Loanwords in the English language of business

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Introduction - characteristics of the language of economics

The language of economics serves many purposes. It provides the members of an economic community, such as customers, investors or bankers, with the tools needed to discuss various business issues. What is more, this sublanguage is not only used by specialists who belong to a restricted and linguistically homogeneous group, since we all take part in economic relations in direct and indirect ways. In short, the language of economics is closely related to general language use.

This is certainly the case with the language of economics as economics as such determines much of our everyday life since we all take part in economic life by being employers, employees, customers etc.

Several important characteristics shape the current state of economic discourse. The most important feature is globalization, especially in the economic sphere. However, this process is not a new phenomenon since mercantile contacts were popular even in the communities which existed many centuries ago. These commercial relations influenced the linguistic behavior of those community members. We should remember that goods, techniques or fashions, although very important in intercultural exchange, do not govern the structure of these cultures. It is the language itself which influences not only other tongues but also the way a given populace speaks. The most remarkable sources of these influences are loanwords.

As Milroy states, linguistic innovation is accomplished by persons who have many ties within the community but who simultaneously have a large number of outside contacts. That is why so many loanwords appear in the language of economics, which is, and always was, determined by intercultural contacts as well as by inner communication within a given community.

Loanwords

english language loanword economic

With respect to the emergence of loanwords, Platt et al. observe that linguistic contacts between languages result in the incorporation of some words coming from other tongues. Thus, the process of adopting foreign words is not monolithic. This process affects all languages, dialects, and jargons to different degrees and ways since the communities who speak those languages do not function in isolation.

There are several reasons why loanwords occur in languages. First of all, a new word is introduced into a target culture when it can be coherent with the incorporating environment. There are also several stages connected with adapting loanwords.

The process as such depends on the following factors:

1) how the recipient language has developed;

2) to what extent speakers are `nationally conscious”;

3) international preferences;

4) philological knowledge and understanding difficulties in language comprehension

As far as the borrowed words are concerned, we can classify their use by using the typology from Platt et al.

The most popular words are:

1. occasionally but haphazardly used;

2. used more frequently by a number of speakers (stabilizing loan words);

3. used or recognized by most speakers (stabilized loan words).

In this work, I am focusing primarily on the terms known by most users, i.e. those with conventionalized status in the lexicon. My aim is to study the influence of foreign languages on English.

Loanwords in the English language of business

Many studies of the language of business show the importance of English in the process of acquiring loanwords from other languages. For example, there is research which underlines the role of English in shaping Latvian, French business vocabulary or the German economic lexicon. The dominant position of English promotes globalization, and globalization reinforces the use of English.

However, in this paper an attempt will be made to show that not only does English determine the state of other languages, but also other languages influence the shape of English.

The complete list of collected terms consists of 300 words and phrases which come from different languages. The research material is classified according to the language the terms come from and the area of economics they are used in They were found in various books on economic issues which were printed between 1982 and 2008 (detailed list of these materials is presented in the research materials section). It should be noted that the economic lexicon comprises words coming from other areas of study, such as law, and thus its lexicon is not homogeneous. What is more, some economic terms became part of the standard lexicon. Consequently, some terms may be treated by some scientists as not necessarily purely economic. To prove that the discussed words and phrases represent economics, I compiled the corpus exclusively by taking into consideration books on economics or dictionaries of economic terms. These sources help us to discuss important trends in the development of the discussed modern English economic lexicon. As has been already stated, the aim of this research is to study language distribution within the English economic lexicon as well as to decide which languages determine each studied economic subdomain.

The author groups all the discussed terms according to the language they come from, starting from the languages which donated the most terms (French, Latin, Japanese, Italian, Greek, Spanish, North Germanic Languages, German, Dutch, Yiddish, Assyrian, Persian, Korean). As far as the second research method is concerned, the following 12 categories have been suggested: general business, trade, management, human resources, marketing, accounting, finance (investment funds, securities and subtypes, such as stock market, shares, bonds, options, derivatives, technical analysis), banking (currency), insurance, business law, taxes and real estate (appendix 2). The etymological data denoting the century and the country the terms presented in appendix 1 come from have been gathered from the materials listed in the bibliography section.

It is commonly known that most of the loanwords in English come from French and classical languages According to some studies, 75% of English vocabulary comes from French and Latin. The same feature has been proved in my research since French words constitute 41% of the 300 terms taken into consideration. The second language as far as linguistic input in English is concerned is Latin, which makes up 30% of the studied lexicon. The next one is Japanese with 13% of all studied terms. We can also find words of Greek (4%), Italian (4%), Spanish (2.3%) and North Germanic (1.7%) origin. The last group consists of such languages as Danish, Swedish and Old Norse. Other languages which have influenced the English economic lexicon are as follows: German (1.7%), Dutch (0.7%), Yiddish (0.7%), Assyrian (0.3%), Persian (0.3%) and Korean (0.3%). In the sections which follow I will discuss the most important linguistic donors in greater detail, by presenting some exemplary terms and taking into account the domain of economics which is shaped by a particular language.

Loanwords from French

French words started to appear in English in the eleventh. One of the first words was treasury which was imported in 1137. It is said that between 1066 and 1485, about ten thousand words were incorporated into English, and about seven thousand of them became a part of the English lexicon. During the reign of William I, French nobles took over from English officials and French started to represent a higher social status, whereas English was the language used among the masses. This process of French linguistic dominance started in 1066 and it influenced the vocabulary connected with economics and politics: duke, rent, market, cost, labor, calendar, pay.

At this point, I turn to a discussion of what sort of French words entered the English lexicon. French, which tends to be associated with style and fashion, has had a remarkable influence on these domains in English. It is also noteworthy that French terms are used when some products or services are considered trendy as French words have been imported for their significance of high culture or social status. An example is the use of mobile for telephone instead of the Latin portable or using other French words in the domain of fashion: apparel, costume, or dress. The relation between French and English is very dynamic. As Roey states, some lexical items have gone back and forth, i.e. were first borrowed in English from the French language, then disappeared in French but were later reintroduced from English.

Budget (from Middle French bougette, diminutive form of bougesac, valise) is a case in point.

I cannot discuss all the French loanwords which have heavily influenced many domains of economics. It is the first language donor in general business since almost 60% of terms in this domain are of French origin. The same situation is to be observed in trade, real estate, finance, accounting (about 50%) and business law (almost 40%). To provide the readers with some examples, I will first concentrate on those two domains which rely heavily on French loanwords, namely general business and finance, since French words constitute 54% of all the studied terms in these domains. Price, being classified under the heading general business, comes from Old French prix, meaning value, excellence, money paid for something or esteem. To present one example from finance as well, let us discuss one of the words connected with trading in securities, namely arbitrage.

As Edwards, Magee, Bassetti state, it is the simultaneous buying and selling of two different, but closely related instruments to take advantage of a disparity in their prices in one market or two different markets.

This French word comes from the verb “arbitrer”, meaning to judge or estimate. As Freedman points out, it entered the English language in the late 19^th century.

The next interesting term connected with financial instruments is coupon, which comes from the French couper, to cut.

These little cut-offs, which are really nothing more nor less when surrendered than an interest receipt on a time note - a substitute for a semi-annual or quarterly endorsement of interest paid - are, as their name indicates, a Continental. It should also be noted that French has influenced the coining of English words. In the domain of business, we have some French-sounding words, with the ending -iser, such as franchiser or merchandiser. I will concentrate on the word entrepreneur, which comes from the French word “entreprendre” and means to undertake. As far as the history of this word is concerned, it was formed in the Middle Ages to refer "to a person who is active, who gets things done”. Richard Cantillon (1680-1734) added a new meaning to this concept by stating that entrepreneurs are speculators, traders and dealers, taking into account decision-making and risk.

In the early 1800s, Jean Baptiste Say presented a different perspective of the entrepreneur concept. He used this name to describe people who create: value in an economy by moving resources out of areas of low productivity, into areas of higher productivity and greater yield.

As has been presented above, French words are also present in English business law terminology. One example can be the expression force majeure which means an event outside the control of either party to a contract (such as a strike, riot, war, act of God) that may excuse either party from fulfilling his contractual obligations in certain circumstances, provided that the contract contains a force majeure case. This concept comes originally from the Napoleonic Code.

Thus, we can state that French words can be found in many domains of economics, such as business and financial services, to name just two of them. Even today, French words are the most common loanwords in English. One of the reasons is geographical proximity, whereas another one is to do with historical relations. To finish this part, we can quote Katamba, who states that we cannot do without French loanwords in English. It would be extremely difficult to talk for even a few minutes without using any word of foreign origin.This is especially visible in the domain of economics, even when English users do not pay attention to the above-mentioned linguistic phenomenon.

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