A study of english derived loanwords in bemba

Abstract

This study is about the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and some aspects of sociolinguistics of English-derived loanwords in Bemba. It is a corpus study of 900 items. Because the syllable structure of English differs from that of Bemba, the aim of this research was to collect and study more data on English - derived loanwords in Bemba. This study comprises four chapters. Chapter One is the introduction to the study, Chapter Two presents the data, while ChapterThree discusses the findings of the research. The last chapter presents the conclusion.It was discovered that Bemba has borrowed many words from English into Bemba language. Most of the borrowed words are nouns and verbs. It was also discovered that substitution and deletion are the major strategies employed to English borrowed words in Bemba in order to satisfy constraints on phonotactics and syllable structure in Bemba. Further, it was established that the stressed syllables in English are realised in Bemba by high tone. Most of the borrowed words fall in class la/2a of Bemba class pair system. A full list of English-derived loanwords in Bemba is found in Chapter Two.