Operationalizing borrowability: Phonological segments as a case study

Abstract

This study provides two mathematical formalizations of borrowability. These operational-izations allow us to quantitatively evaluate the borrowability of phonological segments and to make predictions about the likelihood that speech sounds will be borrowed in language contact situations. Our approach departs from traditional borrowability hierarchies based on qualitative observations and instead provides empirically motivated models based on probability theory and statistics. Our study uses as input two large crosslinguistic segment inventory databases, and our results show that segments have markedly different borrowability profiles, highlighting their different diffusion patterns through space and time.