A Phonological Analysis of Nouns Borrowed by Fulfulde from Hausa

Citation: Abubakar, A. & Zubairu, B. (2024). A Phonological Analysis of Nouns borrowed by Fulfulde from Hausa. Tasambo Journal of Language, Literature, and Culture, 3(1), 52-61. www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2024.v03i01.007.

A Phonological Analysis of Nouns Borrowed by Fulfulde from Hausa

By

Abdullahi Abubakar
Department of English Adamawa state college of education, Hong
Email babanwaleed873@gmail.com
Phone number 08039221168, 08084436671 

Bello Zubairu

Department of English Adamawa state college of education, Hong
Email bellozubairu12@gmail.com
Phone number 07032688460

Abstract

This study is an aspect of the phonological analysis of words borrowed by Fulfulde from Hausa. The main objective of this research is: to identify the phonological features of words borrowed from Hausa; This study employs a qualitative research method, the research respondents are selected from the students of Fulfulde Department, Federal College of Education, Yola. The analysis reveals that Fulfulde employs strategies in adopting Hausa loanwords: vowel lengthening, consonant and vowel deletion, and insertion. The study finds that: Hausa /z/ changes to [ʤ] and /ʃ/ to [s] following the absence of the corresponding Hausa sounds in the consonant inventory of the Fulfulde dialects under investigation. Similarly, because oral stops are prenasalised in Fulfulde, sounds such as /b/, /d/ and /ɡ/ become [^mb], [ⁿd], and [^ɳɡ] respectively. The findings of the research have implications for the expansion and growth of the language as the research discusses phonological modifications which loanwords undergo to help the language develop its vocabulary.

Keywords phonology, Fulfulde, borrowed words, Hausa

General Introduction

The Fulfulde spoken in northern Nigeria has however been influenced significantly by Hausa as a result of contact between its speakers which has given birth to the compound word Hausa-Fulani. Fulfulde and Hausa have for many centuries had close contact among them through which they exchanged many words. Among them, most of the loans in Fulfulde were from Arabic, but a relevant stock came from Hausa (Baldi, 1992).

Loanwords are lexical items acquired from one language and joined into another (Crystal, 1997). Winter (1992) points out that, the recipient language receives loanwords; keeping in mind the end goal to fill expressive or semantic spaces not captured by local words, with a focus on different aspects of language. For instance, Hoffer (2005) opines that adopted forms (acquired words) now work in the typical linguistic procedures with the nouns taking plural or potentially possessive types of the new language and with verbs and descriptors accepting local morphemes too.

 The investigation of loanwords in Linguistics has been carried out for a long while now (Antilla, 1989; Newman, 2000; Campbell, 2004; Hoffer, 2005; Sahayi, 2005; Kang, 2010; Kadenge & Mudzingwa, 2011; 2012; Kadenge, 2012). Campbell (2004:62) within the field of linguistics, recommends that not just lexical items (words) can be borrowed into a language, but some other linguistic material e.g., sounds, phonological guidelines, syntactic examples, discourse techniques, semantic affiliations and grammatical morphemes among others. The investigation of loanwords as an area in Linguistics has been studied by various researchers. Accordingly, it is not another range of study in Linguistics. Lacharite & Paradis (1997) contend that loanword adaptation is working on phonological aspects. Their real claim is that loanword repair depends on the distinguishing proof of the phoneme classes of the source language (donor) which assumes a noteworthy part and that phonetic estimation assumes an insignificant part. Kenstowics & Suchato (2006) observe that loanword adaptation is a repair, all things considered; they additionally say that in receiving the loanword, the speaker tries to stay dedicated to the source word while as yet making the loanword fit in with the local language’s segmental inventory, phonotactic limitations or constraints and prosodic structures. This paper thus studies this phenomenon of lexical borrowing from Hausa to Fulfulde to determine the extent of its conformity or otherwise with the findings in the literature.

In Nigeria, three Fulfulde dialects were identified: Sokoto, Central Northern Nigeria and Adamawa dialects. However, this dialect boundary can only serve practical purposes since there are intervening dialect areas Girei, (2009) which according to Arnott (1974) approximate more or less to one of the six dialects identified. On this basis, Girei (2009) found several other varieties of Fulfulde spoken within an area hitherto classified by Arnott as a single speech area. Worthy of note is that Nigeria is a multilingual country with an estimated 550 languages (Blench, 2011). For the sake of clarity, the major Nigerian languages are Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, followed by 12 larger/network languages, including Fulfulde. The major and network languages are spoken by a majority of Nigerians either as first or second languages. Hausa is spoken predominantly in northern Nigeria, which makes it the region’s lingua franca. Greenberg’s (1970) genetic classification placed Hausa in the Chadic sub-group of the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. It has a very strong demographic and geographical presence being a language that is widely spoken not only in Nigeria but in other neighbouring countries such as Niger, Cameroon, Benin, Ghana and Chad. A work by Gordon (2005) estimated the number of Hausa speakers at about fifty-sixty million.

Linguistic contact between Hausa and Fulfulde has existed for centuries, causing both languages to be heavily influenced by each other in more ways than one. Since Hausa is the major language as well as the lingua franca in the northern region, coupled with the linguistic and ethnic convergence between the Hausa and Fulfulde languages and their speakers, it is obvious that most of the Fulɓe in northern Nigeria might (or would have to) learn Hausa at some point in time. This situation of language contact created several linguistic phenomena such as heavy borrowing, divergence, language shift and endangerment as well as L1 - L2 interferences, among others. These, and other sociolinguistic and structural implications of the contact between Hausa and Fulfulde have been studied in works such as Abubakar (1987); Muhammad (1987); Girei (2002); and Shehu (2015&2016),

Literature Review

Language borrowing has been of interest to various fields of Linguistics for some time. Specialists in Linguistics have been so interested in language borrowing throughout history. For instance, Joseph & Taylor (2014) mentioned that the first historical definition of language borrowing was used by Whitney in 1875 who stated that linguistic signs have an arbitrary nature. He was in any case a linguist within the nineteenth century when Linguistics was in its glorious days. He regarded the historical comparison of various languages along with the discovery of their genetic relationships as an important goal of linguistic study.

De Saussure (2011) observed from the outset that borrowing is not always a consistent pressure within the existence of a language. He stated additionally, that a loan word does not count or is not considered as a loan word each time it is fairly studied within a selected system; it exists best through its relation with, and competition to, phrases associated with it, similar to every other proper signal.

Others like Katamba (2015) stated that the most important social and linguistic reasons behind borrowing are by using foreign terms as aesthetics or euphemisms, in other words, building a sense of speaker identity. Trask (2013) referred to borrowing as a kind of copying because borrowed terms are never returned to the original or donor language. Scherling (2016) gave a general explanation for borrowing as terms can be modified, both within the language and by the passage of time. Aronoff (2017) emphasized that each person of the same community speaking the same language will adapt borrowed words to vary their speech. Marjie-Okyere (2013) observed in loanword phonology that the original foreign word pronunciation tends to be influenced by nativization or systematic adaptation of the reception language. Batais & Wiltshire (2015) also observed that the adaptations of loanword processes applied to words when they are given or borrowed into receptive language. They agree with Lev-Ari & Peperkamp (2013) who stated that adaptations of loanwords are usually transformation processes, despite missing from the native phonological system.

Mindaryani (2005) analyzed the linguistic form of English borrowings used in Kompas. She found two forms of English borrowings: there are words (single word and noun compound) and phrases (noun phrase). She found that noun phrases were dominant in number, followed by noun compounds, the single words (noun and adjective). Based on her findings, Kompas newspaper often used English borrowings in the form of phrases. That phenomenon happened because most of the data collected are scientific terms in the general election field.

Shehu (2015) shows that there is heavy borrowing from various languages into the Adamawa dialect of Fulfulde; the most prominent being those from Hausa in the Adamawa Fulfulde Nigeria and French in the Adamawa Fulfulde Cameroon (AFN, AFC). Secondly, the result of the intelligibility test shows a high tendency for communication gap between speakers of the two varieties, as long as the loan words are used among the interlocutors. He suggests that, as long as the varied loanwords are used in conversation, there would be a high level of unintelligibility among the speakers of these varieties of the same dialect, a situation solely caused by the different sources of the loanwords. As a result of the above, this paper can project those phonological influences that are likely to be found in Fulfulde's borrowed words from Hausa.

Research of this nature must therefore identify with existing reviews, referring to written works and works of remarkable researchers with comparable interests in a similar area of study. Studies on linguistic borrowing and loanword phonology have been undertaken by linguists everywhere. It is unavoidable that with much fascination drawn by a specific request or research field, dissimilar perspectives and assessments will emerge. This has been the situation for loanword phonology as it has been explained (Rose, 1999; Rose & Demuth, 2006; Gussenhoven & Jacobs, 1998; Uffmann, 2004, 2006; Fleischhacker, 2001; Kenstowicz, 2006; Kadenge, 2012). A few researchers like to cast loanword adaptation inside the domains of phonological discourse, while others accord phonetic/perceptual arrangements or alignments to the subject (Kadenge, 2012: 57). It has been uncovered that amid the procedure of adaptation "a given information sound will be mapped onto the nearest accessible phonetic classification of contributor language" (Peperkamp & Dupuox, 2003). On the off chance that a sound is absent in the recipient language, it is adapted to the nearest accessible sound.

 There are terms used in describing loanword phonology, for example, 'loanword adaptation and selection or adoption', "importation" and so forth. Loanword adaptation implies that the recipient language modifies the phonological make-up of foreign words e.g. "call" /kɔ:l/ is changed as /ka:l/ in Punjabi (Hussain, 2011), similarly, "appropriation" refers to the assimilation of loanwords while protecting the real articulation of information input form (Holden, 1972 in AlQinai, 2001). There are contrasts between 'loanword adjustment' and 'importation', that is, the joining of words without changing their phonetics and phonology. The most vital consideration is "importation" as a level of bilingualism; the more bilingual a group is, the more shots of importation in a language (Friesner, 2009). In writing, various methodologies can be discovered, for example, regardless of whether the repair process is perceptual, orthographical, phonetic or phonological. It is contended that loanword adjustment is observation arranged and the essential driver of repair (Dupoux & Peperkamp 2002; Peperkamp & Dupoux 2003; Peperkamp, 2002). Borrowers do not have admittance to the phonology of the recipient language; therefore, foreign words with unlawful portions are misperceived or, on the other hand, down to the nearer accessible sections in the recipient language. For instance, /əʊ/ is perceptually nearer to /o/ in Punjabi and Urdu (Mahmood et al., 2011; Hussain, 2011). The marvel of 'access to the contributor language' can be tested in a way that is not material to all language contact circumstances.

Loanword adaptation is a result of matching non-native perception within the limits of the recipient language, this idea leads to the fact that loanword adaptation is neither purely grammatical nor purely perceptual (Yip, 2006). Besides perceptual approaches to loanword adaptation, there are production-oriented approaches that set forth the idea that perception has nothing to do with loanword phonology and should be discarded; adaptations are particularly determined by production grammar (Itô & Mester 1995; Davidson & Noyer 1997; Jacobs & Gussenhoven 2000). This can be further explained that alternations to the alien words are made while being produced because some segments are difficult to pronounce by the speakers of the recipient language, thus deleted or repaired via epenthesis or substitution. From one perspective, a phonological approach discusses repair systems like vowel epenthesis, feature spreading, deletion, segmental protections or substitutions, among other phonological procedures in adaptations of loanwords (Sahayi, 2005: 255). On the other hand, perceptual and phonetic variables contend that loanword adaptation is made conceivable with accentuation on phonetic/discourse impression of the local or native speakers (Davis & Cho, 2006:1009). The cases of Silverman (1992) and Davis & Cho (2006) appear to be established in Sagey's contention (1982:17) that, "greater understanding or comprehension of phonology and more illustrative phonological theories come about because of researching phonology as an inseparable unit with phonetics". In a similar vein, Josiah & Udoudom (2012: 72) express that, "language specialists (linguists) for the most part, recognize that there exists an unavoidable factor between relationship of various levels of linguistic analysis; phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics". Since each language is a conceivable borrower (Abubakre, 2008), it consequently implies that the process of rebuilding or remodelling loanwords to suit language structure specifically gets to be distinctly inescapable. Sahayi (2005:253) posited that English has additionally adapted words, expressing Spanish as the donor. Consider the adopted word from French into English: /krēm/ crème → /kri:m/ cream „sweeteners, sweet milk‟

Methodology

It is a very difficult task to identify particular words or forms as being borrowed from other languages. Especially, if the language concerned has been influenced by many other languages for a long time, then loans should have been well dissolved into the borrower's system. Furthermore, if the languages in contact are genetically related, then it is much harder to identify loan words as such. The more closely related they are, the more difficulty arises. For example, it is much harder to identify loans from Wolof and Serer, the most closely related West-Atlantic languages to Fula, than from Hausa which belongs to a different language family. Miyamota (1990). This paper is guided by methodological considerations that border on data collection, sampling and tools of analysis. The data for this study was drawn from the students of the department of Fulfulde Federal College of Education, yola. As a positive corpus-based study, descriptive research design is considered appropriate and suitable because it is capable of eliciting information about the structure of words in languages. According to Yule (2008), the descriptive approach allows for the description of the features of words as used in the given context against how they are to be used.

Data for this study were collected via primary and secondary sources. Secondary data on the other hand were obtained through the consultation of published academic works in books and journals as well as reputable web pages. All such materials have been fully acknowledged in the reference section.

The population of the study consists of the residents of four Local Government Areas of Adamawa state, found in the Department of Fulfulde, Federal College of Education, Yola. The total population for the study comprises fifty (50) adult proficient speakers of Fulfulde, which include, 20 female students and 30 male students respectively.

This paper is done based on a phonological analysis of lexical items borrowed by Fulfulde from the Hausa language. The paper focuses itself on the Adamawa dialects. Since he acknowledges that other Fulfulde dialects such as Gombe, and others have also borrowed from Hausa.

Analysis

Phonological features of Fulfulde words borrowed from Hausa

Phonological features are assumed to be universal, that is, they exist in many languages. It is observed that these phonological features occur in Fulfulde words borrowed from the Hausa language. Phonological processes such as deletion, insertion, vowel change or lengthening and in rare cases, metathesis, among other phonological processes are exhibited in Fulfulde.

Deletion

One of the most obvious phonological processes in the language is deletion. This involves consonants and vowels. Deletion is a process that occurs during speech. Deletion is the phonological process that involves the elision of a segment in a given word.

 Consonant Deletion

Virtually any consonant can be deleted in rapid speech but such deletion is constrained to some specific environment of occurrence. The data presented in this section, however, involve complex processes’ there is insertion of vowel, deletion, word change and consonant deletion. These will be explained in subsequent sections.

Table 1 consonant deletion

Hausa	Fulfulde	Gloss	Consonant Deletion
a, Litinin	Altine	Monday	[n]
b. Alhamis	Alamisa	Thursday	[h]
c. tsire	Sire	Bits of meat	[t]
d. kwalaba	Kolba	Bottle	[kw]

 

In the above, the Hausa word “Litinin” becomes “Altine” (Monday) in Fulfulde as a result of the phonological processes which involve deletion. The phoneme /n/ is deleted in word final position of the lexeme. (Litinin- Altine).

In b above, findings indicate that the borrowing involves phonological processes where/h/ is deleted in word medial position of the Hausa word “Alhamis”- “Alamisa” in Fulfulde.

In c above, the Hausa word “tsire” becomes “sire” (bits of meat) in Fulfulde as a result of the phonological process which involves deletion. The phoneme /t/ is deleted in word initial position of the lexeme. (tsire – sire).

In d above, findings indicate that the borrowing involves phonological processes where/w/ is deleted in word medial position of the Hausa word “kwalba”- “kolba” in Fulfulde.

Vowel Deletion

Vowel deletion is the disappearance of an input vowel in the output form. Vowels are deleted in various environments in Fulfulde. For instance,

Table 2 vowel deletion

Hausa	Fulfulde	Gloss	Vowel Deletion
a laraba	Alarba	Wednesday	[a]
b, asara	Asar	Loss	[a]

        

 In Fulfulde the phoneme [a] is deleted in the final position of the Hausa borrowed word "asara" and becomes asar in Fulfulde. In (b) above, the Fulfulde word “asar” borrowed from Hausa “asara” meaning “loss”.

From (a) above “Alarba” is derived from the Hausa word “Laraba” meaning “Wednesday”.

From the above finding, the phonological process involved in the borrowing of “Alarba”, /a/ is deleted in the word medial position. In b above the vowel /a/ is deleted in word final position of the Hausa word “asara” which becomes “asar” in Fulfulde.

Insertion

Insertion is a phonological process whereby a segment which did not exist originally is introduced in a particular environment. A vowel can be inserted to break a cluster of two or more consonants, it can be inserted initially before a consonant or finally at the end of the word after a final consonant. Like elision, different names are given to the process depending on the segment and where it is inserted. According to Crystal (1993), epenthesis is a general term, while prosthesis and anaptyxis are subordinate terms. It is called a prosthesis when a vowel is inserted initially and called anaptyxis when the vowel is inserted between two consonants. Insertion at the beginning is observed in fulfulde, Words that are borrowed from Hausa, for instance;

	Hausa	Fulfulde	Gloss	Insertion
a.	Litinin	altine	Monday	[a],[e]
b	Faashi	faasitii	postponement	[t]
c	Shedan	shedanu	satan	[u]
d	Laraba	alarba	Wednesday	[a]
e	Alhamis	alamisa	Thursday	[a]
f	Dattijo	ndottijo	middle- age man of respect	[n]

                       

In (a) above, the Hausa word “Litinin” becomes “Altine” (Monday) in Fulfulde as a result of the phonological processes which involve insertion. The vowel /a/ is inserted in word-initial position to produce “Altine” from “Litinin”. Equally, the vowel /e/ is inserted in the word final position thus; “Altine”. The suffixation of the vowel /e/ follows from the class to which the noun ‘altine’ belongs, ie the nde class.

In (b) above, the word “Faasiti” is a Fulfulde word derived from Hausa word “fashi” meaning “postponement”. The process involves insertion where the morpheme ‘ti’ is inserted in the final position to produce “faashi”- “faasiiti”, the change from ‘shi’ in Hausa to ‘si’ is occasioned by the absence of the palato- alveolar voiceless fricative /ʃ/ in Fulfulde.

In (c) above, the word “shedaanu” is a Fulfulde word borrowed from Hausa word “shedan” which undergoes a phonological process that involves vowel insertion in the final position, Hausa word “shedan” becomes “shedaanu” in Fulfulde. This follows the universal process of modifying borrowed words according to the patterns of the receiving language as noted in the review of literature.

From (d) above “Alarba” derived from Hausa word “Laraba” meaning “Wednesday”, shows the insertion of ‘a’ in the word-initial position and the deletion of ‘a’ in the second syllable of the Hausa word ‘laraba’

From (e) above, the Fulfulde word, “Alamisa” derived from Hausa word “Alhamis” meaning “Thursday”, indicates that the borrowing involves phonological processes of insertion, whereby /a/ is inserted at the word's final position as in “Alhamis” - “Alamisa” and deletion where ‘h’ as the onset of the second syllable of “Al-ha-mis” is deleted to produce ‘Ala-mi-sa’, thus; changing the syllable structure of the borrowed word.

In the (f) above, the word “ndottijo” is a Fulfulde word derived from Hausa word “dottijo” meaning “middle-aged man of respect”. The process involves insertion where the morpheme ‘n’ is inserted in the initial position to produce “dottijo”- “ndottijo”, thus; changing the syllable structure of the borrowed word.

Feature Change

Other changes noted in this data have to do with the phonemes themselves. Some phonemes are found in Hausa but are not in Fulfulde phonemic inventory. If a loanword has such a phoneme, then it has to be changed to the nearest equivalent in the recipient language. For instance,

Table 3 Feature Change

Hausa	Fulfulde	Gloss	Feature Change
Zamani	jamanu	Era	/z/ → [ʤ]
Hankali	hakkilo	Sense	/n/ → /k/
Gashi	gasa	Hair	/ʃ/ → /s/, /i/ → /a/
Gafaka	Ngafaaka	qur’an bag	/g/ → /ng/
Bayani	Bayanu	explanation	/i/ → /u/
fashi	faasitii	Postponement	/ ʃ/ → /s/
Mota	Mato	Car	/o/ → /a/
dalili	daliila	Reason	/i/ → /a/
Zaure	Jauleeru	Entrance hut	/z/ → [ʤ]
Zawwat	Jawaati	Calico	/z/ → [ʤ], /i/
Kuza	Kuja	Tin	/z/ → [ʤ]
Fam	Pam	Pound	/f/ → /p/
Shigee	Sigeewol	Cloth srip	/ ʃ/ → /s/
Kilishi	Kilisi	Cooked meat	/ ʃ/ → /s/
Lawashi	Lawasi	Onion leaves	/ ʃ/ → /s/
Ashana	Asana	Match	/ ʃ/ → /s/
Masifa	Masibu	Calamity	/f/ → /b/ → /a/ → /u/
Dabino	Dibino	Date-palm	/a/ → /i/
Talata	Salasa	Tuesday	/t/ → /s/

                 

 The word “jamaanu” in Fulfulde is derived from Hausa word “zamani” meaning “era”. The phonological processes involved here are modification of both consonant sounds in the initial position and vowel in the word-final positions, that is to say, /z/ becomes /ʤ/ at the word-initial position as in “zamani” → “jamaanu” . The second process is vowel change in which /i/ becomes /u/ at the word's final position as in “zamani” → “jamanu”. The vowel /u/ follows from the class to which the noun ‘jamanu’ belong, ie the ɳgu class.

The word “hakkilo” in Fulfulde is borrowed from Hausa word “hankali” meaning “sense”. The phonological process involved here is a modification where the voiced alveolar nasal from Hausa language changes to the voiceless velar plosive in Fulfulde in the middle position as in; “hankali” →“hakkilo”. This is the process of regressive assimilation.

 The Fulfulde word “gaasa” is derived from Hausa word “gashi” meaning “hair”. Phonological modification (consonant change) is involved where the voiceless fricative post alveolar /ʃ/ in Hausa changes to the voiceless fricative alveolar /s/ in Fulfulde, as in “gashi” →“gaasa”. This is noted earlier, resulting from the non-occurrence of the voiceless postalveolar fricative in fulfulde. Also, found is vowel change, where, the/i/ sound changes to /a/ in the word-final position as in “gashi” → “gaasa”.

Further, the Fulfulde word “ngafakka” is borrowed from Hausa “gafaka” meaning bag for keeping the qur’an. The phonological process involved here is modification. The consonant sound /g/ in Hausa word-initial position becomes /ng/ in word-initial position in Fulfulde. For the sake of clarity “gafaka” –“ngafaaka” is a process that involves the voiced velar plosive becoming a pre-nasalized plosive in the word's initial position in Fulfulde.

“Bayaanu” in Fulfulde is borrowed from Hausa word “bayani” which means “explanation”. The process involved in the cause of borrowing is vowel change from /i/ - /u/. Therefore, the word “bayani” that is borrowed from Hausa undergoes the phonological process of vowel change.

The Fulfulde word “faasitii” is derived from Hausa word “fashi” meaning “postponement”. Phonological modification (consonant change) occurs. This is where the voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ in Hausa changes to the voiceless fricative alveolar /s/ in Fulfulde, as in “fashi” → “faasitii”. Again, this is because /ʃ/ is not found in the fulfulde sound system.

 The Fulfulde word “mato” is derived from Hausa word “mota” meaning car. Vowel change as a phonological process is involved. The /ɔ/ sound of Hausa word “mota” is modified to the/a/ sound in Fulfulde producing “mato”. Equally /a/ sound of Hausa word “mota” was modified to /ɔ/ sound in Fulfulde word “mato” in the second syllable of the word.

The word “jauleru” in Fulfulde is derived from Hausa word “zaure” meaning “entrance hut”. The phonological processes involved here are modification of both consonant sounds in the initial position and vowel in the word-final positions, that is to say, /z/ becomes /ʤ/ at the word-initial position as in “zaure” → “jauleeru” . The second process is the insertion, where /l/ is inserted in the medial and /u/ at the word final position as in “zaure” → “jauleeru”. The vowel /u/ follows from the class to which the noun ‘jauleeru’ belongs, ie the ɳgu class.

The word “jawaati” in Fulfulde is derived from Hausa word “zawwat” meaning “calico”. The phonological processes involved here are modification of both consonant sounds in the initial position, lengthening of the vowel in the medial position and inserting a vowel in word-final positions, that is to say, /z/ becomes /ʤ/ at the word-initial position as in “zawwat” → “jawaati” .

The word “kuja” in Fulfulde is derived from Hausa word “kuza” meaning “tin”. The phonological process involved here is modification of both consonant sounds in the initial position, that is to say, /z/ becomes /ʤ/ at the word initial position as in “kuza” → “kuja” .

The word “pam” in Fulfulde is derived from Hausa word “fam” meaning “pound”. The phonological processes involved here are modification of both consonant sounds in the initial position, that is to say, /f/ becomes /p/ at the word-initial position as in “fam” → “pam” .

The Fulfulde word “sigeewol” is derived from Hausa word “shigee” meaning “cloth strip”. Phonological modification (consonant change) occurs. This is where the voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ in Hausa changes to the voiceless fricative alveolar /s/ in Fulfulde, as in “shigee” → “sigeewol”. Again, this is because /ʃ/ is not found in the fulfulde sound system.

The Fulfulde word “kilisi” is derived from Hausa word “kilishi” meaning “cooked meat”. Phonological modification (consonant change) occurs in the final position. This is where the voiceless post alveolar fricative /ʃ/ in Hausa changes to the voiceless fricative alveolar /s/ in Fulfulde, as in “kilishi” → “kilisi”. this is because /ʃ/ is not found in the fulfulde sound system.

The Fulfulde word “lawasi” is derived from Hausa word “lawashi” meaning “onion leaves”. Phonological modification (consonant change) occurs. This is where the voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ in Hausa changes to the voiceless fricative alveolar /s/ in Fulfulde, as in “lawashi” → “lawasi”. Again, this is because /ʃ/ is not found in the fulfulde sound system.

The Fulfulde word “asana” is derived from Hausa word “ashana” meaning “matchs”. Phonological modification (consonant change) occurs in the initial position. This is where the voiceless post alveolar fricative /ʃ/ in Hausa changes to the voiceless fricative alveolar /s/ in Fulfulde, as in “ashana” → “asana”. this is because /ʃ/ is not found in the fulfulde sound system.

The word “masibu” in Fulfulde is derived from Hausa word “masifa” meaning “calamity”. The phonological processed involved here are modification of both consonant and vowel sounds in final position, that is to say, /f/ becomes /b/ and /a/ become /u/ at the word final position as in “masifa” → “masibu” .

The word “dibinoje” in Fulfulde is derived from Hausa word “dabino” meaning “date-palm”. The phonological processed involved here is modification of vowel sounds in initial position, that is to say, /a/ becomes /i/ at the word initial position as in “dabino” → “dibinoje ” .

The word “salasa” in Fulfulde is derived from Hausa word “talata” meaning “tuesday”. The phonological processed involved here are modification of both consonant sounds in initial position and final position, that is to say, /t/ becomes /s/ at the word initial and final position as in “talata” → “salasa”.

Vowel lengthening

Vowel length in Fulfulde is phonemic (Girei, 2009), in that, a long vowel contrasts with its short counterpart. Just as in consonants, the length in vowels is shown in the orthography by doubling the vowel. For instance;

Table 4: Vowel lengthening

Hausa	Fulfulde	Gloss	Vowel lengthening
Bayani	Bayaanu	Explanation	a → /aa/
Gafaka	Ngafaaka	Qur’an bag	a → /aa/
Makaranta	Makaraanta	School	a → /aa/

 

The word “bayani” in Hausa becomes “bayaanu” in Fulfulde, the processes involved in the course of borrowing is vowel change from /i/ - /u/. This happens because as a class making language, nouns in fulfulde take vowel suffixes that are relevant to their noun class. Hence, bayanu-, a class – noun, takes the suffix [u] because it belongs to the /ɳgu/ class.

The Fulfulde word “ngafaaka” was borrowed from Hausa “gafaka” meaning a bag of the qur’an. The phonological process observed is vowel lengthening. That is /a/ becomes /aa/ as in → “gafaka” → “ngafaaka” which takes place in the word medial position.     

The Fulfulde word “makaraanta” borrowed from Hausa “makaranta” meaning school. The only phonological process observed is vowel lengthening. That is /a/ becomes /aa/ as in “makaranta” → “makaraanta” which takes place at the word medial position. Lengthening of the vowel in the penultimate syllable may not be unconnected to the fact that in Hausa, the final syllable ‘ta’ takes a high tone whereas in Fulfulde, which is a stressed language, the penultimate syllable is stressed to circumvent the stressing of the final syllable.

Conclusion 

This research investigated the borrowing of Hausa words into Fulfulde language. The paper specifically examined the phonology, of the loanwords. As it were, languages borrow words from the languages they come into contact with because a language does not necessarily have all the words to express all its experiences. Borrowing of words from Hausa by Fulfulde as this paper finds out, follows the pattern found in the literature on lexical borrowing, i.e to enrich and/or expand vocabulary as well as to develop the language. Other reasons for borrowing are the absence of equivalent expressions for new ideas and concepts as well as for reasons of prestige.

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