English Loan Words spoken by Madinah Hijazi Arabic Speakers

Abstract:

This paper investigates English loanwords phonology in Madin Hijazi Arabic (MHA). A list of about two hundred words was analyzed for phonological changes. It is argued that adaptation of loanwords runs off the systematic phonetic level of representation of the donor language, taking into account the phonetic cues to phonological categories. I will, thus, discuss the phonological changes that occur in English loanwords frequently used by MHD speakers, mainly in syllable structure. MHD speakers rely on those phonological processes such as epenthesis, consonant voicing, vowel change and resyllabification in order to maintain the preferred MHD phonological structures.