Phonological Adaptation of English Loanwords in Khowar: An Optimality Analysis

Author(s) : M Owais Ayub Khan, Arshad Mahmood & Arshad Mahmood Raja

Abstract:

This study deals with the phonological adaptation of English loanwords into Khowar. It aims to find out the English loanwords in Khowar language, investigate the processes involved, and document the phonological changes that occur during the adjustment. The data for this research study is collected from different semantic domains using the technique of participant observation. A qualitative approach is used for the analysis of data. A total of 10 English loanwords are collected and analyzed using the Optimality Theory framework. As for sampling, this study uses a purposive sampling technique. The findings show that Khowar has extensively borrowed many English words. Secondly, three repairing techniques i.e., deletion, substitution, and epenthesis are found to be used to adjust the illicit structure of English loanwords. Among these techniques, substitution is the dominant one.Furthermore, the studyreveals that complex consonants and vowels are not allowed in Khowar, and the coda consonant is often voiceless.
Keywords: Phonological Adaptation, English Loanwords, Khowar, Optimality Theory, Repairing Techniques