Linguistic Study of Arabic Loan Words in Dinka Language

Abstract

The Dinka language (Thuᴐη jieη or Thuᴐη monjieη) is a widely spoken language in South Sudan in seven of the ten states (Nashid 2014). It is the language with the largest number of speakers in South Sudan. Arabic, as the official language of the former Sudan, being the language of education and administration, as well as the lingua franca, has a great effect on other Sudanese languages, including Dinka. Over years, many Arabic words have been borrowed and become integrated in the Dinka language. The present study investigates the linguistic adaptation of Arabic loan words in Dinka, thus focusing on the strategies and mechanisms by which Arabic loan words are phonologically adapted. Therefore, 104 Arabic loan words were randomly collected from eleven native Dinka informants in Khartoum, in addition to four other informants, each one representing one of the main four dialects, used as a reference to enhance the accuracy of data. Furthermore, the data has been cross checked by Dinka young informants. It is found that Arabic loan words are integrated into the Dinka language and have become part of the Dinka lexicon and they are used in everyday communication in which they are adapted phonologically to suit the linguistic system of the Dinka language using certain strategies and mechanisms; vowel alternation is an important feature in nominal plural formation.