The Morphological Nativization of French Loanwords in the Djelfa Dialect with Special Reference to some Phonological Processes Targeting it within OT

Abstract

Algerian Arabic, in general, and the Djelfa dialect, in particular, are receptive to French words. But such borrowing is not unsystematic as they are adapted in a way compatible with the morphological and phonological system of the recipient dialect as well as preserving as much information as possible from the source language. This paper focuses on the morphological nativization of French loanwords in the Djelfa dialect with special reference to some phonological processes, viz., epenthesis, assimilation and devocalization that are used to rehabilitate the illicit syllable structures resulting from such morphological adaptation within Optimality Theory.

Keywords

• Djelfa dialect
• French language
• morphological adaptation
• epenthesis
• assimilation
• devocalization
• Optimality Theory