A Phonological Analysis of Borrowed Nouns from Luganda to Kupsabiny

This paper aims at discussing the phonological patterns exhibited by nouns borrowed from Luganda to Kupsabiny languages spoken in Uganda. Hence the study focuses on answering the research question: how do the phonological patterns of borrowed nouns from Luganda manifest in Kupsabiny? The analysis is cast within the tenets of Optimality Theory (OT) by Prince and Smolensky (1993). Data for analysis was drawn from different sources including elicitation through interviews, focus group discussions and recording of speeches. Findings indicates that borrowed nouns undergo phonological modifications to conform to Kupsabiny’s phonetic inventory. First, Luganda’s syllable structures are either simplified or altered to fit Kupsabiny’s permissible syllable patterns through alteration of consonant clusters, vowel harmony, reduplication, lengthening of vowels, vowel substitution, consonant modification and syllable structure adjustment. Moreover, there is a notable difference in the phonological systems of these two languages as the nouns transform from Luganda to Kupsabiny. Notably, OT’s Faithfulness Constraints preserve the original structure of the borrowed word by minimizing alterations in syllable structure, and segmental composition. However, due to phonotactic differences between Luganda and Kupsabiny, modifications occur to align borrowed words with Kupsabiny’s phonological system. Therefore, there is a need to maintain detailed records of all borrowed nouns and their integration processes by Kupsabiny specialists. This documentation can serve as a reference for linguists and educators, ensuring consistency in usage and teaching.