ANALYSIS OF GLIDE EPENTHESIS USED BY THE PUNJABI SPEAKERS AS AN INTEGRATION STRATEGY

Abstract

The study analyzes the process of glide epenthesis as a strategy used by the Punjabi speakers to integrate the English words into the Punjabi language. The fact that all the languages in the world are different entails that their phonological system will also be different. When the words from donor language enter in the receiving language they are modified according to the phonological environment of the receiving language. Among different strategies adopted by the speakers of receiving language to integrate the loan words, epenthesis is a common strategy. This study discusses the epenthesis of glide in the complex peaks which are not acceptable in Punjabi phonology. The data for this study is taken from the native speakers of Punjabi language residing in Lahore. The study blends distinctive feature theory with CV phonology theory for the analysis of English loan words remodeled according to Punjabi language phonology. This work is limited to the epenthesis of glides /w/ and /j/. The results suggest that the glides /w/ and /j/ are inserted by the Punjabi speakers to resolve the branching peak VV configuration into VCV.