Information About ®Loanword |
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| historical linguistics | |
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Although loanwords are typically far less numerous than the "native" words of most languages ( Creole s and Pidgin s being an obvious exception), they are often widely known and used, since their borrowing served a certain purpose, for example to provide a name for a new Invention . DISTINCTION BETWEEN BORROWING AND INHERITING As languages develop, in most cases the bulk of the vocabulary of a language is ''inherited'' from its ancestral language. Words that are inherited from ancestral language, the "native" words of the language, are not considered to have been borrowed. Borrowing is when words are added to a language from any language ''other'' than the ancestral language or, on the other hand, when words from one language are taken into another language, especially during translation processes. CLASSES OF BORROWED WORDS Certain classes of loanwords are more common; Function Words , such as pronouns, numbers, words referring to universal concepts, are usually not borrowed. Examples of these words being borrowed have been attested, however. Words referring to exotic concepts or ideas are usually borrowed. What is "exotic" can vary from language to language. Thus, English names for creatures not native to Great Britain are almost always loanwords, and most of the technical vocabulary referring to Music is borrowed from Italian . BEYOND WORDS Idiomatic Expression s and phrases, sometimes translated word-for-word, can be borrowed, usually from a language that has "prestige" at the time. Often, a borrowed idiom is used as a Euphemism for a less polite term in the original language. In English, this has usually been Latinisms from the Latin Language and Gallicism s from French . LOANWORDS IN ENGLISH English has many loanwords. In 1973 , a computerised survey of about 80,000 words in the old Shorter Oxford Dictionary (3rd edition) was published in Ordered Profusion by Thomas Finkenstaedt and Dieter Wolff . Their estimates for the origin of English words were as follows:
This survey shows no information about the frequency of words, however. If the frequency of words is considered, words from Old and Middle English occupy the vast majority. The reasons for English's vast borrowing include:
This lack of restrictions makes it comparatively easy for the English language to incorporate new words. Compare this with Japanese , where the English word "club" (itself originally from Old Norse ) was turned into "kurabu" because of Japanese's numerous phonetic restrictions. However, the English pronunciation of a loanword will often differ from the original pronunciation to such a degree that a native speaker of the language it was borrowed from will not be able to recognize it as a loanword when spoken. The tendency of the English language to borrow extensively is summed up by whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." 1 Affixes The majority of English affixes, such as "un-", "-ing", and "-ly" were present in older forms in Old English. There are, however, a few English affixes that have been borrowed. One example, possibly the most prolific, is the suffix -er (agentive suffix, not the comparative suffix), which was borrowed (ultimately) from Latin. The verbal suffix '-ize' comes (via, Old French, via Latin) ultimately from Ancient Greek and became utilized liberally in America, often to the chagrin of the British. OTHER LANGUAGES Direct loans, expressions translated word-by-word, or even grammatical constructions and orthographical conventions from English are called Anglicism s. Similarly, loans from Swedish are called Sveticism s or svecisms. In French, the result of perceived over-use of English loanwords and expressions is called Franglais . Germish is English influence on German . English loanwords in French include 'le weekend', 'le job' and 'le biftek' (beefsteak). This has so outraged French purists that much time and energy is spent by various French institutions keeping the language pure; probably a futile endeavor. English often borrows words from the cultures and languages of the British Colonies. For example there are at least twenty words from Hindi, including syce/sais, dinghy, chutney, pundit, wallah, pajama/pyjamas, bungalow and jodhpur. Other examples include trek, aardvark, lager and veld from Afrikaans, shirang (Malay) and sjambok (Afrikaans via Malay). REBORROWING It is possible for a word to travel from one language to another and then back to the originating language in a different form, a process called '' Reborrowing ''. A specific example of this is " Pokémon " which is an Portmanteau of ''poketto monsutā'', a Japanese rendering of the English "pocket monster". The word has been borrowed into Japanese, adapted, shortened and finally been used to name an internationally successful toy product and hence made its way back into everyday vocabulary of English. SEE ALSO
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