Language Borrowing and Language Contact.
OBJECTIVES
- Define and differentiate linguistics terms in sociolinguistics (contact vs. borrowing)
- Identify the different types of language borrowing and language contact.
LANGUAGE BORROWING
- The abstract noun borrowing refers to the process of speakers adopting words from a source
language into their native language.
EINAR HAUGEN
Nationality: American
Born: April 19, 1906, Sioux City, Iowa, United States
Died: June 20, 1994, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
United States
TYPES OF LANGUAGE BORROWING
1. Loanword- The word and the meaning are borrowed.
Ex: Yo-yo- The name of this popular stringed toy is believed to have come from either the Ilocano
or Tagalog term yoyo, which could mean “come, come,” or “return.”
2. Loan-translation- It is a literal word for translation of both parts of the lending compound.
Ex: Agham-panlipunan/ agham lipunan - Science-for-society/ science-society
3. Loan rendition- The translation vaguely captures the original meaning.
4. Loan-blend- Is composed of borrowed words from different languages.
Ex: Balikbayan box - the word ‘balikbayan’ is a Filipino word while ‘box’ came from the English
language.
5. Loan-shifts (Semantic borrowings)- Also known as semantic loan, is a change in the meaning of
a word under influence of another language.
Ex: Bombay - Bombay, commonly known as Mumbai, is the most populous city in India. But, in
the Philippines, it means indian.
LANGUAGE CONTACT
- It has been a subfield of historical linguistics, concentrating on changes in languages due to
influence from other languages, rather than internal change.
- It occurs when speakers of 2 or more languages or varieties, interact, and influence each other.
TYPES OF LANGUAGE CONTACT
1. Code switching - The use of more than one language by a speaker within an intercourse with
others.
Ex: A multilingual Filipino speaker who can speak in three languages: Cebuano, in Tagalog, and
in English.
2. Borrowing - A word from one language is adapted for use in another.
Ex: Boondock - The word comes from the Tagalog word bundók, which literally means
“mountain,” and is used as shorthand to refer to the rural, mountainous areas of the country.
When it was adopted into English as boondocks by American soldiers occupying the country
during and after the Philippine-American War, the literal meaning was abandoned, and it
came to describe any rural, out-of-the-way area.
3. Language shift - A change from the use of one language to the use of another language.
Ex: Justin moves from Australia to the Philippines and uses another language which is English
and then associates with native in the Philippines who speaks Filipino, his language could be
replaced.
4. Pidgin - Is a contact language that is developed in a situation where speakers of different
languages need a certain language to communicate.
Ex: Baby talk, Jejemon, Beki words
5. Creole - A complete language used in a community and acquired by children as their native
language.
Ex: Taglish
SUMMARY
- Language contact is the social and linguistic phenomenon by which speakers of different
languages (or different dialects of the same language) interact with one another, leading to a
transfer of linguistic features.
- Language contact has different types. These are code switching, borrowing, language-shift,
pidgin, and creole.
- Language borrowing denotes the process by which lexical items from one language are replicated
in another language.
- The different types of language borrowing are loanword, loan-translation, loan rendition,
loan-blend, and loan-shifts.
REFERENCES
https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/loanwords.html#:~:text=The%20abstract%20noun%20borro
wing%20refers,words%20to%20the%20source%20language.
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/multilingual-practices/0/steps/22665?fbclid=IwAR3iyIiSoiP
0abd8uUtEN5sOHBUsiPkif8o7Da5u9aPyDWrX6lYLyAzmoxc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJlz1JjuGCc&t=585s
https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/49155/1/Language_contact.pdf
https://www.filipinopod101.com/blog/2021/05/13/english-loanwords-in-filipino/
https://journals.ateneo.edu/index.php/kk/article/viewFile/KK2017.02803/2407
