Arabic and English Loanword Adaptation in Kiswahili

A Unified Optimality Theoretic Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the phonological adaptation of Arabic and English loanwords in Kiswahili within the framework of Optimality Theory (OT). While previous research has examined loanwords from individual donor languages or focused on isolated repair strategies, this paper proposes a Unified Loanword Constraint Hierarchy (ULCH) to account for adaptation across multiple donor languages within a single grammar. Using a qualitative corpus-based approach with data drawn from dictionaries, broadcast media, online texts, and prior studies, the analysis shows that Arabic loanwords predominantly exhibit feature-driven adaptation (e.g., consonant substitution, neutralisation, and loss of pharyngeals), whereas English loanwords predominantly exhibit structure-driven adaptation (e.g., epenthesis, cluster simplification, coda repair, and prosodic adjustment). To explain these differences without positing separate grammars, the study introduces the Donor-Sensitive Constraint Activation (DSCA), whereby the phonological properties of each input determine which constraints become most consequential in selecting the optimal output within the same constraint system. The findings show that Kiswahili loanword adaptation follows a unified constraint-based system in which different input properties yield distinct adaptation patterns, offering a unified account of multilingual borrowing and contributing to research on loanword phonology, language contact, and theoretical economy.