The impact of the English loanwords in the Central Kurdish dialect on media discourse

Abstract

This article deals with the frequency of the use of English and Arabic loanwords in the central Kurdish dialect. Whereas a dramatic increase in the frequency of use of English loanwords was witnessed most notably in 2005 and 2011 in response to political and economic changes in Kurdish society, this was not the case with the frequency of Arabic loanwords reduced gradually following 1992 when Arabic ceased being used as an official language in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (K.R.I.). In particular, I examine the period from 2003 to 2013 as an important era due to a series of radical changes in socio-political domains in Kurdish society that resulted in a considerable number of borrowings in the representation of political notions but also because of the Kurdish and English languages intense contact. This article will further look at phonological changes of English loanwords over a period of time as a consequence of language contact. The diachronic analysis suggests that in some cases Kurdish writers have been motivated by their desire to use a form closer to English than Arabic. Methodologically, the study is based on a systematic research of political articles published in the Xebat newspaper. Finally, the article deals with the process of orthographic adaptation of the loanwords. The results indicates that the majority of these loanwords are adapted to the structure of this dialect of the Kurdish language.