Ewe borrowings into Logba

Abstract

Logba, a Ghana-Togo Mountain language, operates an active noun class system in which there is agreement within the noun phrase (NP) and the subject NP is cross-referenced on the verb in a form that agrees with the class of the subject. As a minority language dominated by Ewe, a non-noun class language, it is exposed to the phenomenon of borrowing. In this paper, I examine the repercussions of borrowing in terms of nouns, locative verbs, grammatical items, and culturally loaded expressions. I will show that nouns borrowed from Ewe are allocated to a class with similar semantics, while verbs show the subject–noun cross-reference on them in a clause. Grammatical items—relativizers, conjunctions, and clause linkers—have forms very similar to those found in Ewe. Other forms of borrowing shown in this paper are proverbs, riddles, and emotional expressions calqued in Logba from Ewe. It is noted that there is generalization and simplification going on among younger native speakers of Logba. The paper concludes that there is a contact-induced change in progress in which a noun class system of a minority language is exposed to interference by a majority language.