Morphophonological Changes Borrowed Core Vocabulary and Frequently-Used Words between Dholuo and Ekegusii Undergo

This study focuses on the borrowing of core vocabulary items and frequently used words between Dholuo and Ekegusii. It specifically seeks to investigate the morphophonological changes the borrowed words undergo and also to explain why core vocabulary and frequently used words would be borrowed. The two linguistic communities are coterminous, and they have been in contact for a long time, possibly over 400 years. However, the two languages are not genetically related; Dholuo is Nilotic, and Ekegusii is Bantu. Interestingly, there are a number of lexical items which are similar between the two languages. The similarity cannot be attributed to a genetic relationship, meaning that the similarity can only be due to borrowing. Borrowing in itself is a common linguistic phenomenon which has been studied extensively. The two languages being in contact would inevitably borrow from each other and there are indeed many such borrowed words. However, the lexical items of interest in the study belong to the domains of core vocabulary and are considered frequently used words. Such words are resistant to borrowing. They do not fill any lexical gaps in the recipient language because every language has lexical items that refer to the objects, acts or concepts. The theory of linguistic interference has been used to explain the morphophonological changes that occur in the words as they get nativised into Ekegusii as the recipient language. This theory examines the kinds of features transferred in the process of borrowing. In linguistics, interference is a consequence of the interaction of language systems in conditions of bilingualism or polylingualism. The interference manifests itself at several levels but is particularly noticeable at the phonemic and phonetics levels. Data was collected by way of a questionnaire that had a list of words that fall within the domains of core vocabulary and frequently used words. The words were translated by Ekegusii speakers who were purposively sampled. The words were then analyzed for phonological and morphological changes. A face-to-face interview was conducted to establish if the words were borrowed from Dholuo and the reasons for borrowing. The findings revealed that the words were borrowed from Dholuo. However, the research did not establish what could have led to the borrowing of core vocabulary and frequently used words.