Learning ill-formed loanwords in Optimality Theory
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2020
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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The Linguistics Prize in Linguistic Theory
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en
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Abstract
An under-studied phenomenon of lexical borrowing is the ill-formed, or partially
assimilated loanword. Loans of this kind invite otherwise prohibited structures into
the borrowing language, and in doing so contradict the native grammar. Because
of this contradiction, ill-formed loans offer researchers a unique perspective on the
nature of phonological generalizations that extend over only a subset of the lexicon.
This study argues that ill-formed loans are not derivable in classical OT, and proposes
a perception-learning model of loanword adaptation in which loans are adapted during
perception, but adaptation can be blocked by factors of intense language contact
and bilingualism. This proposal is claimed to account for (a) the full range of observed
loanword adaptations, (b) the observed potential for difference between loan
and native phonologies, (c) lexically partial phonological generalizations within the
native vocabulary, and (d) the historical conditions of language contact that allow
for ill-formed loans to appear.ยน