Adaptation of Anglicisms – complex words in the German and Russian languages (based on publicistic texts)

Abstract

The goal of this article is to determine similarities and differences in the process of adaptation of Anglicisms in the German and Russian languages. The subject of this research is Anglicisms that are structurally represented by complex words. The topic of adaptation of Anglicisms – complex words – was selected due its poor coverage in the comparative linguistics. The article determines the derivational models of Anglicisms used in the German and Russian publicistic texts. The author traces the similarity in the presence of derivational models of Anglicisms, namely: word from the recipient language word + English word, English word + word of the recipient language, English word + English word, combinations of 3 or more English words. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that this article is first to determine the similarities and differences in adaptation of Anglicisms based on the German and Russian publicistic texts. The conclusion is made that unlike Russian language, German language features a wide variety of compounding models. The German language is characterized by the connecting consonant ‘s’ for linking several word roots; while the Russian language is characterizes by the connecting vowel ‘o’. The author also concludes on the similarities and differences of the compared languages in terms of the tendency of grammatical assimilation of the English borrowings. It is noted that in the Russian language they are often masculine, while in German there are almost as many masculine Anglicisms as neuter, as well as a number of feminine Anglicisms. The acquired results can be applied in reading the lectures on comparative lexicology of the German and Russian languages.