This paper investigates the mopho-phonemic changes that occur in Igede borrowed words. The paper adopts the borrowing transfer theory of Terence Odlin (1989). Data for the study were collected from primary and secondary sources, particularly oral interviews with elderly speakers and Igede-English bilinguals. The Igede people of Oju and Obi Local Government Areas of Benue State made the study area.

The findings reveal that Igede borrow words from English, Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo languages. The findings add that the channels of entry of such words into Igede are through religion, trade and commerce, government and administration, early education and colonial influence, technological advancement and need for inter cultural interaction. Findings show that borrowed words in Igede undergo both phonological and morphological changes in the language. The phonological changes include vowel insertion (epenthesis), consonant substitution, and simplification of consonant clusters; while the morphological modifications include; affixation patterning such as prefixation, prefixation-suffixation and zero morpheme changes.

The findings further reveal that lexical borrowing does not threatens the language; rather it enriches the word stock, and also fills the lexical gaps especially for concepts that did not originally exist in Igede language and culture. The paper concludes that borrowing is a morphological process which should be accepted by most languages because it strengthens the recipient language allowing for language growth and development.