with the same rule.

4.3.3.4 Voicing

Voicing (or sonorization) is a sound change where

a voiceless consonant becomes voiced due to the influence of its phonological

environment. Most commonly, the change is a result of sound assimilation with an

adjacent sound of opposite voicing, but it can also occur word-finally or in contact with

a specific vowel. In English language, the morpheme that expresses plural is realized as

the voiced fricative [z] after a vowel, a sonorant consonant, or a voiced obstruent. After

a voiceless obstruent, it is voiceless. This process is known as ―progressive voicing

assimilation‖. Consider the following English lexemes:

i) Bee + /z/ ‡ bee[z],

ii) Lion+ /z/ ‡ lion[z],

iii) Dog + /z/ ‡ dog[z],

iv) Cat + /z/ ‡ cat[s].

A morpheme that ends in a voiced obstruent in isolation is realized with a voiceless

obstruent before a suffix that consists of - or begins with - a voiceless obstruent and this

process is called ―regressive voicing assimilation‖ in English linguistics. Likewise in

Chagga language, the prefix /p/ is pronounced /b/ when it follows a vowel sound.


45) a. Paka baka ‗cat‘


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_change

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_assimilation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_(phonetics)

77

77

b. Pesa besa ‗money‘

c. Pima bima ‗ measure‘

d. Pambana bambana ‗struggle‘

e. Pakua bakuo ‗serve‘

f. Pakia bakia ‗load‘

g. Pete bête ‗ring‘

The seven linguistic data above from the corpus selected, shows that some Swahili loan

words changed their features so that they can acquire the Chagga native features .Sound

/p/ has features of voiceless, bilabial plosive sound. This sound changed to /b/ with

features of voiced, bilabial plosive sound. In this explanation, sound /p/ has acquired

voicing.

Thus to address the research question two this process can be stipulated

with both unceremonious and formal phonological rules derived from the present study:

Unceremonious rule

p b #

Formal rule

+ cons + cons

-syll -syll #

-voice +voice

Therefore, voiceless consonant sound has changed to be a voiced consonant

before front vowel sound at the word initial position. Apart from what is presented in


78

78

data (46 (a-f), the following data change from voiceless to voiced when placed

intervocalic ally.


h. Supu subu ‗soup‘

i. Pera ibera ‗guava‘

j. Papai ibabai ‗papaw‘

k. Panga ibanga ‗machete‘

The rules governed the above data for addressing research question two are presented

below both formal and unceremonious rules:

Unceremonious rule

p b v v

Formal rule

+ cons + cons +syll + syll

-syll -syll -cons -cons

-voice +voice

Thus, voiceless bilabial plosive consonant has changed to be a voiced bilabial consonant

in between vowel sounds in the process of Chagga nativization. For answering research

problem three, the study indicated that, voicing as a phonological processes exist both in

English and Chagga with little variations particularly in some phonemes.


79

79

4.3.4 Phonological Processes Motivated by Phonemic Reasons

Moreover to address research question two regarding phonological processes the

study discovered that, the phonemic inventories of Swahili and Chagga differ

significantly. There are some sound segments that are found in Swahili language but not

in the Chagga phonemic inventory. If a loanword has such a phoneme, then it is

changed to the nearest equivalent in the recipient language. In the nativization process

in Chagga, the study observed that sound change may involve consonant substitution. In

some cases devoicing also involve sound change in cases where the sound is in Chagga

language particularly Kibosho variety but it is rarely used by speakers. For example / v/

is there but rarely used in some words hence make speakers to change /v / to /f/ during

nativazation process.

4.3.4.1 Consonant Substitution

There are some sound segments that are found in Swahili but are not in the

Chagga language phonemic inventory. If a loanword has such a phoneme, then it has to

be changed to the nearest equivalent in the recipient language. At present study

scrutinizes the substituted phonemes as, /d/ /s/, /w/ /v/, /g/ /v/, /z/ /s/, and /g/

/k/. This study found that such processes on substitution of the listed phonemes do

not exist in English language. The phonemes in Chagga with examples are stipulated

below along with their formulated rules both formal and unceremonious one.

Substitution of Sound /ð/ /s/


47) a. Adhabu asabu ‗sin‘

b. Dharau sarau ‗scorn‘


80

80

c. Dhamana samana ‗guarantee‘

d. Dhahabu sahabu ‗gold‘

To address the research problem two this process can be elaborated with both

unceremonious and formal phonological rules derived from the present study:

Unceremonious rule

ð s v- v for data (a)

Formal Rule

+cons +cons

-syll -syll +syll +syll

+stop +strident -cons -cons

+voice

Hence dental stop /ð/ is replaced by the alveolar fricative / s/, in all the Chagga

loanwords nativization. The above data confirm what is stated in first part of this

Chapter, that /ð/ is not a phonological phoneme in Chagga. Given that, the dental stop

has been substitute through the processes of nativization.

Substitution of Sound /w/ / v/

Substitution of w to v in Chagga occur especially at the word initial position in

that the w sound is there but is rarely used by the speakers of the language hence they

find themselves prefer v to w. Observe the following data;


48) a. Wakulima vakulima ‗peasants‘

b. Wazimu varimu ‗crazness‘


81

81

c. Watu vandu ‗people‘

d. Wote voose ‗all‘

e. Wengi veengi ‗many‘

Unceremonious rule

w v #

Forma rule

-cons +cons

-syll -syll #

+glide +lab

This implies that, a glide is replaced by the labio dental stop / v/, in all the Chagga

loanwords nativization. The above data confirm what is stated in first part of this

Chapter, that / w/ is not a phonological phoneme in Chagga. Hence, the dental stop has

been substitute through the processes of nativization as how also observed in English

from French. A great point to note is that, what is stated above, substitution of w to v

also appears between vowel sounds as in data;


48) f. Dawa dava ‗medicine‘

g .Kahawa kahava ‗coffee‘

Consequently, the above data 48 (f and g) is clearly advocated through the use of the

following rules;

Unceremonious rule

w v v-v

Formal rule


82

82

-syll +cons -high -high

-cons -syll

+lab +lab -back -back

-cor

+high

+back

Thus voiceless bilabial /w/ is substituted to a voiced alveolar fricative /v/ in between

vowel sounds.

Substitution of Sound /g/ /v/


49) Mwoga mwoova ‗coward‘

Unceremonious rule for substitution

g v

Formal rule


-syll -syll -con -cons

+velar +lab

Substitution of Sound /z/ /s/

In Chagga language particularly Kibosho dialect, the alveolar fricative / z/ is

replaced by the alveolar fricative / s/, in all the Chagga loanwords nativization such as;


50) a. Ambukiza ambukisa transmitting

b. Angaza angasa ‗light ‗

c. Apizo apiso ‗curse‘


83

83

d. Ngozi ngosi ‗skin‘

e. Meza mesa ‗table‘

f. Mbuzi mbusi ‗goat‘

The at hand study observes that, what is stated in Chapter One, as / z/ is not a

phonological phoneme in Chagga do have vivid through its nativized phonemes. Thus,

the alveolar fricative has been substitute through the processes of nativization. The

substitution in (24 a-c) is informally represented as follows:

Unceremonious rule

z s v — v

The alveolar fricative / z/ is replaced by the alveolar fricative / s/, in all the Chagga

loanwords nativization as shown above.

Formal Rule

+cons +cons

-syll -syll cons +syll +syll

+strident +strident -cons -cons

+voice -voice

This marks that, a voiced alveolar fricative has been substituted to a voiceless alveolar

fricative when appeared between vowel sounds.

Substitution of Sound /g/ /k/

Furthermore, substitution in Chagga language in specific Marangu variety

is when velar plosive/g/ is replaced by another velar plosive /k/. In that a voice velar

plosive /g/ is replaced by voiceless velar plosive /k/ since it is not the phoneme of

Chagga.


84

84


51)a. Ufagio ufakio ‗broom‘

b. Garama karama ‗expense‘

The findings can be presented in these rules;

Unceremonious rule

g k [Chagga]

Formal Rule

+cons +cons

-syll -syll [Chagga]

+Voice -voice

Thereafter, a voiced velar plosive changes to be a voiceless velar plosive in

Chagga during nativization process.

4.3.4.2 Devoicing

In English as well as in Chagga, Devoicing (desonorization) is a sound

change where a voiced consonant becomes voiceless due to the influence of its

phonological environment. Most commonly, the change is a result of sound

assimilation with an adjacent sound of opposite voicing. Devoicing phonological

process in English language has two different groups, which behave differently from

one another. Group one (1): Obstruent consonants /b d ɡ v ð z ʒ dʒ/. Group two (2):

approximant consonants /w r l j/‗‗. For the group one (1) consonants to retain full

voicing they must be surrounded by voiced sounds. If one of the group one consonants

is preceded by a voiceless sound or silence, or followed by a voiceless sound or silence,








85

85

then some or all of its vocal fold vibration will be lost. Here are some English sentences

that provide the vivid:

i) This boy /ðɪs bɔɪ/ [ð ɪs b ɔɪ],

ii) My dog /maɪ dɒɡ/ [maɪ dɒɡ ],

iii) Misbehave /mɪsbɪheɪv/ [mɪsb ɪheɪv ],

iv) She‘s so good /ʃiːz səʊ ɡʊd/ [ʃiːz səʊ ɡʊd ]

This study claims that in English language devoicing takes place at the initial

position, at the middle or the final position of lexemes. Hence group one of this finding

in English appeared to be the frequent occurrences of devoicing in Standard English.

Also this process is observed at final lexeme position particularly in German language,

Polish, Russian language and Dutch. In Chagga language, devoicing can occur when

preceded by nasal consonant, word-finally or in contact with a specific vowel. For

example, Chagga phoneme /v/ is pronounced as phoneme /f/.


52) a. Mvua mfua ‗rain‘

b. Vua fua ‗take off‘

c. Viatu fiatu ‗shoes‘

d. Vitu findo ‗things‘

e. Mbivu mbifu ‗ripe‘

f. Vumbi fumbi ‗dust‘

To address the research question two this process can be stipulated with


Unceremonious rule

v f [ # ]

[v – v


86

86

Formal rule

+cons +cons #

-syll -syll +syll +syll

-lab +lab +cons -cons -cons

+dent +dent +nas

+voice -voice

Therefore a voiced sound becomes voiceless sound that is affected either by one

environment or the other. To adhere to research question three Chagga language

particularly Marangu variety, sound v become f when the sound is either at the word

initial position, preceded by nasal consonant or when it is between vowel sounds which

is different from English language.

4.3.4.3 Cluster Tolerance

Chagga language as well as how English does, it admits consonant clusters as a

phonological co-occurrence. Any English syllable can begin with a vowel, with one,

two or three consonants. The study with scholars, observes that no lexeme in English

begins with more than three consonants this means the maximum number of segments

in the word initial consonant cluster is three. At the beginning of English

words/syllables, there are 55 two-consonant clusters. In many cases the first element is

phoneme /s/ and the second consonant is approximant /l, r, w, j/. In English language

there are two major categories of consonant cluster namely, initial and final consonant

cluster. For instance the initial English consonant cluster starting with oral plosive: [pr,


87

87

pl, pj, pw, pf, ps, pʃ, br, bl, bj, tr, tw, tj, dr, dj, dw, kr, kl, kw, kj, km, kn, kv, gr, gl, gw]

making a total of 26 phonemes; those starting with nasal plosive: [nj, mj, mw] with a

number of 3; and also the ones starting with fricative: [fl, fr, fj, vj, vw, θr, θw, θj, st, sp,

sk, sl, sw, sn, sm, sf, sj, sr, sv, zl, ʃr, ʃm, ʃn, ʃp, ʃw, hj] in total a number of 26.

Also, there are 55 final two-consonant clusters in English. They usually end with

/s, z, t, d, θ/ which represent separate morphemes /s, z/ are the sound forms of ending -

(e)s, and /t, d/ stand for ending -(e)d. There are those starting with oral plosive: [pθ, pt,

ps, bd, bz, tθ, ts, dz, kθ, kt, ks, gd, gz] in total comprises of 13 phonemes; also those

starting with nasal plosive: [mp, mf, mt, md, mz, nθ, nt, nd, ns, nz, nʃ, nʃ, ŋθ, ŋt, ŋd, ŋz,

ŋk, ŋg] on a range of 18; moreover are the ones starting with fricative: [fθ, ft, fs, vd, vz,

θs, δd, δz, sp, st, sk, zd, ʃt, ʃd] of 14; there are others starting with approximant: [lp, lf,

lθ, lt, ld, ls, lz, lk] which are only 8 and lastly the ones starting with affricate: ʃt, ʃd 2.

On the other hand, the study observes that, some of the loanwords from Standard

Swahili were found to have retained consonant clusters in the borrowed Swahili words.

Consider the following findings from Swahili to Chagga language with its gloss in

English as taken from the corpus:


53) a. Anza ansa ‗start‘

b. Chumvi shumbi ‗salt‘

c. Dhambi sambi ‗sin‘

d. Chumba shumba ‗room‘

e. Chemsha shemsha ‗boil‘

f. Zungumza sungumsa ‗chat‘


88

88

g. Vimba imba ‗swell‘

The present study clearly observes that, the beneficiary language has tolerated

the consonant cluster [mb], [mʃ], [mz] and [nz, ns] that are permissible in Chagga

language. Cluster tolerance in Chagga language is generated by prestige as it overrules

well-formedness. Although the beneficiary language has a means of adapting innovative

words, sometimes not all syllables are changed; there is a high level of

broadmindedness. Nonetheless, from the study it is observed that Chagga and Swahili

languages are Bantu languages so it is likely to share some phonological features as

words were found to have retained the phonotactics of the lending language.

4.3.4.4 Vowel Lengthening

In English linguistics vowel lengthening is the perceived duration of

a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may

have arisen from one etymologically, such as in Australian English. While not

distinctive in most other dialects of English, vowel length is an

important phonemic factor in many other languages, for instance

in Arabic, Finnish, Fijian, Kannada, Japanese, Old English, Scottish

Gaelic and Vietnamese. Moreover vowel lengthening happens in lexeme syllable soon

before the voiced consonant. It plays a phonetic role in the majority of dialects of

British English and is said to be phonemic in a few other dialects, such as Australian

English, South African English and New Zealand English. It also plays a lesser phonetic

role in Cantonese, unlike other varieties of Chinese. Mostly vowel lengthening in

English is used for emphatic language purpose.


89

89

For instance; when one wants to explain about something with huge size or has

been made of much expense will longer the vowel to show emphasis.

i) The medal is made from the veeeery cost expenditure

ii) She was sooooo calm at a time

iii) His wife is veeery veeeery ignorant

Thereafter at present study recognizes the use of this phonological process varying from

its purpose in Chagga and that of English. Chagga language in a specific manner

Kibosho and Marangu varieties, vowel lengthening do happen as, some of the vowels

said to be lengthened when nativizing Swahili words into Chagga language. Observe the

below seven vowel lengthening findings;


54) a. Daktari dakitaari ‗doctor‘

b. Binamu binaamu ‗cousin ‗

c. Boksi ibookisi ‗box‘

d. Mwoga mwooka ‗coward‘

e. Shule ishuule ‗school‘

In lexemes ‘binaamu’ and ‘dakitaari‘ in the findings 54 a-b the front open vowel sound

/a/ has been lengthened in order to create the preferred sounds of Chagga language.


unceremonious and formal phonological rules resulting from the present study:

Unceremonious rule

a aa c c


90

90

Formal rule

+low +long +con +cons

-back -syll -syll

The front half closed vowel sound /e/ in the word ‘basikeeli’ in data (54c) has been

lengthened also in order for a word to acquire the native language (Chagga) features.

Also to answer problem two the following rules is derived by the study:

Unceremonious rule

e ee c c

Formal rule

+mid +long +cons +cons

-back -syll -syll

The lexeme ‘biiblya’ (data 54 d) has vowel that has been lengthened for a word

to acquire the preferred pronunciation in borrowing language and the lengthened vowel

sound is /i/, the front closed vowel. This can be derived with the following rules so as to

adhere to research question two:

Unceremonious rule

i ii i c

Formal rule

+high +long +high +cons

-back -back -syll


91

91

In the lexeme ‘ibookisi’ data (54 e), the back, half closed vowel sound /o/ has

been lengthened so that a word to acquires native features.

Unceremonious rule:

o oo c c

Formal rule

+mid +long +cons +cons

+back -syll -syll

In Chagga language some cases lengthening of vowels is caused by the gliding

and oral consonant environment. The lexeme ‘mwoova’ data (54 f), the back, half

closed vowel phoneme /o/ has been lengthened so that a word to acquires native

features. This is shown by the rules derived as the result of problem two of the research

presented below:

Unceremonious rule

o oo

Forma rule

+mid long +cons +cons

+back -syll -syll

+glide +lab

In lexeme such as ‘shuule’, the back closed vowel sound /u/ has been

lengthened so as to create the preferred sound in Chagga language as the process of

nativizing loan words. Thus the below rules answer question two of the research:

Unceremonious rule

u uu c c


92

92

Formal rule

+high +long +cons +cons

+back -syll -syll

4.3.4.5 Diaffricativization

In English language it is the phonological process, whereby an affricate becomes

a fricative. It can also refer to the deletion of a stop component from an affricate leaving

only the continuant aspect. For instance: English lexeme [cheese] is processed with a

fricative voiceless sound /ʃ/ and the voiced affricate [jar] is processed and to be

pronounced as phoneme /ʒ/ The process is motivated by native speakers‘ pronunciation

during speech production.

i) Cheese /iz/ sheese /ʃiːz/

ii) Jar / dʒaer/ zhar /ʒaer/.

This phonological process is also clearly observed in the study particularly Kibosho

variety of Chagga. This study observes and clarifies the below three lexemes findings

from Chagga language with its phonological rule that govern its occurrence:


55) a. Uchawi Usawi ‗magical‘

b. Macho miso ‗eyes‘

c. Mchawi msawi ‗witch‘


unceremonious and formal phonological rules resulting from the present study:

Unceremonious rule

ʧ s


93

93

Forma rule

+cons +cons intervocalic ally

-syll +sibilant

+affr +cons

+alve +nas

-voice

Thereafter, a voiceless fricative becomes a voiceless fricative either intervocalic ally or

proceeded by nasal consonant.


92

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

At the hand study, scrutiny on the phonological processes of nativized words in

Kibosho and Marangu varieties of Chagga language, from Standard Swahili has clearly

observed. The scrutiny on phonological processes of nativized words in the two

varieties has been clarified by the greater influence of Generative CV Phonology

Theory. This very session provides the summary, conclusion, recommendations and

suggestions for further studies in either Bantu or Asian (Indonesian) languages to which

have not much studied.

5.1 Conclusion

The study has observed in general view that Chagga language particularly

Kibosho and Marangu varieties has five vowel systems. The five vowels are categorized

also into four long vowels and short vowels. The five Chagga vowels are [a, ɛ, i ɔ and

u]. Meanwhile English language has got twenty vowels. Chagga has nineteen

consonants phonemes different from those twenty four consonants phonemes in English

language. The nineteen consonant phonemes of Chagga includes; the five stops

phonemes which are produced with complete closure and then sudden released with a

burst sound; / p /, / b/, /t/, / d/ and / k/. Chagga has five fricatives phonemes which

includes; / f/, / v/, / s/, / ʃ/ and / h/. Also the language has only one affricate / ʧ/. Never

the less it has lateral phoneme / l / and the trill sound / r/ as well as glides/semi-vowel

phonemes / w/ and / y/. Hence the language has a sum of twenty four phonemes

comprising five vowels and nineteen consonants in all Chagga varieties.


93

93

In addressing problem questions one, two and three simultaneous the study

observed the syllable structure of Chagga first hence pronouncements that, Chagga

language has the syllables structure of VCV, CV and CCV. Thereafter, Chagga has the

syllable general syllable structure of `CCV` constituting a nasal phoneme, an oral

phoneme and a vowel. Chagga has two common syllable structures which are CV and

CVCV. As well, the study shows the processes that Swahili language lexemes undergo

as they are being adapted by Chagga language as how English adapt direct from French;

i.e. Madamemadam, Chaisechair, Longuelong, Cartecard, Fatalefatal,

Objetobject, Raisonreason. The italicized lexemes are the origin borrowed lexemes

from French to English after nativazation.

Furthermore the present study instituted that since the phonotactics of the

benefactor language (Swahili) in here and the beneficiary language (Chagga)

particularly Kibosho and Marangu varieties are different; then beneficiary language uses

some approach to adapt the phonologically different words. The main approaches used

were insertion, deletion, assimilation, and voicing, devoicing, vowel lengthening and

feature change/substitution. Two types of insertion/epenthesis which are anaptyxis and

prosthesis have been found to operate on Chagga language loanwords which are also

found on phonological processes in English.

For the third question precisely the scrutiny has shown that vowel

epenthesis/prothesis is more common than vowel epenthesis/anaptyxis which made the

study recognizes the little variation with that of English. Also there is no consonants are

inserted in word initial or final position during the nativization processes.

Supplementary the study instituted that for insertion processes in the two varieties only


94

94

one vowel sound; /i/ is inserted in the word initial position during prosthesis process as

well as anaptyxis in Chagga language in specific Kibosho variety. Meanwhile for

English language, vowel insertion is used mostly inserted vowel sound /a/ for as its

prothesis marker. Also the study observed that, in English language prothesis different

from Chagga purpose, is highly utilized since Middle English and Old one by scholars

like William Shakespeare and Edgar Alan Poe in poetic writing purposely on rhythmical

manner and to raise emphasis.

Moreover another similarities observed so as to answer question three include,

insertions of vowel sounds where the two are more consonants occur in one syllable and

it also apply at word final position. All these are done purposely to make sure that the

preferred sound of borrowing language is achieved. Apart from that, insertion of vowel

occurs in order to have the needed syllable structure or the common structure of a

borrowing language and for the purpose of native speakers to have pronunciation

ability. Standard Swahili has some words that have the CC cluster and when these

words borrowed into Chagga, they must be simplified by inserting vowel in between the

two consonants. This makes native speakers to have easy articulation of Kibosho

lexemes nativized from Swahili.

The recent study also in relative to problem one observed that as English does

likely in Chagga language there are three types of deletion: Apocope, aphaeresis and

syncope have been found to operate on Chagga loanwords with their derived rules

respectively. Deletion of consonants takes place in the nativization of loanwords in

Chagga especially in aphaeresis whereas the deletion of syllable takes place in syncope

and apocope. The study verifies that as applied in English language, Chagga language


95

95

do admit consonant clusters. However, from the findings collected, (04) loanwords were

found to have retained consonant clusters in the borrowed Swahili language lexemes.

There are some cases where borrowing language does not modify or change features of

lending language. Nothing which is modified in that the recipient language has endured

the consonant cluster of: [mb], [mʃ] and [nz] that are allowed in Chagga language.

Adhering to question three, devoicing also occur in Chagga language as in

English language when a voiced consonant becomes voiceless due to the influence of its

phonological environment. Devoicing is mostly commonly, result of sound

assimilation with an adjacent sound of opposite voicing. The study observes that

Chagga language, devoicing can occur when preceded by nasal consonant, word-finally

or in contact with a specific vowel. In addition, voicing (or sonorization) is due to the

influence of its phonological environment. Most commonly, the change is a result

of sound assimilation with an adjacent sound. In Chagga language voicing occurs in a

word final or in contact with a specific vowel.

Furthermore in addressing question three, feature changes exhibited by

Consonant substitution in Chagga as well as in English. This occurs especially to

replace segments which are not part of Chagga phonemic inventory. Many of them are

replaced by Chagga segments that are in proximity to them in terms of place and

manner of articulation. There is also rules change when nativizing Swahili borrowed

lexemes. Thus, for some words to acquire native languages, the rules change must

occur. For instance; in chapter four, sound /p/ has changed to sound /b/ in the

environment of upper back vowel sound /u/ and in the environment of front, half closed

vowel sound /e/. Vowel sound lengthening has also occurred when nativizing Swahili







96

96

language loanwords in Chagga language. At present study recognizes the use of vowel

sound lengthening phonological process varying from its purpose in Chagga and that of

English. English uses it purposely for emphatic reason. Chagga language in a specific

manner Kibosho and Marangu varieties, vowel lengthening do happen as, some of the

vowels said to be lengthened when nativizing Swahili words into Chagga language.

The study findings have also shown that the loanword phenomenon can be

described using Generative CV Phonology. The scrutiny of the phonological processes

of loanwords is conducted using the framework of Generative CV-Phonology theory.

The stated syllable-based theory is applied to conduct an empirical analysis of the

Phonological Processes of loanwords borrowed from Standard Swahili in two selected

varieties of Chagga Language (Kibosho and Marangu).

The study shown that, in relation to research problem three, Swahili has made

the recipient language tolerate consonant clusters which is very common in English

language. Changes in the phonotactics of Chagga occasioned by the phonological

processes operating on Chagga loanwords have thus been identified. The scrutiny shows

that, compared to other vowels, /i/ is the most common epenthesised vowel. In the same

vein, voiceless obstruents are favored compared to voiced obstruents and this marks

among the differences in between Chagga and that of English. This generates the

devoicing analyzed in the study findings.

5.2 Suggestions for Further Research

At present study provides answers to the three questions asked in chapter one.

The findings as given out by research respondents provide vivid that the phonological

processes of nativized loanwords in Chagga from Standard Swahili do subsist. Due to


97

97

this, the researcher has now confirmed that the intended processes are there as same

found in English language with very minor variations. Nativization of loan lexemes

which triggers phonological processes is an avoidable process in the sense that, if any

language has contacts with another language (Indonesian and Malayu language, English

and Germanic languages, English and Indian languages, English and French) as a result

of economic, social, cultural and even historical way, borrowing is said to be

inescapable/mandatory.

Chagga language has contacts with many languages some of them being

English, but mostly Swahili language as the major Bantu language. All borrowed words

must acquire the features of borrowing language which are relying in the phonological

and morphological levels of linguistic. They must have features that resemble that of

native language. In most cases, the addressee system is usually at the substratum in

comparison to the patron language which is at the super stratum as also stated by Mwita,

2009. Those adjustments in the phonology of Chagga revealed in this study discussion

are triggered by already mentioned data.

This study has utilized Generative CV- Phonology Theory to study phonological

processes of nativized lexemes in Chagga with English language as the comparison. The

study has provided a light for the study of other language phenomena in Chagga using

Generative CV- Phonology. It therefore, suggests that further research be carried out in

other areas of Chagga morph-phonology /phonology such as tone and syllable structure.

The researcher has only concentrated on the nativization of Kibosho and Marangu

varieties of Chagga loanwords from Standard Swahili. Chagga has also borrowed


98

98

lexical items from other African languages. Further research on how Chagga adopts

lexemes from other languages should be carried out for linguistics purposes.

The study proves that there is nativization process in that triggers the

phonological processes in Chagga, here are the recommendations as suggested by the

researcher: Since the researcher was dealing only with scrutiny of phonological

processes of nativized lexemes in two varieties of Chagga language from Standard

Swahili, other aspects of Morphological Linguistics should be investigated as well for

linguistics broadening in local languages all over the world.

The researcher recommends that some linguistics researches should be carried in

local Asian languages such as Javanese, Indonesian and Papuan Malayu languages.

Also there should be highly observation of other Bantu languages closely related to

Chagga so as to study if the phonological processes are different or resemble those of

English. The researcher further recommends on supplementary study to see the extent to

which Chagga language has influenced Swahili language as a result of linguistic

contacts.

Summing up the study clearly only considered borrowed nouns and verbs. A

study on other word classes would give more light on Chagga loanword phenomenon.

Notably, Chagga and Swahili are basically agglutinating. A study on the behavior of

different morphemes in borrowed words would be very interesting. Since semantics

studies said to be abandoned by linguists the researcher found out a need for

nativazation impact on meaning relation on loan words in different languages of the

world (Indonesian, Javanese, Sundanese, and Indo European languages) for adding

more linguistics data.


98

REFERENCES

Ali, A.Z. (2012). A Phonological Study of English and Arabic Assimilation: A

Contrastive study. Journal of College of language (25), 148-172

Berry, Anita, K. (2002). Linguistics Perspectives on Language and Education. New

York: Greenwood.

Chomsky, N. & Halle, M. (1968). The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper &

Row Publishers

Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic Structures. The Hague. Mouton

Clements, G. & S. J. Keyser (1983). CV Phonology: A Generative Theory of the

Syllable.

Dirvan, R. (2004). Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics. London:

University of Duisburg.

Duanmu, S. (2009). Syllable Structure. The Limits of Variation. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Elly Van Gelderen (2006). A History of the English language. London: John

Benjamins Publishers.

Fisher, T. (2012). Chagga Elites and the Politics of Ethnicity in Kilimanjaro,

Edinburgh. The University of Edinburgh.

Gardner, W.(2012). Toward Transcultural Training in Phonological Processes for

Bantu Language: Mother Tongue Translator.

Guthrie, M. (1948). The classification of Bantu languages. London: Oxford University

Press.

Guthrie, M. (1967-1971). Comparative Bantu: An introduction to Comparative

Linguistic and Prehistory of Bantu languages. Farnborough: Gregg Press.

Heine, D & Philippson, G. (2003). The Bantu Languages. New York: Routledge

Publishers.

Hoffer, B. (2005). Language Borrowing and the Indices of Adaptability and Receptivity,

Trinity University Press.

Hyman, L. (1975). Phonology: Theory & Analysis. London: Holt- Rinnehert and

Winston.


99

99

Kenstowicz, M. (1994). Phonology in Generative Grammar, Blackwell Textbooks in

Linguistics. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell. Languages: An introduction.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ladefoged, P. (2006). A Course in Phonetics. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.

Lema, A. A. (1973). The Impact of the Leipzig Lutheran Mission on the People of

Kilimanjaro: Dar es Salaam: University of Dar es Salaam.

Mahlangu, K. (2007). Adoption of loanwords in Ndebele. University of Pretoria.

Massamba, D. (2010). Phonological Theory: History and Development, Dar-es-salaam:

Institute of Swahili.

Massamba, D.P.B. (1991). Phonological theory: History and development. Dar es

Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press.

Mushi. M. (2005). Endangered African Proverbs Collections: A continuation of the

African Proverb Project. Arusha, Tanzania, CNET global inc.

Mutua, N (2007). A constraint-based analysis of Kikamba nativized loanwords,

Nairobi: University of Nairobi

Mwaliwa, H (2014). An Analysis of the Syllable Structure of Standard Kiswahili

Loanwords from Modern Standard Arabic, Nairobi: The University of Nairobi.

Mwihaki, A.N. (1998). Loanword nativization: A generative view of the phonological

adaptation of Gĩkũyũ loanwords. Nairobi: Kenyatta University.

Mwita, L.C. (2009). The adaptation of Swahili loanwords from Arabic: A constraint

based Analysis. The journal of Pan African studies, vol.2, no.8, 46-60. Retrieved

http://www.jpanafrican.com/docs/vol2no8/2._Adaptationofswahililoanwords.

Pdf

Nathan, G. (2008). Phonology; A Cognitive Grammar Introduction. USA. Routledge.

Newman, P. (2000). Comparative Linguistics. In D. Nurse and B. Heine (eds.) African

Nurse, D. and Philippson, G. (1977). Tone in Old Moshi (Chagga).Dar es Salaam. The

University of Dar es Salaam

Oden, D (2005) Introducing Phonology. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Peter T & Chilling, N. (2001). Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Bazil Blackwell.

Roach, P. (2002). English Phonetics & Phonology; A practical Course. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.


100

100

Schane, A. (1973). Natural Rules in Phonology. In R.P Stockwell & Ronald K. S

Macaulay Linguistic Change and Generative Theory. Bloomington: Indiana

University Press.

Tsvetkov, Y, Ammar, W &Dyer, C (2005). Constraint-Based Models of Lexical

Borrowing. Carnegie Mellon University. USA. Pittsburgh.

Trask, R. L. (1996). A Dictionary of Phonetics & Phonology. London: Routledge.

Pp.296.

Ziegler, J & Goswami, U. (2005). The effects of spelling consistency on phonological

awareness: A comparison of English and German.

Zivenge, W (2009). Phonological and Morphological Nativization of English Loans in

Tonga. University of South Africa.


101

APPENDICES


102

102

Appendix 1: The Interview Guide Questions

a) Kindly point out some loanword you are aware of.

b) Assuming that you borrow a lexeme from a new language, do you encounter any

language modification?

c) Kindly adhere to the following lexemes and inform me if they are etymologically

from your variety.

d) Kindly with your own mother tongue pronounce the following lexemes.


103

103

Appendix 2: Directory of Nativized Words from Swahili in Chagga- Noun

Category

s/n

Swahili Chagga Word

category

Gloss

1 Apizo apiso N curse

2 Adhabu asabu N punishment

3 Bakuli bakuri N bowl

4 Basi ibaasi N car

5 Baba papa N father

6 Binamu binaamu N cousin

7 Blanketi iblangeti N blanket

8 Boksi ibookisi N box

9 Chai shai N tea

10 Chafua shafuo N make dirty

11 Chakula chao N food

12 Chama chaama N club

13 Chako shako N yours

14 Cheka seka N laugh

15 Chenza ishenza N tangerine

16 Chokaa shokaa N lime

17 Choroko shoroko N green gram

18 Chubua shubua N bruise

19 Chuma shuma N iron

20 Chumba shumba N room

21 Chumvi shumbi N salt

22 Chupa shuba N bottle

23 Chupi shubi N underpants

24 Dagaa dakaa N very small fish

25 Damu samu N blood

26 Dawa dava N medicine

27 Debe ideve N tin

28 Debe ideve N tin

29 Dhahabu sahabu N gold

30 Dhamana samana N guarantee

31 Dhambi sambi N sin

32 Dharau sarau N scorn

33 Dirisha dirisha N window

34 Embe imweembe N mango


104

104

35 Garama karama N expenses

36 Gari ikari N car

37 Godoro ikodoro N mattress

38 Gunia ikunia N sack

39 Iva ira N ripen

40 Jembe iyembe N hoe

41 Jicho riso N eye (singular)

42 Jiko riko N kitchen

43 Jina rina N name

44 Jiwe iwe N stone

45 Jua ruva N sun

46 Kiatu chaatu N shoe (singular)

47 Kijiko kiliko N spoon

48 Kikapu kikabu N basket

49 Kiporo kiboro N food left – over

50 Kisu kishu N knife

51 Kitanda kitara N bed

52 Kufa fo N to die

53 Kula lya N to eat

54 Kunywa nna N to drink

55 Macho meso N eyes (plural)

56 Mate mata N saliva

57 Maziwa maruva N milk

58 Mburu mburu/mbusi N goat

59 Mchawi msai N witch

60 Mdogo mdoko N younger

61 Meza mesa N table

62 Mkopo mkobo N credit/debit

63 Mlango mwaango N door

64 Moto modo N fire

65 Msitu msutu N forest

66 Mvi mfi N grey hair

67 Mvua mfua N rain

68 Mwezi mweeri N moon

69 Mwoga mwoova N coward

70 Mzimu mrimu N spirit of dead

person

71 Mzinga mringa N beehive

72 Mzungu msuungu N white man

73 Nazi nasi N coconut fruit

74 Nchi nji N territory/country

75 Ndugu nduku N brother

76 Ng‘ombe umbe N cow

77 Ngazi ngasi N stair


105

105

78 Ngozi ngosi N skin

79 Nguruwe nguve N pig

80 Nguvu ngufu N strength

81 Njaa nshaa N hunger

82 Njaa nshaa N hunger

83 Njia nshia N path

84 Nyanya nyaanya N tomato

85 Nyoka njoka N snake

86 Nyonya onga N suck

87 Nyuki njuki N bee

88 Nyumba mba N house

89 Nyundo nundu N hammer

90 Nzi insii N fly

91 Paka baka N cat

92 Pakua bakuo N serve

93 Pambana bambana N struggle

94 Panga ibanga N bush knife

95 Panga ibanga N arrange

96 Papai ibabai N pawpaw

97 Pera ibera N guava

98 Pesa besa N money

99 Pete bête N ring

100 Picha pisha N picture

101 Pilipili bilibili N pepper

102 Pipa ibiba N barrel

103 Povu pofu N foam

104 Pua mbua N nose

105 Shangazi shangasi N aunt

106 Shati ishati N shirt

107 Shimo ishimo N hole

108 Shingo singo N neck

109 Shule sishuule N school

110 Shtua sutua N astound

111 Suruali suruvali N trouser

112 Tawanya itawanya N strech

113 Tone itone N drop

114 Trekta itirekita N tractor

115 Ua iwa N flower

116 Uchawi usawi N magical

117 Uchungu ushungu N bitterness

118 Ufagio ufakio N broom

119 Ugali ukari N gar

120 Ugonjwa ugonshwa N illness

121 Upya uiya N newness


106

106

122 Utelezi utelesi N slipperiness

123 Utu undu N virtue

124 Uwanja uwansha N play ground

125 Uwezo uweso N ability

126 Uzito urito N weight

127 Viatu fiatu N shoes (plural)

128 Vita fita N war

129 Vitu findo N objects

130 Watu vandu N people

131 Wazimu warimu N craziness

132 Yai iyai N eggs

133 Zaka saka N ten percent

134 Zamu samu N shift

135 Mji mri N homestead

136 Miaka maka N year

137 Mwezi meri N month

138 Mbegu mbeu N seed

139 Ulimi olumi N tongue

140 Pembe ombe N horn

141 Jino ihiho N tooth


107

107

Appendix 3: Directory of Nativized Words from Swahili in Chagga - Verb

Category

s/n Swahili Chagga Word

category

Gloss

1 Adhabu asabu V punishment

2 Ambukiza ambukisa V transmit

2 Meza mera V swallow

3 Angaza angasa V light

4 Anza ansa V start

5 Chafua shafua V make dirty

6 Chambua shambua V clean

7 Cheka seka V laugh

8 Chelewa shelewa V delay

9 Chemsha shemsha V heat

10 Chenga sheenga V avoid by trickery

11 Chinja shinja V butcher

12 Choka shoka V tired

13 Chora shora V draw

14 Chuki shuki V hate

15 Chukiza shukiza V displease

16 Fua ifua V wash clothes

17 Fyeka ifeka V slash

18 Koroga koroka V stir

19 Kufa fa V die

20 Kula lya V eat

21 Kunywa nywa V drink

22 Meza mera V swallow

25 Nyima ima V deny

26 Nyonya onga V suck

27 Ogopa ohova V fear

28 Pakua bakua V dish up

29 Panga ibanga V arrange

30 Pima bima V measure

31 Pita ida V pass

32 Saga saha V grind

33 Shona ishona V sew

34 Shutuka ishutuka V startle

35 Tawala tavala V govern

36 Tawanya itavanya V spread

37 Tega teka V set a trip

38 Tetemeka itetema V tremble

39 Tua itua V put down

40 Tuma duma V send

41 Ua waa V kill


108

108

42 Vimba imba V swell

43 Vua dua V take off

44 Washa ata V light

45 Zomea somea V mock

46 Zunguka sunguka V revolve

47 Zungumza sungumsa V chat

48 Chafuka shafuka V become dirt

49 Ota odia V dream

50 Weka vika V put

51 Ona wona V see

52 Vaa raa V wear

53 Lima suma V dig

54 Toa duo V take away

55 Ruka runduka V fly

56 Kua kuo V get big

57 Lala laa V sleep

58 Funga shinga V close

59 Twende honde V let go

60 Njoo nshio V come


Documents

PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN CHAGGA NATIVIZED LEXEMES