Nganasan loanword phonology

A typological approach to the repair strategies of Russian loanwords in Nganasan

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to give an overview of the loanword adaptation strategies of word-initial complex consonant-cluster onsets of Russian loanwords in Nganasan. The approach is typological, and the strategies are considered in a broader typological framework as a secondary aim. It is proposed that deletion and distribution of epenthetic sites can be attributed to the acoustic properties of the segments, and it is noted that extra grammatical aspects may have a significant role in explaining the processes.