Marginal representations in loanword adaptation: affrication in Brazilian Portuguese English

In loanword adaptation, it has been argued that category proximity is preferred over phonetic approximation (LaCharité and Paradis, 2005). For example, building and cook are adapted to Spanish as b[i]lding and c[u]k, respectively, even though English lax {i u} are phonetically closer to /e o/ than to /i u/ in Spanish (Delattre, 1981). If phonetic approximation were the main factor in these adaptations, we would expect *b[e]lding and *c[o]k, which in turn would modify the value of the feature [high] in the vowels, selecting a different existing phonological category in the target language. Similar adaptations have been shown in other languages. In this paper, we consider a context of loanword adaptation in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) where category proximity does not apply due to the allophonic status of the adapted forms. Such a scenario yields a pattern of adaptation that is mostly driven by phonetic proximity, even though it results in forms that are not part of the borrowing system. This suggests that phonological representations in loanword adaptation may involve an expansion of the borrowing system.