The two faces of English in China: Englishization of Chinese and nativization of English

Abstract

ABSTRACT: China has had a long history of contact with speakers of English, beginning in the seventeenth century. Since 1974, English has become the most widely studied language in China. With language contact comes linguistic interinfluence. Two manifestations of English–Chinese interinfluence are the Englishization of Chinese and the nativization of English, which can both be perceived at the phonological, morphological, semantic and syntactic levels. It is important to note that the Englishization of Chinese seems most evident at the phonological and semantic levels, and that it also occurs, to an extent, at the syntactic level. In addition, the nativization of English appears to be most evident at the phonological level; however, the various accents and dialects of Chinese make this a difficult generalization to support. Therefore, this article will discuss primarily the nativization of English and the Englishization of Chinese with regard to the morphological, semantic and syntactic levels.