Annabel Ogie OGELE

This research is an examination of the phonological aspects of English words borrowed into the structure of the Edo language. The study objectives are to identify and describe lexical items borrowed from English in Edo. To classify the borrowed words that have penetrated the Edo lexicon into types, and analyze the linguistic environment that characterizes the borrowed words. The
data are extracted from speakers of the Edo language are analyzed using the Borrowing Transfer Theory. The findings reveal that the borrowings occur at the lexical level as a communicative strategy of Edo speakers to find words that Stand for objects or new concepts in their culture. This study, also, shows that the borrowing situation occur as a result of the dominant language (English) exerting pressure on the less dominant language (Edo). Some of the borrowed items are already fully nativized in Ẹdo while others are only partially nativized. The partially nativized items are observed to contain forms that are not found in Ẹdo. These include English sounds (such as the voiceless palate-alveolar affricate [ʧ], the voiced palate-alveolar affricate [ʤ] and the voiceless palate- alveolar fricative [ʃ]), word initial and/or word final consonants in nouns, consonant clusters, etc.