Language Browning

Languge Browning Summary: Today many languages are open to the influence of the English language. The process of adaptation is different in various languages. This paper provides an overview of some English words, so called anglicisms, which have entered the Croatian language. Emphasis is laid upon the adaptation of some nouns at three different levels: phonological, morphological and semantic. At every level there are particular tendencies in the Croatian language. Croatian, as a traditionally purist language, has not accepted all foreign models of language passively, but has adopted loanwords according to its rules creating new words as substitutes for foreign language models. Key words: Croatian language, English language, language borrowing, anglicisms, adaptation 1. Introduction The infiltration of the English language into other languages began in the 17th and at the beginning of the 18th century and was closely connected with a so called discovery of England. Since then there has been a continuous linguistic relation between English and European languages. This phenomenon has been conditioned by cultural, political and economic contact with England and the USA. Anglo-Croatian cultural relations showed an interesting feature at the beginning of the 19th century when Croatian literary language and modern Croatian literature were being created. Although Croatian cultural history in that period was closely related to Austria, the English influence was very strong. During the process of linguistic borrowing from English, the contribution of intermediate languages was of great importance, because through them a number of English words have come into Croatian. This is especially the case with German, French and, partially, with Italian. How languages borrow words is a rather complicated and complex process. The general tendency of the Croatian language, in the course of its history, has been to use a native word whenever possible. Foreign words were used only when there was a need to find the name for a new object taken from a foreign culture. In spite of this tendency to use a native word whenever possible, quite a number of foreign words have accumulated in the Croatian language over the last few centuries. This has been especially prominent in the last decades, when the influence of TV has been so great that our children have been able to learn basic English easily by watching cartoons or listening to English music. Today, the Croatian language is fully open to foreign influences. Since Croatian, as the receiving language, and English, as a giving language, are structurally quite different languages, many differences and changes may be found. Linguistic borrowing can happen in bilingual communities (all the members speak two languages) and in the contact between two languages (depends on individuals). In interlinguistic contact words are mostly accepted through written channels, while in bilingual communities words are passed orally. Mediators are those members of a linguistic unit who have learned the second language as a foreign language sufficiently well. Other members, not knowing the second language, accept loanwords according to their pronunciation. Therefore, both the method of learning foreign languages and the standard achieved are very important. The Norwegian scholar Einar Haugen has defined borrowing as „an attempt by a speaker to reproduce in one language patterns which he has learned in another“ (Filipović,1990). An English word which is taken over from English language as a foreign word is called an anglicism. If it is integrated into the system, it becomes a loanword and has to be adopted to the receiving language. How and why is an English word borrowed? It is borrowed when there is a need to name a new object and when there is a necessity to fill in the gaps in the vocabulary of a receiving language. Today, loan words can be labelled as to anglicisms where we can establish the fact: • That their original language is English • That they are taken over from English • That they denote objects and ideas which are of the English origin or they are integral part of the life and culture of the UK and the USA. Corpus of anglicisms is a representative, but a limited system. It is representative because it contains all the anglicisms from all areas of the lifestyle in the UK and the USA. On the other hand, it is difficult to suppose that all anglicisms are collected in a receiving language (Haugen,1995). English loanwords are entering the Croatian language in great numbers everyday and that is the reason why corpus is considered as an open system which is continually becoming richer and bigger. Croatian and English are two different languages which are genetically and structurally different: the more they differ in structure, the greater number of changes can be found. In the course of linguistic borrowing, English words and expressions undergo a great number of changes on the phonological, morphological and semantic level. Changes that take place in the process of linguistic borrowing depend on the similarities and dissimilarities between the giving and the receiving language. Starting from these presumptions, the analyses of anglicisms are organized in three steps: 1. We start with the origin of an anglicism: the English word which is a model taken over by the receiving language 2. The next step is the presentation of the development of the borrowed word: the process of adaptation of the anglicism on the phonological and morphological level is analysed. This step aims at a detailed explanation of how a citation form of the anglicism is formed in the receiving language. 3. The final step is the determination of the meaning of the anglicism. We try to explain which meaning, out of the few possibilities, is taken over from the English word and how it is further adopted to the Croatian linguistic system. (Antunović,1996) In this process of adaptation, a foreign word should be adapted to the receiving language in order to function and not to lose the meaning in its new language. The aim of this paper is to show how some English nouns were adapted in Croatian and what changes in borrowing they have had on these three levels. 2. Phonological Analysis The English model undergoes various stages of adaptation. When the model is integrated in the receiving language it is called a replica. This complex process of adaptation is regulated by two linguistic operations: substitution and importation. These two linguistic operations are completely opposite: the first one denotes the difference between the lending and the borrowing language, the second one denotes the similarity between them. If the phonological systems are different, substitution is a common feature, because the speaker borrowing a foreign word has to replace the phoneme of the foreign language with its own. On the other hand, for the adaptation of foreign phonemes to the corresponding native ones, the most important fact is the existence of an equivalent phoneme in the receiving language. The substitution that takes place on the phonological level is called transphonemization (Filipović, 1990). 2.1. Transphonemization Transphonemization can be divided in three parts: 1. Complete transphonemization 2. Partial or compromise transphonemization 3. Free transphonemization 2.1.1. Complete Transphonemization In complete transphonemization, the phonemes of the giving language are substituted by the corresponding phonemes of the receiving language. Consonants are equal regarding the place and vowels do not differ. A few examples of complete transphonemization: Consonants English Croatian 1. monitor monitor 2. film film 3. mobbing mobing Vowels English Croatian 1. team tim 2. leasing lising 3. rugby ragbi 2.1.2. Partial or Compromise Transphonemization In partial transphonemization, phonemes of the giving language are substituted by analogue ones of the receiving language, but their description is only partially identical to the description of the phonemes of the model. For example, vowels can differ in degree of openness, but not in the place of articulation, while consonants differ in place, but not in the way of articulation. Few examples of partial transphonemization: Consonants English Croatian 1. disco disko 2. test test 3. camp kamp Vowels English Croatian 1. box boks 2. charter čarter 3. training trening 2.1.3. Free Transphonemization Phonemes of the giving language do not have articulatory equivalents in the receiving language. They are substituted freely, without any limitations. This type of transphonemization is not carried out in accordance with the phonetic principles. A few examples of free transphonemization: Consonants Free transphonemization is carried out according to the principle of orthography combined with pronunciation: English Croatian 1. software softver 2. hardware hardver 3. I-pod ajpod Vowels English Croatian 1. pyjamas pidžama 2. canyon kanjon 3. rocker roker 3. Morphological Analysis The substitution on the morphological level is called transmorphemization. It is based on the fact that a word may consist of the free and the bound morpheme. Free morphemes are accepted limitlessly into the receiving language due to the fact that they are English words which do not have a bound morpheme-suffix of any kind. On the other hand, bound morphemes-suffixes are really transferred to the receiving language as a part of a compromise replica, remaining in use as such for a certain time. Finally, they are substituted by Croatian suffixes with the identical semantic value. In the process of adaptation of the model into a replica, both models of the giving and borrowing languages are brought into harmony according to the rules of substitution on the morphological level (Filipović,1990). They are three types of transmorphemization: a) Zero transmorphemization b) Compromise transmorphemization c) Complete transmorphemization a) Zero Transmorphemization A model is accepted by the receiving language as a free morpheme. It is integrated into the morphological system without any changes or limitations because it has already been adapted on the phonological level. Since anglicisms are formed according to the formula: free morpheme+zero morpheme, the whole process is called zero transmorphemization. Examples of free transmorphemization: English word Loanword in Croatian Base + Zero-suffix Free morpheme + zero bound morpheme 1.poster poster 2.cup kup 3.hit hit The majority of examples of this degree of transmorphemization have the same ending in both languages in contact. There are, however, cases in which the endings are not the same. In this case loanwords retain their English endings. Examples: (final -u,-i or final consonant group -ft,-lm) English word Loanword in Croatian 1. country kantri 2. interview intervju 3. lift lift 4. film film b) Compromise Transmorphemization The second degree of substitution takes place in cases in which a loanword keeps its bound morpheme (suffix) from the giving language, but not in harmony with morphological system of the borrowing language. This partially adapted form of the giving language represents a compromise replica and the process is called compromise transmorphemization. Anglicisms of this type of transmorphemization are formed according to the formula: free morpheme+English bound morpheme (most frequently –er and –ing morphemes). Examples of compromise transmorphemization: English word Loanword in Croatian Base + suffix Free morpheme + English bound morpheme 1. dribbler dribler 2. farmer farmer 3. happening hepening 4. parking parking c) Complete Transmorphemization At the third level, English bound morphemes do not correspond to the Croatian morphological system. That is the reason why they are substituted by suffixes from the Croatian inventory which have the same function and meaning. Anglicisms which are fully integrated in the Croatian language system are formed according to the formula: free morpheme + Croatian bound morpheme. English word Loanword in Croatian Model Replica Base + suffix Free morpheme + Croatian bound morpheme Some examples: 1. boxer boksač 2. jazzer džezist 3. training trening Examples of transmorphemization show that not all the models undergo all the three levels of substitution. There are cases of the compromised type that do not develop into the complete type. On the other hand, there are cases in which nouns skip compromise types and enter directly complete transmorphemization. To conclude, it is very difficult to give a precise and final explanation of this phenomenon. 4. Semantic Analysis Semantics is a branch of linguistics which studies the meaning of the words, phrases and sentences. The analysis of meaning of anglicisms at the semantic level shows that the semantic value of an English word constantly changes. These changes occur both at the semantic and phonological level of a language. The semantic adaptation has two aspects: the primary and the secondary one. The first one is the adaptation of the meaning of the model while the second one is the semantic borrowing. The adaptation of the meaning is carried out on a loan word taken over from the giving language. This phenomenon fits completely into the process of language borrowing because it makes, with the phonological and morphological aspects, the whole in the analysis of the model adaptation. The second one, semantic borrowing, is a transfer of meaning from a giving to a native word already existing in the receiving language. This phenomenon is different because it has no links with loan words. There are three kinds of changes in semantic extension and they are: 1. Zero Semantic Extension 2. Restriction of Meaning 3. Expansion of Meaning (Filipović,1990). 4.1. Zero Semantic Extension This kind of change occurs after an English loan word has been integrated into the system of the borrowing language and the meaning of it has not been changed. It is often related to some specialised fields such as food, drink, sport, technology and music. English Croatian 1. beefsteak 1. biftek 2. hamburger 2. hamburger 3. Coca-Cola 3. Koka-kola 4. fair play 4. fer- plej 5. waterpolo 5. vaterpolo 6. monitor 6. monitor 7. I-phone 7. aj- fon 8. heavy metal 8. hevi- metal 9. CD 9.ce-de 10. foxtrot 10. Fokstrot 4. 2. Restriction of Meaning English words have usually more than one meaning. In the process of borrowing from the giving to the receiving language, very often they retain only one meaning, needing to name a thing or a concept taken over from the British culture. It is a kind of specialisation from general to specific meaning. For example, some English words have several meanings, while in Croatian they have only one meaning. English 1. party (n)-celebration party (n)-political group party (n)-visiting group party (n)-involvement Croatian 1. party ( n)-celebration English 2. record (n)-a piece of information or description of an event which is written on a piece of paper record (n)-a flat plastic disk on which music is recorded record (n)-the best or fastest ever done Croatian 2. record (n)-the best or fastest ever done 4.3. Expansion of Meaning The semantic adaptation of expansion is carried out after an anglicism has been fully integrated in the system of the receiving language. The integrated word fills up the gaps in the receiving language vocabulary. At first, there is no change of meaning since the intensity of meaning of a loanword is quite strong. Later, when a loanword is used as any other native word, the intensity of its primary function just goes away and its meaning expands, gaining different meanings from its original English meaning. For example, the loanword „šou“ has exactly the same meaning as an English word „show“. Show: spectacle, performance in the theatre, cabaret etc. English example: a) In 1977, after years of punishing schedules and massive stage show, Elton John played series of concerts accompanied only by Ray Cooper. b) Live shows shifted from interminable solos to tight format. (Gary, A. 1963:3) Croatian translation: a) 1977. godine, nakon godina napornih turneja i masivnih stejdž šoua, Elton John je svirao niz koncerata samo u drušvu Ray Cooper-a. b) Šou uživo se promijenio od beskonaćne samoće do čvrstog oblika. Over a period of time, the meaning of the word “show” expanded: Šou koji je publika napravila bio je veći od onog na stejdžu. In the Croatian language this word has a flexible meaning, because it is not the audience who makes the show, it is the band that performs it. The expansion of meaning depends on sociolinguistic factors. The conditions necessary for the process of semantic expansion are not universal and therefore are difficult to explain precisely. They usually change from one linguistic community to another. 5. Hybrid Loanwords Hybrid loanwords are compounds made of words belonging to different languages. English hybrid loanwords in Croatian consist of two elements: one is an anglicism, the other is a native word. Their formula is: an anglicism + a Croatian word Croatian hybrids country pjevač (E- country + C-pjevač) top lista (E-top + C-lista) jazz grupa (E-jazz + C-grupa) casting director (E- casting + C-redatelj) 6. Pseudoanglicsms The so-called pseudoanglicsms or secondary anglicisms are a separate group of words and expressions consisting of elements of anglicisms, but the unit they make is not taken over from English, because it does not exist in the English linguistic system. Since they consist of anglicisms, their adaptation is carried out on the phonological, morphological and semantic level. The only difference between anglicsms and pseudoanglicisms is that latter undergo only the secondary adaptation. English Croatian funk fank fankist punk pank panker heavy metal hevi metal hevi metalac tennis tenis tenisač In conclusion, to fill in the vocabulary gaps, pseudoanglicisms are as good as anglicisms. The usage of pseudoanglicisms is conditioned by sociological factors in the receiving language. They are more or less introduced by young people or journalists interested in sport, film and music. 7. Conclusion The story of English loanwords in Croatian is one of the elements which must be taken into consideration, because it supplies specific and significant material. It is necessary to examine cultural, political and economic factors in order to obtain a clear picture of the linguistic influence involved. English loanwords, that appear in the Croatian language, have been analysed on the phonological, morphological and semantic level. The most important groups of words which belong to these analyses are nouns, verbs and adjectives. Nouns make the largest group of loanwords. Language borrowing is a rather complicated and difficult process. As we know in the course of the history of the Croatian language, there has been a general tendency to use a native word whenever possible. In spite of this tendency, a great number of loanwords have been borrowed from the English language. Since changes in all fields are constant and inevitable, there is no doubt that there will be a constant need for introducing new loanwords, especially today, when the Croatian language is fully open to foreign influences. Literature 1. Anić, V.; Goldstein, I. (1999). Rječnik stranih riječi. Zagreb, Novi liber. 2. Anić, V. (1998). Rječnik hrvatskog jezika. Zagreb, Novi liber. 3. Antunović, G. 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