AN ANALYSIS IN ASSESSING THE CATEGORIES OF WORDS BORROWED INTO ANUFO

The study was to linguistically analyze loanwords in Anufo. The study set forth to assess the kinds /types of words that are borrowed into Anufo. The research approach used was qualitative and the design is case study. This study used a total number of 30 participants. Ten (10) participants from each of the three selected communities were selected randomly and purposefully. The data collection strategies used for the study were interview, observation, and documents. The theoretical framework used for the study is Basic Linguistic Theory (Dixon 1997). The study established that Anufo has historically and socially heavily borrowed words from the three main languages, English, Likpakpaln and Akan, to fill lexical gaps. Apart from nouns, the main types of words that are borrowed into Anufo are adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and conjunctions. Borrowing in Anufo is distinct from other Ghanaian languages such as Likpakpaln. This is because Likpakpaln has closed syllable types like that of English language. Anufo syllables are of the open type therefore, when the borrowed word has a closed syllable, it must be repaired to be nativized. When a borrowed word into Anufo has a vowel other than /a/ at its initial position needs to go through some repair strategies for such a word to be nativised. A semantic and a comparative study of loanwords are recommended to find out differences and similarities of loanword adaptation strategies in the Ghanaian languages.

 

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