View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ScholarBank@NUS LOANWORD ADAPTATION IN TAMIL NEO HWEE YANG B.A. (Hons), NUS DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2010/2011 LOANWORD ADAPTATION IN TAMIL NEO HWEE YANG B.A. (Hons), NUS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PART FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2010/2011 For my loved ones ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My undergraduate and graduate education in NUS brought to me not only intellectual gratification, but also the chance to mingle with the best, and to meet the love of my life. Graduate school was blessed with the company of excellent mentors and peers. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to my supervisor Associate Professor Bao Zhiming who mentored me not only for my undergraduate thesis but also for my graduate thesis. He encouraged me to pursue my interest in Tamil which eventually culminated into the present thesis. My debt to him is not only intellectual but also character-wise; he taught me not only linguistics but also humility. Many other professors also played integral roles; Professor Mohanan whom I will always remember as ―the matchmaker‖ because I met my wife in his Linguistic Argumentation class; Assistant Professor Xu Zheng who inspired me to read up on loanword studies; Doctor Thinnappan who taught me Tamil; and Doctor Ho Chee Lick who has been a great counselor always willing to lend a listening ear. My peers and seniors: Liangcai, Pixian, Qizhong, Stella, Songqing, Liu Yu, and Yiqiong- also contributed with advice. Graduate school became even more fulfilling because of my wife who shares similar passions in linguistics and life. If linguistics was fun before I met you, it became even more so after we were together. Last but not least, my parents for all the faith they have in me and supporting me unwaveringly knowing that I will see the light at the end of the tunnel. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES AND DIAGRAMS ............................................................................ vii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................viii CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background of Tamil ................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Prior Research in Tamil Loanwords and Tamil ........................................................ 6 1.4 Current Views in Loanword Adaptation ................................................................... 7 1.4.1 The Perception Viewpoint ........................................................................... 8 1.4.2 The Production Viewpoint .......................................................................... 8 1.4.3 The Perception and Production Viewpoint ................................................. 9 1.4.4 Summary ..................................................................................................... 9 1.5 Goals and Structure of this Paper ........................................................................... 10 CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................................................. 11 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 11 2.2 Tamil Orthography .................................................................................................. 11 2.3 Tamil Phonological System .................................................................................... 15 2.3.1 Tamil Consonant Phonemes ............................................................................. 16 2.3.2 Tamil Vowel Phonemes ................................................................................... 18 2.3.3 Tamil Syllable Structure and Phonotactics ...................................................... 19 2.4 English Phonology .................................................................................................. 22 2.4.1 English Consonant Phonemes .......................................................................... 22 2.4.2 English Vowel Phonemes ................................................................................ 23 iv 2.4.3 English Syllable Structure and Phonotactics .................................................... 24 2.5 Comparison between English and Tamil ................................................................ 28 2.6 Data ......................................................................................................................... 30 2.7 Summary ................................................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................... 32 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 32 3.2 Consonantal Phonemes Mapping ............................................................................ 33 3.2.1 Plosives ............................................................................................................ 33 3.2.2 Nasals ............................................................................................................... 39 3.2.3 Fricatives .......................................................................................................... 42 3.2.4 Affricates .......................................................................................................... 44 3.2.5 Laterals and Rhotics ......................................................................................... 45 3.2.6 Glides ............................................................................................................... 47 3.3 Vowel Phonemes Mapping ..................................................................................... 48 3.4 Explanation for Mapping ........................................................................................ 59 3.4.1 An Account of Consonant Mapping ................................................................ 59 3.4.2 An Account of Vowel Mapping ....................................................................... 72 3.5 Summary ................................................................................................................. 75 CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................................................. 77 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 77 4.2 Differing patterns of adaptation of consonant clusters ............................................ 77 4.2.1 Epenthesis ........................................................................................................ 78 4.2.2 Coalescence ...................................................................................................... 81 4.2.3 Direct Adaptation ............................................................................................. 81 4.2.4 Why Conflicting Patterns are attested .............................................................. 82 4.3 Differing patterns of adaptation for complex vowels .............................................. 87 v 4.3.1 Diphthongal Adaptation ................................................................................... 87 4.3.2 Triphthong Adaptation ..................................................................................... 89 4.3.3 Explanation for differing strategies .................................................................. 90 4.4 Summary ................................................................................................................. 95 CHAPTER FIVE ............................................................................................................... 96 5.1 Main Findings ......................................................................................................... 96 5.2 Model of Adaptation ............................................................................................... 97 5.3 Future Studies ......................................................................................................... 98 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 100 APPENDIX ..................................................................................................................... 106 Part 1: List of OT Constraints and Definitions ........................................................... 106 Part 2: Transcribed Data.............................................................................................. 108 vi LIST OF TABLES AND