Abstract
This paper examines some phonological aspects of Hausa loanwords in the Tera language. The objective of the research is to account for how linguistic interaction between Hausa and Tera resulted in a massive influx of loanwords and how these words were integrated through the phonological processes of adaptation and adoption within the theoretical framework of Generative Phonology (GP) as developed by Chomsky and Halle (1968). The data for the study was collected from the Tera-English-Hausa Dictionary and then it was validated through unstructured interviews with the native speakers of the language in order to establish how this phenomenon of adoption and adaptation operates in the language. It was found that Hausa has exerted great influence on the Tera, as evidenced in the massive borrowing in the language. The findings of the study also prove that certain lexical Hausa items, when borrowed into Tera, retain their original forms while others undergo adaptation to fit the phonological patterns of the Tera language.
Keywords: Linguistic Borrowing, Language Contact, Adoption, Adaptation, Phonology, Loan Words.
DOI: www.doi.org/10.36349/sojolics.2025.v01i02.018
author/Ismail, M. A., & Ismail, S. I.
journal/Sokoto JOLICS 1(2) | November 2025 |
