Loanword clusters nativization rules in Tswana and Swahili: a comparative study

Abstract

In their quest to respond to technical, scientific, and educational demands, both Tswana and Swahili have expanded their lexical stock by borrowing, mainly from the English language. The borrowed vocabulary had to be adapted to the intrinsic Bantu syllable structure underlying both languages. An analysis of the nativised English loanword clusters reveals that although basically the same set of rules was used by the two languages, there were significant differences in rule preference and order of application. Moreover, while Tswana, like most Bantu languages, was sensitive to all forms of cluster occurrences, Swahili, which has long been exposed to foreign forms, showed more tolerance.