Causes and ways of borrowings

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Causes and ways of borrowings

In its 15 century long history recorded in written manuscripts the English language happened to come in long and close contact with several other languages, mainly Latin, French and Old Norse (or Scandinavian). The great influx of borrowings from these sources can be accounted for by a number of historical causes. Due to the great influence of the Roman civilization Latin was for a long time used in England as the language of learning and religion. Old Norse was the language the conquerors who were on the same level of social and cultural development and who merged rather easily with the local population in the 9^th, 10^th ant the first half of the 11^th century.

French (to be more exact its Norman dialect) was the language of the other conquerors who brought with them a lot of new notions of a higher social system - developed feudalism, it was the language of upper classes, official documents and school instruction from the middle of the 11^th century to the end of the 14^th century.

In the study of the borrowed elements in English the main emphasis is as a rule placed on the Middle English period. Borrowings of the later periods became the object of investigation only in recent years. This investigations have shown that the flow of borrowings has been stead and uninterrupted. The greatest number has come from French. They refer to various fields of social - political, scientific and the cultural life. A large portion of borrowings (41%) is scientific and technical terms.

The number and character of borrowed words tell us of the relations between peoples, the level of their culture, etc. It is for this reason that borrowings have often been called the milestones of history. Thus if we go through the lists of borrowings in English and arrange them in groups according to their meaning, we shall be able to obtain much valuable information with regard to England's contacts with many nations. Some borrowings, however, cannot be explained by the direct influence of certain historical conditions, they do not come along with any new objects or ideas. Such were for instance the words air, place, brave, gay borrowed from French.

It must be pointed out that while the general historical causes of borrowing from different languages have been studied with a considerable degree of thoroughness the purely linguistic reasons for borrowing are still open to investigation.

The number and character of borrowings do not only depend on the historical conditions, on the nature and length of the contacts, but also on the degree of the genetic and structural proximity of languages concerned. The closer the languages, the deeper and more versatile is the influence. This largely accounts for the well - marked contrast between the French and Scandinavian influence on the English language. Thus under the influence of the Scandinavian languages, which were closely related to Old English, some classes of words were borrowed that couldn't have been adopted from a non - related or distantly related languages (the pronouns they, them, their, for instance), a number of Scandinavian borrowings were felt as derived from native words (they were of the same root and the connection between them was easily seen), e.g. drop (AS.) - drip (Scand.), true (AS.) - tryst (Scand), the Scandinavian influence even accelerated to a certain degree the development of the grammatical structure of English.

Borrowings enter the language into ways: through oral speech (by immediate contact between the peoples) and through written speech (by indirect contact through books, etc.).

Oral borrowing took place chiefly in the early periods of history, where as in recent times written borrowing gained importance. Words borrowed orally (e.g. L. inch, mill, street) are usually short and they undergo considerable changes in the act of adoption. Written borrowings (e.g. Fr. Communiquй, belles - letters, naпvetй) preserve their spelling and some peculiarities of their sound - form, their assimilation is a long and laborious process.

Criteria of borrowings

Though borrowed words undergo change in the adopting language they preserve some of their former peculiarities for a comparatively long period. This makes it possible to work out some criteria for determining whether the word belongs to the borrowed element.

The morphological structure of the word and its grammatical form may also bear witness to the word being adopted from another language. Thus the suffixes in the words neurosis (Gr.) and violoncello (It.) betray the foreign origin of the words. The same is true of the irregular plural forms papyria (from papyrus Gr.), pastorali (from pastorale, It.), bacteria (from bacterium, L.) and the like.

Last but not least is the lexical meaning of the word. Thus the concept denoted by the words riscksha(w), pagoda (Chin.) make us suppose that we deal with borrowings.

These criteria are not always helpful. Some early borrowings have become so thoroughly assimilated that they are unrecognizable without a historical analysis, e.g. chalk, mile (L.), ill, ugly (Scand.), enemy, etc. It must also be taken into consideration that the closer the relation between the languages, the more difficult it is to distinguish borrowings.

Sometimes the form of the word and its meaning in Modern English unable us to tell the immediate source of borrowing. Thus if the digraph sh is sounded as [], the word is a late French borrowing (as in echelon, chef); if it stands for [k], it came through Greek (archaic, architect, chronology); if it is pronounced as [t], it is either an early borrowing (chase, OFr.; cherry, L.), or a word of Anglo-Saxon origin (choose, child, chin).

Assimilation of Borrowings

It is now essential to analyze the changes that borrowings have undergone in the English language and how they have adapted themselves to its peculiarities.

All the changes that borrowed elements undergo may be divided into two large groups.

On the one hand there are changes specific of borrowed words only. These changes aim at adapting words of foreign origin to the norms of the borrowing language, e.g. the consonant combinations [pn], [ps], [pt] in the words pneumatics, psychology, Ptolemey of Greek origin were simplified into [n], [s], [t], since the consonant combinations [ps], [pt], [pn], very frequent at the end of English words (as in sleeps, stopped, etc.), were never used in the initial [ks] was changed into [z] (as in Gr. Xylophone).

The suffixes - ar, - or, - ator in early Latin borrowings were replaced by the highly productive Old English swuffix - ere, as in L. Caesar - OE., Casere; L. sutor - OE. sutere.

By analogy with the great majority of nouns that form their plural - s, borrowings, even very recent ones, have assumed this inflection instead of their original plural endings.

On the other hand we observe changes that are characteristic of both borrowed and native words. These changes are due to the development of the word according to the laws of the given language. When the highly inflected Old English system of declension changed into the simpler system of Middle English, early borrowings conformed with the general rule. Under the influence of the so-called inflexional leveling borrowings like disc (Mn.E dish) that had a number of grammatical forms in Old English acquired only three forms in Middle English: common case and possessive case singular and plural (fellow, fellowes, fellowes).

It is very important to discriminate between the two processes - the adaptation of borrowed material to the norms of the language and the development of these words according to the laws of the language.

This differentiation is not always easily discernible. In most cases it must resort to historical analysis before we can draw any definite. There is nothing in the form of the words procession and progression to show that the former was already used in England in the 11^th century, the latter not till the 15^th century. The history of these words reveals that the word procession has undergone a number of changes alongside with other English words (change in declension, accentuation, structure, sounds), Whereas the word progression underwent some changes by analogy with the word procession and other similar words already at the time of its appearance in the language.

Phonetic, Grammatical and Lexical Assimilation of Borrowings

Since the process of assimilation of borrowings includes changes in sound-form, morphological structure, grammar, characteristics, meaning and usage. Linguists distinguish phonetic, grammatical and lexical assimilation of borrowings.

Phonetic assimilation comprising changes in sound-form and stress is perhaps the most conspicuous.

Sounds that were alien to the English language were fitted into its scheme of sounds. For instance, the long [e] and [е] in recent French borrowings, alien to English speech, are rendered with the help of [ei] (as in the words communiquй, chaussйe, cafй).

Familiar sounds or sound combinations the position of which was strange to the English language, were replaced by other sounds or sound combinations to make the words conform to the norms of the language, e.g. German spitz [pits] was turned into English [spits]. Substitution of native sounds for foreign ones usually takes place in the very act of borrowing. But some words retain their foreign pronunciation for a long time before the unfamiliar sounds are replaced by similar native sounds.

Even when a borrowed word seems at first sight to be identical in form with its immediate etymon as OE. skill < Scand. skil; OE. scinn < Scand. skinn; the phonetic structure of the word undergoes some changes, since every language as well as every period in the history of a language is characterized by its own pedculiarities in the articulation of sounds.

In words that were added to English from foreign sources, especially from French or Latin, the accent was gradually transferred to the first syllable. Thus words like honour, reason were accented on the same principle as the native father, mother.

Grammatical Assimilation. Usually as soon as words from other languages were introduced into English they lost their former grammatical categories and paradigms and acquired new grammatical categories and paradigms by analogy with other English words.

However, there are some words in Modern English that have for centuries retained their foreign inflexions. Thus a considerable group of borrowed nouns, all of them terms or literary words adopted in the 16^th century or later, have preserved their original plural inflexion to this day, e.g. phenomenon (L.) - phenomena. Other borrowings of the same period have two plural forms - the native and the foreign, e.g. vacuum (L.) - vacua, vacuums, virtuoso (It.) - virtuosi, virtuosos.

All borrowings that were composite in structure in their native language appeared in English as indivisible simple words, unless there were already words with the same morphemes in it, e.g. in the word saunter the French infinitive inflexion - er is retained, but it has changed its quality, it is preserved in all the other grammatical forms of the word (cf. saunters, sauntered, sauntering), which means that it has become part of the stem in English.

Sometimes in borrowed words foreign affixes are replaced by those available in the English language, e.g. the inflexion - us in Latin adjectives was replaced in English with the suffixes - ous or - al: L. barbarous > E. barbarous; L. botanicus > E. botanical.

Lexical Assimilation. When a word is taken over into another language, its semantic structure as a rule undergoes great changes.

Polysemantic words are usually adopted only in one or two of their meanings. Thus the word timbre that had a number of meanings in French was borrowed into English as a musical term only. The words cargo and cask, highly polysemantic in Spanish, were adopted only in one of their meanings - `the goods carried in a ship', `a barrel for holding liquids' respectively.

In the process of its historical development a borrowing sometimes acquired new meanings that were not to be found in its former semantic structure. For instance, the verb move in Modern English has developed the meanings of `propose', `change one's flat', `mix with people'. The word scope, which originally had the meaning of `aim, purpose', now means `ability to understand', `the field within which an activity takes place, sphere', `opportunity, freedom of action'. As a rule the development of new meanings takes place 50-100 years after the word is borrowed.

The semantic structure of borrowings changes in other ways as well. Some meanings become more general, others more specialized, etc. For instance, the word terrorist, that was taken over from French in the meaning of `Jacobin', widened its meaning to `one who governs, or opposes a government by violent means'. The word umbrella, borrowed in the meaning of a `sunshade' or `parasol' (from It. ombrella < ombra - `shade') came to denote similar protection from the rain as well.

Usually the primary meaning of a borrowed word is retained throughout its history, but sometimes it becomes a secondary meaning. Thus the Scandinavian borrowings wing, root, take and many others have retained their primary meanings to the present day, whereas in the OE. fлola e (Mn.E. fellow) which was borrowed from the same source in the meaning of `comrade, companion', the primary meaning has receded to the background and was replaced by the meaning that appeared in New English `a man or a boy'.

Sometimes change of meaning is the result of associating borrowed words with familiar words which somewhat resemble them in sound but which are not at all related. This process, which is termed f o l k e t y m o l o g y, often changes the form of the word in whole or in part, so as to bring it nearer to the word or words with which it is thought to be connected, e.g. the French verb sur(o) under had the meaning of `overflow'. In English - r(o) under was associated by mistake with round and the verb was interpreted as meaning `enclose on all sides, encircle' (Mn.E. surround).

Folk - etymologization is a slow process; people first attempt to give the foreign borrowing its foreign pronunciation, but gradually popular use evolves a new pronunciation and spelling.

The role of loan words in the formation and development of English vocabulary is dealt with in the history of the language. It is there that the historical circumstances are discussed under which words borrowed from Latin, from Scandinavian dialects, from Norman and Parisian French and many other languages, including Russian, were introduced into English. Lexicology, on the other hand, has in this connection tasks of its own, being chiefly concerned with the material and the results of assimilation.

Etymological Doublets

The changes a loan word has had to undergo depending on the date of its penetration are the main cause for the existence of the so-called etymological doublets. Etymological doublets (or, by ellipsis, simply doublets) are two or more words of the same basic word. They differ to a certain degree in form, meaning and current usage. Two words of at present slightly differentiated in meaning may have originally been dialectal variants of the same word. Thus we find in doublets traces of Old English dialects. Examples are whole (in old sense of `healthy' or `free from disease') and hale. The latter has survived in its original meaning and is preserved in the phrase hale and hearty. Other doublets that for the most part justify their names by coming in pairs in their various ways the influence of the language or dialect systems which they passed before entering the English vocabulary. Compare words borrowed in Middle English from Parisian French: chase, chieftain, chattels, guard, gage with their doublets of Norman French origin: catch, captain, cattle, ward, wage.

International Words

As the process of borrowing is mostly connected with the appearance of new notions which the loan words serve to express, it is but natural that the borrowing is seldom limited to one language. Words of identical origin that occur in several languages as a result of simultaneous borrowings from one ultimate source are called international words. A few examples of comparatively new words due to the progress of science will suffice to illustrate the type: antenna, antibiotic, atomic and many others show sufficient likeness in English, French, Russsian and several other languages.

Summary

borrowing culture assimilation word

1. Due to the specific historical development of English, it has adopted many words from other languages, especially from Latin, French and Old Scandinavian, though the number and importance of these borrowings are usually overestimated.

2. The number and character of borrowings in Modern English from various languages depends on the historical conditions and also on the degree of the genetic and structural proximity of the languages in question.

3. Borrowings enter the language through oral speech (mainly in early periods of history) and through written speech (mostly in recent times).

4. In the English language borrowings may be discovered through some peculiarities in pronunciation, spelling, morphological and semantic structures. Sometimes these peculiarities enable us even to discover the immediate source of borrowing.

5. All borrowed words undergo the process of assimilation, i. e. they adjust themselves to the phonetic and lexico-grammatical norms of the language. Phonetic assimilation comprises constitution of native sounds and sound combinations for strange ones and for familiar sounds used in a position strange to the English language, as well as shift of stress. Grammatical assimilation finds expression in the change of grammatical categories and paradigms of borrowed words, change of their morphological structure. Lexical assimilation includes changes in semantic structure and the formation of derivatives.

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