783: banjo and Phonological Restrictions Jan 29, 2017

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English is constantly changing, and it has a number of factors that aid in this. English has few phonological rules which you can see more about here: Hawai'ian restrictions and here: kiSwahili restrictions, so it is very easy for words to enter the language. Still, the word 'banjo' could not be adopted into the language as it originally was. The African instrument's origins are not completely agreed upon, but considering other words like the Kimbundu's related 'mbanza', the word had to be modified as to not start with a nasal, M, and a plosive, B.

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