Loanword Adaptation Research Articles

Loanwords in Modern German: Exploring Phonetic and Grammatical Adaptations

This study explores the phonetic and grammatical adaptation of loanwords in modern German, focusing primarily on borrowings from English and French. The research examines how foreign sounds are adjusted to fit German phonology, with particular attention to vowel and consonant shifts, as well as stress patterns. Additionally, the study investigates how loanwords are integrated grammatically, analyzing gender assignment, pluralization, and inflection. Findings reveal that while loanwords generally conform to native German grammatical rules, exceptions exist, particularly in gender assignment and pluralization. The study also highlights the influence of globalization, especially through English loanwords in business and technology, which often retain their original pronunciation and pluralization. These results contribute to the understanding of language contact, borrowing, and adaptation in a globalized linguistic environment.

An Analysis of Lukabaras Borrowed Verbs from English

English as an official language, has come in contact with indigenous languages in Kenya. English has therefore become one of the major donors of loanwords to these indigenous languages, Lukabaras being one of the beneficiaries. This study investigated the morpho-phonological constraints that English loan verbs encounter when adapting into Lukabaras. The research utilized Lukabaras native speakers as respondents to elicit data. A purposive sampling technique was employed to select a sample of 15 English loan verbs, which were then analyzed descriptively based on the tenets of Optimality Theory which states that constraints are universal and are fixed in their ranking and apply to all languages. The loan verbs were transcribed, and the study first analyzed the morphological constraints, followed by the phonological constraints. The findings reveal that English and Lukabaras have different morphological and phonological structures, leading to modifications of English loan verbs to fit the morphological and phonological patterns of Lukabaras. Additionally, the study identifies specific morpho-phonological constraints affecting the adaptation of English loan verbs into Lukabaras, including NOCODA, COMPLEX C, MAX IO, ONSET, DEP IO, IDENT IO, DEP-PREF, DEP-SUFFIX, and ALIGN left edge. Furthermore, faithful constraints are ranked higher than markedness constraints in Lukabaras. The study’s findings contribute to the understanding of morpho-phonological adaptation processes in language contact scenarios. Overall, the study’s findings align with the theoretical framework provided by OT, illustrating how languages manage the integration of foreign elements through a balance of faithfulness and markedness constraints. These findings not only enhance the understanding of loanword adaptation in Lukabaras but also contribute to the broader field of language contact and borrowing, providing a detailed case study of how specific constraints operate in a real-world linguistic context.

How do penguins differ from kangaroos? Pluralization of vowel-final loan nouns in Hebrew

The study examines variation in the pluralization of Hebrew loan nouns that end with a vowel. Most loan nouns take the plural suffix - im with no variation, while loan nouns that end with vowels other than a show variation with respect to deleting and not deleting the final vowel. Hebrew native nouns that end with vowels other than a are relatively rare and therefore the Hebrew morphological mechanism is not accustomed to pluralizing them. The paper proposes a hierarchy that predicts which vowels are more or less likely to be deleted. It is based on the accessibility of deletion in existing pluralization paradigms within native words, in addition to the interaction of markedness and faithfulness constraints. The study provides further support for the claim that the mechanism of word formation takes into account not only the word itself but also its relations to other words in a paradigm. In addition, it sheds light on morphological adaptation of loanwords and provides predictions with respect to their degree of integration.

Anglicyzmy w konfrontatywnym nauczaniu języka rosyjskiego

Russian language acquisition by Polish students is understood as effective and appropriate interaction in various conversational situations. This requires specific habits in the use of the contemporary Russian linguistic system. The use of a language can be examined in a natural communicative situation, which needs informal, spoken language. The usage of English loanwords in spoken Polish and Russian is frequent, which is why the characteristics of spoken language in contemporary spoken Russian and Polish needs to be examined. Research conducted on a group of Polish, Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian Youtubers shows that their speech contains some specific derivatives which are characteristic of colloquial Russian and Polish. It also contains groups of English loanwords: assimilated nouns, verb and adjective derivatives with productive suffixes. The study shows that English loanword adaptation differs in Polish and Russian, which reveals system differences between two related languages. Comparison of the most productive word formation processes in Russian and Polish can help to overcome language interference and improve the teaching of Russian to Polish students in general.

Consonantal Debuccalization and Deletion in Minangkabau

While there are many useful studies on Indonesian native phonology and loanword phonology, none has yet explored Minangkabau loanword phonology in depth. Therefore, based on a list of 52 well-established native Indonesian loanwords elicited from 10 adult native speakers of Minangkabau and verified by native speakers and transcribed in IPA, and within the ambit of Optimality Theory, this paper aims to investigate the following research questions: What are the phonotactic repair strategies employed in Minangkabau to adapt these words? Why are they triggered? Are they phonologically or phonetically driven? And why? The study finds that the two observed repairs are consonantal debuccalization and consonantal deletion, which are both employed in order to fulfill the phonotactic conditions of Minangkabau. In Minangkabau, obstruent and liquid consonants are disallowed word-finally; as a result, word-final voiceless stops /p, t, k/ in native Indonesian words are debuccalized into the glottal stop /ʔ/, and the voiceless fricative /s/ into the glottal fricative /h/. However, unlike word-final obstruents, the word-final liquid consonants /r, l/ in native Indonesian words are adapted through deletion when entering Minangkabau. The results, moreover, show that that the above repair strategies are guided by phonology rather than phonetics; that is to say, among others, they are guided by coda restrictions in Minangkabau phonotactics in terms of word-final obstruent and liquid consonants. Finally, by presenting evidence from Minangkabau in favor of the phonological stance, it is believed that the paper contributes to the significant debate as to whether loanword adaptation is phonological or phonetic.

English Lexical Borrowing in Filipino: Morphophonological Adaptation of English Lexemes and Loanwords

English has profoundly influenced the Philippine language through the assimilation of source language words into the recipient language. This linguistic exchange, influenced by historical and cultural contacts, has resulted in a notable transformation of linguistic aspects in the Philippines. Over time, English has seamlessly been incorporated into the Filipino language, highlighting a notable process of linguistic exchange. This study specifically delved into the morphological and phonological adaptations of English loanwords in Filipino, examining nuances and shifts in linguistic structure and meaning during the borrowing process through purposive sampling. Qualitative research methods and content analysis were employed, focusing on loanwords extracted from Bob Ong’s novels as a linguistic corpus, delving into the process of incorporating English loanwords into the Filipino language, exploring how this integration instigates a transformation to align with the grammatical and linguistic structure of the target language, and revealing notable morphophonological adaptations and semantic shifts that occur during the borrowing process. Inflections of English lexemes, complemented with Filipino morphemes, were observed, along with modifications to phonological rules, phonotactic constraints, morphemes, and shifts in semantic meaning. The analysis revealed an overall change in the morphophonological structure of phrases and sentences within the corpus. This research underscores the impact of cultural and contextual factors on the adaptation of English loanwords into Filipino, emphasizing specific patterns or structures in the vocabulary borrowing process tailored to the target language. This study contributes valuable insights for linguistic researchers, educators, and language enthusiasts interested in tracing language development and evolution through borrowing and adaptation.

A socio-phonetic study of English loanword adaptation in Colloquial Egyptian Arabic

The current study investigates the effect of gender, age, and English educational background on English loanword adaptation in colloquial Egyptian Arabic (CEA). The phonetic and phonological effects of these social variables are studied with respect to segments, syllables, and voicing exemplified in voice onset time (VOT). The speech sample consists of 120 well-established and online English loanwords collected from 60 native speakers of CEA from Alexandria. The results show that the source sounds are mapped to the closest phonemes. The adaptation of the syllables shows constructions that are not attested in CEA, specifically the complex onsets. Among the participant’s level of English education, age, and gender, only the impact of the English educational background is statistically significant. The results revealed no significant differences in the adaptation of the different age or gender groups. However, observation shows that the adult speakers showed the highest rate of faithful adaptation. Regarding gender, females tend to be more concerned with prestige and thus used more faithful adaptation.

Anglų kalbos internacionalizavimo procesas Ukrainos švietimo paradigmoje

The research is devoted to the study of the problem of English loanword adaptation in the Ukrainian youth slang as a result of innovative processes in the educational system caused by the flow of language globalization. The globalization of the English language as a result of the information revolution and of all human activity is an unprecedented phenomenon in the world language system that is altering widely held beliefs about literacy and foreign languages. The main hypothesis of the study is an increase in the number of borrowed words in the speech of the Ukrainian youth. The paper attempts to analyze the trends in the use of the loanwords that have Ukrainian one-word equivalents over 5 years, from 2016 to 2021. To obtain data on the use of loanwords, respondents aged 15–17 (school pupils), 18–20 (university students), and 21–23 (university graduates) have been interviewed. According to the problems mentioned, the article aims to describe the use of English loanwords in the Ukrainian language caused by language globalization. The study intends to explore whether Ukrainian speakers prefer to use English loanwords instead of the Ukrainian equivalents that are connected with the role of English in the educational system and whether gender is a significant factor in the use and further assimilation of English loanwords.

Phonology and Attrition: Sociolinguistics of (Ukrainian) Sound Perception

Abstract This article’s research question is to explore the role of sociolinguistic factors in combination with phonology-driven perception. The preliminary hypothesis is that sociolinguistic factors like bilingualism and L2 interference (attrition, as in de Leeuw, E., Chang, C. 2023) may have a decisive role in the process of sound perception and is based on the example of English-Czech/Slovak and English-Ukrainian loanword adaptation cases involving the phonemes /ɡ/, /h/, /ɦ/, and /x/: Czech and Slovak speakers adapt [h] as [ɦ] while Ukrainian speakers tend to adapt the same phoneme as [x] despite having /ɦ/ in their phonological inventory. This tendency seems to correlate with phonological attrition (L2 interference of Russian) and has been a topic of active discussions, especially so since the 2022 full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The research method is based on a questionnaire with audio samples containing both already existing and made-up proper names and words. Half of the test vocabulary units are designed to contain the chosen sounds, the rest of the units are represented by established, already existing, names, and units that do not contain the chosen sounds to provide a cover for the experiment. The respondents are asked to listen to the audio samples and write down the units as they hear them using Ukrainian alphabet. The respondents were provided with a fake description, and a fake goal of the experiment to exclude possible bias.

ТУРЦИЗМИ И ГЕРМАНИЗМИ У ЛЕКСИКОГРАФСКОМ РАДУ ЈАКШЕ ДИНИЋА: СЕМАНТИЧКА АДАПТАЦИЈА

The subject of the paper is the semantic adaptation of Turkish and German loanwords in the lexicographic work of Jakša Dinić, which is related to the area of the Timoč-Lužnica dialect. The material is taken from the following dictionaries: Dictionary of the Timok Dialect (DINIĆ 2008), Additions of Dictionary of the Timok Dialect (DINIĆ 2019) and Words and expressions of the traditional diet of the population of the Knjaževac area (DINIĆ 2020). Due to limited space, only nouns denoting something inanimate (object, space, food, clothing, footwear, means of transport, measure, musical instrument, etc.) were taken into consideration. The analyzed corpus includes 127 loanwords. For the purposes of this paper, 49 were selected. The meanings they have in the giving language are determined using the following dictionaries: Türkҫe-Sirpҫa Sӧzlük (ĐINĐIĆ, TEODOSIJEVIĆ i dr. 1997), Illustrated German-Serbian dictionary (JOVANOVIĆ, CIKORA 2003) and German-Serbian and Serbian-German Dictionary: (with German Grammar) (POPOVIĆ 2005). The paper has the following aims: 1) to compare the dialectal meanings with the meanings in the giving language based on the analysis of vocabulary material and 2) to determine whether there has been a change in meaning in the dialect. Based on the analysis of vocabulary, we came to the following results: 1) replica and model are semantically matched in all contexts, 2) replica has a narrower meaning than model, 3) the replica narrows the meaning in relation to the model, and then expands the meaning, 4) replica has a broader meaning than model and 5) replica and model do not match in meaning.

Jutuber, Jutjuber or Yutjuber

New concepts are constantly being borrowed across languages. The influence of one language on another can occur on all linguistic levels, with lexis being the most sensitive. Croatian has become most receptive to borrowing from English, and the influence of English on Croatian has been documented in different functional styles. The prestigious status of English, which reduces the likelihood that a borrowed element will adapt to the rules of the recipient language, is one of the reasons why English has become an inexhaustible source of new words for Croatian learners. The aim of the present study is to investigate the use of adapted forms of English loanwords in Croatian, with particular attention to the type and degree of their adaptation. Due to the differences between the phonemic systems of the two languages, it was expected that the Croatian learners would show diversity in their responses regarding loanword adaptation. A translation task with the 392 most frequently used unadapted English loanwords in Croatian was given to 116 undergraduate students at the Faculty of Maritime Studies. The data showed that the participants preferred the unadapted forms to the adapted forms of English. They were also more inclined to orthographically adapt a loanword, than to adapt it both orthographically and morphologically. The differences observed in orthographic adaptation reflect the underlying differences in the phonemic systems of the two languages. Overall, the results suggest that the unadapted forms of English words have become established in Croatian and are a preferred lexical choice among younger L1 speakers of Croatian.

An Optimality Theory Account of Phonological Adaptations of English Loanwords to Ng’aturukana (Turkana) Language

An Optimality Theory Account of Phonological Adaptations of English Loanwords to Ng’aturukana (Turkana) Language

Loanword adaptation of Japanese consonants in Kavalan

Abstract This paper is a first attempt to investigate loanword adaptation of Japanese consonants in Kavalan. Based on first hand data, the paper shows that when a Japanese consonant is adapted as the closest Kavalan consonant, the manner features are of higher phonological weight and are more faithfully retained than the place and voicing features. It is shown that for adaptations involving a change in the place of articulation, the change is generally minimal and confined within the same major place feature. This is except for the [ɸ] > [h] and the [ç] > [h] mappings which involve a change from [Lab] and [Cor] to [Phar]. It is argued that although the [ɸ] > [h] and the [ç] > [h] mappings may seem to suggest that loanword adaptation in Kavalan is based on phoneme-to-phoneme mappings, the adaptations of Japanese affricates and the word-medial nasal codas suggest otherwise; the change is in fact driven by place markedness. Together with the fact that native Kavalan phonotactics also plays a role in shaping the non-native sounds perceived, this paper argues that Kavalan loanword adaptation is best accounted for by a loanword theory which takes into account both perception and phonology.

L2 Proficiency Level Influences Loanword Adaptation: Variable Adaptation of English Co-occurrence of Low Vowel and Nasal Into Mandarin

As the most commonly established and attested language contact phenomenon, loanwords, also known as lexical borrowings, may undergo transformations when borrowed from the source language (SL) to the borrowing language (BL). Previous studies have separately illustrated the role of perception and phonology in the borrowing process. However, the speech perception or phonology contributes more to the adaptation pattern in some cases than others. Few studies attempt to explain this phenomenon. To fill in the gap, the present study hypothesizes that differences in borrowers’ L2 proficiency level of the SL are the potential source. To examine this hypothesis, an online adaptation experiment was designed and conducted. The experiment examines how Mandarin Chinese native speakers adapt the English non-words ended in the combination of low vowel and nasal coda. The results suggest that BL monolinguals and less proficient L2 learners of the SL tend to use a phonetic mapping strategy guided by the backness of vowels, while advanced learners of the SL are more likely to adopt a phonological mapping strategy based on coda nasal place. This paper concludes by proposing that borrowers’ L2 proficiency level has an effect on the certain randomized variations in the process of loanword adaptation.

Tracing the evolution of the gender of “COVID-19” in the French of three continents: A traditional and social media study

AbstractIn this article, we document the gender of the noun “COVID-19” in a database of more than 76,000 tweets and in traditional media (approximately 500,000 articles) in French as spoken in Africa, (North) America and Europe. We find that North American media comply near-categorically with the recommendations of the feminine by the World Health Organization and local linguistic authorities in March 2020. The majority of North American tweets follow suit soon after. The African data show an increase of articles and tweets adopting the feminine after the Académie française's recommendation in May 2020. Finally, the feminine is negligible in the European data. We argue that among the factors at play are dialect-specific differences in French gender and loanword adaptation; the complex relationship among linguistic authorities, the public, and local media; and the relative delay in the Académie française's recommendation of the feminine.

Language Interconnectedness for Strategic Relations: The Case of Indonesian and Kiswahili

In 1955 Indonesia hosted the Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung whose outcome was the Bandung Spirit whence many countries attained their independence and came together to walk hand-in-glove. Indonesia and Tanzania established diplomatic relations in 1964. The friendship between the two countries is built on a very solid foundation laid down by the founding fathers, the late Soekarno and the late Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere respectively. The fathers are credited for the promotion of the use of national languages as unifying factors for the otherwise linguistic plural nations. While Nyerere advocated for Kiswahili, Soekarno advocated for Bahasa Indonesia.
 Purpose: The study aims to investigate whether the Arabic language element in the two languages can be exploited to facilitate the two countries’ zest to reach out to each other and in so doing give a credit due to what the respective founding fathers fought for.
 Methodology: To achieve this goal, the researcher controlled for language as a cultural element in diplomatic relations. Kiswahili and Indonesian standard speakers assisted in formulating the compatibility. Dictionaries (English-Indonesian, Indonesian-Arabic, and Kiswahili-Arabic) in their hard and online forms were a source for true and false cognates.
 Findings: The results show that most of the Arabic loan words in the two languages have retained the same meanings as their Arabic origin. There is a strong Arabic language element in the two languages. To that effect, it may not be difficult for an Indonesian to learn Kiswahili as it may also not be difficult for a Tanzanian to learn Indonesian. There are words which are spelt similarly with similar meanings (true cognates), there are words which are spelt similarly with differing meanings (false cognates)-action can be taken to avoid the situation similar to the case of the Tower of Babel depicted in the Bible and there are very true cognates which can be easily recognized through the intonations.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The results of the study are expected to be beneficial for semantic studies in terms of adaptation of loan words, to encourage researchers on Bahasa Indonesia and Kiswahili in lieu of the fact that the latter has gained very much international acclaim and that the two countries have of late expressed strong zest to reach out to each other. Reciprocity in the knowledge of each other’s language shall add impetus to the zeal to reach out.

ANALYSIS OF NOUNS WITHIN THE LEXICAL-SEMANTIC FIELD ‘PERSONAL COMPUTING DEVICES’

This paper clarifies the concept of personal computing devices, which establishes boundaries and describes the structure of a given lexical-semantic field. The material of this study is lexemes beyond the pure professional discourse. Anglicisms had a great influence on nominations in the computer field. And the positive adaptations of loanwords were observed in Russian: word-formative derivation, calquing, game paronymic attraction, metaphorical comprehension. Semantic derivation of Russian usual lexemes is also possible. All this testifies to the significant word-formation and cognitive potential of the modern Russian language.

Mental Representation of Multiple Default Plurals: Evidence from the Adaptation of English Loanwords in Arabic

The present work argues for the existence of multiple default regularities of plural formation in Arabic. As evidenced in the corpus of loanword adaptation in Jordanian Arabic, this study calls for a reassessment of the treatment of idiosyncratic plural forms in the mental lexicon. This investigation is in line with the dual mechanism theory where both memory and rule are active, but with more reliance on the default rule (feminine sound plural –aat) over memory (broken plural patterns). This avoidance of broken plural, which is less predictable and less transparent, is explained by a limited mental lexicon that defines such loanwords and thus blocks a successful mapping of the broken plural’s inflection in the memory. The failure of broken plural retrieval, especially with words that do not match the canonical root system (tri-consonantal), calls for the application of the default feminine sound plural, the most productive, transparent, and regular formation. As a result, frequency and memory association predicted by prosodic similarity between loanwords and the broken plural patterns do not contribute to avoiding the default -aat overgeneralization in the short term.

ANGLICISMS AS A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION IN PROFESSIONAL 
 ENVIRONMENT

In linguistic papers devoted to the problems of borrowings the following issues are as a rule of researchers’ interest: the level of the language adaptation of loan words as well as means of borrowing. In the given article the purpose is different, and namely, to elicit historical, social and political reasons of English borrowings. The phenomenon of anglicism is considered from the viewpoint of professional activity. The authors have chosen the spheres that are most representative in terms of anglicism, i.e., economy including IT, banking, PR and advertising, marketing, insurance; politics, and sport. Novelty of the research consists in the attempt to explore the reasons for English borrowings differently, each sphere in turn. Classification of anglicisms is done bases on the causes.

Perceptual effects on the interpretation of English stops by Taiwan Mandarin speakers

AbstractGiven relevant experimental evidence and language universals, this paper investigates the adaptation patterns of English stops in Taiwan Mandarin and argues in favor of the substantial existence of the perceptual phase in loanword adaptation, counter toParadis & Tremblay’s (2009)phonological view on a similar issue. The statistically based results from a corpus of established loanwords support the view that interpretation of foreign stops is largely conditioned by a handful of perceptual factors, i.e., syllable position, aspiration and voicing, sonority, and the masking effect of [s]. These effects serve as part of the perceptual cues and function with the structural constraints at the level of perception, which generates an underlying representation that awaits evaluation at the level of production.