Loanword Nativization in German

Abstract

The present article examines the changes that affect stressed vowels in the nativization of loanwords into Standard German, e.g. laxing of vowels like [i] to [I] in F[I]rma (< Italian F[i]rmd). An Optimality-Theoretic treatment (Prince & Smolensky 1993) of the loanword data is proposed in which the nativization process is accounted for by ranking two Markedness constraints ahead of two Faith constraints. A significant finding is that these four constraints as well as the ranking Markedness » Faith are independently required for the native lexicon of German. Thus, we conclude that our treatment is inherently superior to any rule-based analysis because a rule-based treatment would be forced to posit specific rules to account for the loanword data which have no independent motivation. © 2003, Walter de Gruyter. All rights reserved.