Criteria of borrowings

Though borrowings undergo changes in the adopted language they preserve the particularities of the original language for a long time. There are criteria to determining if a word belongs to a borrowed elements or not.

1. Graphic and phonetic criteria: The pronunciation, the spelling of a word, the correlation of letters and sounds enable us to determine the source of borrowings. E. g. the combination of letters “ch” can be pronounced in 3 ways if these letters are pronounced as [ ] the word is French borrowing: machine, chic, chef; ch [ ] the word is Greek: chemistry, character, psychology; ch [ ]- the word is of Anglo- Saxon origin: chair, cheese

If combination of letters: pt, ps, pn are pronounced as [ t], [s], [n] the word came from Greece: psychology

2. Grammatical Morphological Criteria: If the words preserve original plural form they are borrowed from Latin or Greek: criterion- criteria (Gr), stimulus- stimuli (Lat)

3. Semantic Criteria: The meaning of the word shows that the object denoted by a word belongs to another culture: imam (Arabic), hara-kiri (Japanese)

International Words

It is often the case that a word is borrowed by several languages, and not just by one. Such words usually convey concepts which are significant in the field of communication.

Many of them are of Latin and Greek origin. Most names of sciences, political, sports terms philosophy, mathematics, chemistry, lexicology, comedy, artist, primadonna.

It is quite natural that political terms frequently occur in the international group of borrowings: politics, policy, revolution, progress, democracy, communism, anti-militarism.

There are a lot of words of English origin which became international and are used in many European languages: tennis, football, meeting, leader.

Etymological Doublets

Words originating from the same etymological source, but differing in phonemic shape and meaning are called etymological doublets.

They may enter the vocabulary by different routes. Some of these pairs, like shirt and skirt, consist of a native word and a borrowed word: shrew, n. (E.) — screw, n. (Sc.). Shirt is a native word, skirt is a Scandinavian borrowing

Others are represented by two borrowings from different languages which are historically descended from the same root: senior (Lat) — sir (Fr.), canal (Lat.) — channel (Fr.), captain (Lat.) — chieftain (Fr.).

Still others were borrowed from the same language twice, but in different periods: corpse [ko:ps] (Norm. Fr ) — corps [ko:] (Par Fr.), travel (Norm. Fr.) — travail (Par. Fr.), cavalry (Norm Fr.) — chivalry (Par. Fr.)/

Etymological doublets can be the result of shortening: history- story, defence- fence, fantasy-fancy

Translation-Loans

The term loan-word is equivalent to borrowing. Translation-loans are words or word combinations formed from the material available in the language but under influence of other language. masterpiece (from Germ Meisterstuck), wonder child (from Germ. Wunderkind), fair sex – прекрасный пол.

Questions for Self-Control

1 What is meant by the native element and by the borrowed element of English vocabulary?

2. How can you account for the fact that English vocabulary contains such an immense number of words of foreign origin?

3. .What suffixes and prefixes can help you to recognize words of Latin and French origin?

4. .Which conditions stimulate the borrowing process? Why are words borrowed?

5. .What stages of assimilation do borrowings go through?

6. In what spheres of communication do international words frequently occur?

7. .What do we understand by etymological doublets?

8. .What are the characteristic features of translation-loans?

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