| Loan Word |
Article Index for Loan |
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A loanword (or ''loan word'') is a word directly taken into one . More accurate terminology would be " Clone " (in the horticultural sense) and "adopt".) CLASSES OF BORROWED WORDS Certain classes of words are more commonly borrowed than others, usually words for exotic concepts or ideas. What is "exotic" varies 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 Classical Music is borrowed from Italian . By contrast, Function Word s such as pronouns, numbers, and words referring to universal concepts, are usually not borrowed, but have been in some cases. CLASSIFICATION OF BORROWINGS The studies by Werner Betz (1949, 1959), Einar Haugen (1950, also 1956), and Uriel Weinreich (1953) are regarded as the classical theoretical works on loan influenceCf. the two survey articles by Oksaar (1996: 4f.), Stanforth (2002) and Grzega (2003, 2004).. The basic theoretical statements all depart from Betz’s nomenclature. Duckworth (1977) enlarges Betz’s scheme by the type “partial substitution” and supplements the system with English termsThe following comments and examples are taken from Grzega, Joachim (2004), ''Bezeichnungswandel: Wie, Warum, Wozu?'', Heidelberg: Winter, p. 139, and Grzega, Joachim (2003), “Borrowing as a Word-Finding Process in Cognitive Historical Onomasiology” , '' Onomasiology Online '' 4: 22-42.: # importation ## foreign word = non-integrated word from a foreign language, e.g. E ''café'' (from French); Sp. ''whisk(e)y'' (from English); E ''weltanschauung'' (< G ''Weltanschauung''); It. ''mouse'' ‘computer device’ (< E ''mouse'' ‘rodent; computer device’); ## loan word = integrated word from a foreign language, e.g. E ''music'' (from French); Sp. ''güisqui'' (from English); # partial substitution: composite words, in which one part is borrowed, another one substituted, e.g. OE ''Saturnes dæg'' ‘Saturday’ (< Lat. ''Saturnis dies''), G ''Showgeschäft'' ‘literally: show-business’ (< E ''show business''), G ''Live-Sendung'' ‘literally: live-broadcast’ (< E ''live broadcast'') # substitution ## loan coinage ### loan formation #### loan translation = translation of the elements of the foreign word, e.g. OE ''Monan dæg'' ‘Monday’ (< Lat. ''Lunae dies''), Fr. ''gratte-ciel'' and Sp. ''rasca·cielos'' ‘both literally: scrape-sky’ (< E ''skyscraper''), E ''world view'' (< G ''Welt·anschauung''), AmSp. ''manzana de Adán'' (< E ''Adam’s apple''; vs. EurSp. ''nuez la garganta '' ‘literally: nut the throat ’); #### loan rendering = translation of part of the elements of the foreign word, e.g. E ''brother·hood'' (< Lat. ''frater·nitas'' Lat. ''frater'' ‘brother’ + suffix ), G ''Wolken·kratzer'' ‘literally: clouds-scraper’ (< E ''sky·scraper''); ### loan creation coinage independent of the foreign word, but created out of the desire to replace a foreign word, e.g. E ''brandy'' (< Fr. ''cognac''); ## loan meaning = indigenous word to which the meaning of the foreign word is transferred, e.g. OE ''cniht'' ‘servant + disciple of Jesus’ (< Lat. ''discipulus'' ‘student, disciple of Jesus’), OE ''heofon'' ‘sky, abode of the gods + Christian heaven’ (< Lat. ''caelum'' ‘sky, abode of the gods, Christian heaven’), G ''Maus'' and Fr ''souris'' ‘rodent + computer device’ (< E ''mouse'' ‘rodent, computer device’). On the basis of an importation-substitution distinction, Haugen (1950: 214f.) distinguishes three basic groups of borrowings: “(1) ''Loanwords'' show morphemic importation without substitution. . . . (2) ''Loanblends'' show morphemic substitution as well as importation. . . . (3) ''Loanshifts'' show morphemic substitution without importation”. Haugen has later refined (1956) his model in a review of Gneuss’s (1955) book on Old English loan coinages, whose classification, in turn, is the one by Betz (1949) again. Weinreich (1953: 47ff.) differentiates between two mechanisms of lexical interference, namely those initiated by simple words and those initiated by compound words and phrases. Weinreich (1953: 47) defines ''simple words'' “from the point of view of the bilinguals who perform the transfer, rather than that of the descriptive linguist. Accordingly, the category ‘simple’ words also includes compounds that are transferred in unanalysed form”. After this general classification, Weinreich then resorts to Betz’s (1949) terminology. Models that try to integrate borrowing in an overall classification of vocabulary change, or Onomasiological change, have recently been proposed by Peter Koch (2002) and Joachim Grzega (2003, 2004). 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 . If the phrase is translated word-for-word, it is known as a Calque . LOANWORDS IN ENGLISH See Also: Lists of English words of international origin 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:
However, if the frequency of use 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 inflexible syllable structure. However, the English pronunciations of loanwords often differ from the original pronunciations to such a degree that a native speaker of the language it was borrowed from is not able to recognize it as a loanword when spoken. English often borrows words from the cultures and languages of the British Colonies. For example there are at least 20 words from Hindi, including syce/sais, Dinghy , Chutney , Pundit , Wallah , pajama/ Pyjamas , Bungalow and Jodhpur . Other examples include Trek , Aardvark , Laager and Veld from Afrikaans , Shirang , Amok ( Malay ) and Sjambok (Malay via Afrikaans). |
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