Loan Words
The article "English, loanword champion o the world!" describes how loanwords are introduced into different languages and why English is the most popular language to borrow from.
I found that this article was very helpful to me because it introduced several new linguistic terms and it helped me understand how English became a global influence. It mainly helped me by defining the term "loanword' which I frequently confuse the meaning of. Loanwords refer to the word used in a familiar language that came from a foreign language, not a word from a foreign language which came from a familiar language. To use it in context, an English loanword would be lingerie which is borrowed from French. A Japanese loanword that was borrowed from English would be pokémon which is derived from "pocket monster."
Another interesting term that I discovered was "calques," which is word for words that come into a language which lacks the accommodations to adapt the foreign sounds into their vocabulary and instead directly translate the foreign word with words from their own language. This is especially common in Chinese which uses a non-alphabetic writing system. If English were to use calques from Chinese, the word for glasses would be "eye mirror," volcano would be "fire mountain," and pumpkin would be "southern melon."
While I was reading this article, I was surprised that there were efforts from organizations and even governments to prevent English from further influencing the local languages. English loanwords are viewed as a threat to the decline of their culture, so they act by reinforcing the use of words native to the language. It is argued that loanwords may actually help the continuation of a language. It's theorized that shunning away from the influences of other cultures may make the language less appealing to learners. One of the main threats of language extinction are the neighboring languages that dominate the region.
I found that this article was very helpful to me because it introduced several new linguistic terms and it helped me understand how English became a global influence. It mainly helped me by defining the term "loanword' which I frequently confuse the meaning of. Loanwords refer to the word used in a familiar language that came from a foreign language, not a word from a foreign language which came from a familiar language. To use it in context, an English loanword would be lingerie which is borrowed from French. A Japanese loanword that was borrowed from English would be pokémon which is derived from "pocket monster."
Another interesting term that I discovered was "calques," which is word for words that come into a language which lacks the accommodations to adapt the foreign sounds into their vocabulary and instead directly translate the foreign word with words from their own language. This is especially common in Chinese which uses a non-alphabetic writing system. If English were to use calques from Chinese, the word for glasses would be "eye mirror," volcano would be "fire mountain," and pumpkin would be "southern melon."
While I was reading this article, I was surprised that there were efforts from organizations and even governments to prevent English from further influencing the local languages. English loanwords are viewed as a threat to the decline of their culture, so they act by reinforcing the use of words native to the language. It is argued that loanwords may actually help the continuation of a language. It's theorized that shunning away from the influences of other cultures may make the language less appealing to learners. One of the main threats of language extinction are the neighboring languages that dominate the region.
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