Morphophonemics of Swahili verb suffixes

This exhaustive treatment of morphophonological processes in Swahili verb suffixes assumes that the morphophonemics of a language is a part of its overall phonological system. Two cases of alternation in Swahili verb suffixes are discussed which reflect responses of the phonology to historical pressures from outside the phonology. An analytical problem in the derivation of Swahili's passive morphology is claimed to arise from the communicative problem of keeping the passive distinct in all contexts. An influx of loan words has likewise put pressure on the phonology to maintain some sort of order that will facilitate communication. Though these processes are not 'natural' in the same sense that strictly phonological rules are claimed to be, they are certainly 'natural' in their own way. More importantly, they should tell us just as much about the nature of phonological systems as rules that reflect phonetic constraints.