An OT Approach To French Language Phonological Nativization In Algerian Dialect

This thesis aims to make a systematic phonological analysis of the process of phonological French nativization in Algerian Arabic (AA) dialect in the framework of Optimality Theory. Through analysis, the thesis finds that the borrowing mechanism of the loanword phonology in AA dialect is mainly the strategy of epenthesis. This strategy has captured much interest of linguists regarding its frequent use across-linguistically.Despite the wide range of efforts made on the results that follow from the adoption of such a strategy when borrowing words from a given language, some problems concerned have rarely been posed in the previous studies. As a contribution to phonological studies on French nativization in AA dialect, this thesis tries to answer the following questions:1) What are the phonological reasons behind the use of such a strategy?2) Why is the selection of certain epenthetic segments favored over other segments in the inventory of a given language?3) What is the status of epenthesis with respect to syllable structure?In order to answer the above questions, this thesis intends to investigate the process of French nativization in AA dialect through a tentative study of51French loanwords marked with epenthesis in AA dialect within OT frame work. It is highly predicted that the analysis conducted in the present study might help to pinpoint the constraints responsible for the opting for the strategy. In addition, it is expected to provide new lines of reasoning of the grammatical system of phonology in AA dialect.