THE EXTERNAL METHOD
-Borrowings or loanwords, which are the result of languages in contact A definition
Examples through history: The adaptation process: phonological, orthographical,
morphosyntactical, semantical adaptations
A loanword is a word which is brought wholesale (i.e. form and meaning) into one language from
another. Interlinguistic borrowing vs intralinguistic borrowing (dialect words or technical terms in
standard language)
Why? (motivation) Necessity:
- lexical gap: Schadenfreude
- new extralinguistic reality: chiaroscuro, piano
- foreign reality: Risorgimento
How? adaptation
EX. Pizza, Banana, Hamburger, Curry, Kangaroo, Totem, Robot.
LOANWORDS CAME FROM: LATIN: gospel, interrogate, GREEK: anatomy, academia, FRENCH:
question, guard, rouge, ITALIAN: violin, opera, balcony, pizza, mafia, spaghetti, SPANISH: banana,
cannibal, guitar, hammock, DUTCH: cruise, landscape, GERMAN: hamburger, blitz; robot (Czech),
glasnost (Russian), assassin (North Africa), safari (Central Africa), curry, tea (Asia), totem (North
America), kangaroo, taboo, tattoo (Oceania).
Loanwords make the receiving language richer; its communicative potential gets greater
(controversial). Some loanwords are for everybody (bar, film, sport), some are for specific groups
of speakers (dribbling). Some loanwords last (bar / mafia), some do not. Loanwords get adapted or
integrated or anglicised (formally and semantically) in the receiving language; they may become
familiar, well-known and much-used.
Phonological adaptations (It.): tunnel, jazz, (hypercorrectness) self control, privacy;
Orthographical adaptations: goal gol (It.); dispaccio dispatch.
Morphosyntactical adaptations:
- natural gender: cowboy un cowboy, hostess una hostess
- grammatical gender: jungle la giungla (-a); beef-steak la bistecca(-a)
- plurals: gli opinion maker, gli anchormen, i leader, i floppy disk (viceversa: trattoria trattorias)
- word classes may change: i big della musica, gli optional dell’auto
- foreign words + native morphemes: It.: barista, golfino, revolverata, scoutismo, filmaccio; Ing.:
Chiantishire, mafiaist.
Semantic adaptations:
restriction in the number of acceptations: mouse (It.: solo for computer), allegro (Ing.: only for
music)
- restriction in the field: rione is used in English to indicate a district of Rome only
- difference in meaning: pepperoni in English refers to a type of sausage.
-Contact causes interference
