LINGUIST List 20.2758
Thu Aug 13 2009
Diss: Socioling: Hoffmann: 'Language Contacts in the Age of Global...'
Editor for this issue: Di Wdzenczny
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1. Zsuzsa
Hoffmann,
Language Contacts in the Age of Global Communication: English and international lexical borrowing
Message 1: Language Contacts in the Age of Global Communication: English and international lexical borrowing
Date: 13-Aug-2009
From: Zsuzsa Hoffmann <hoffmannzsuzsayahoo.com>
Subject: Language Contacts in the Age of Global Communication: English and international lexical borrowing
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Institution: University of Debrecen
Program: Doctorate School of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2009
Author: Zsuzsa Hoffmann
Dissertation Title: Language Contacts in the Age of Global Communication: English and international lexical borrowing
Linguistic Field(s):
Sociolinguistics
Dissertation Director:
Béla Hollósy
Dissertation Abstract:
The aim of my dissertation is to investigate lexical borrowing from asociolinguistic point of view. It is a rather novel approach to analyzeborrowing from the perspective of language users and society, as allprevious related theories belonged to the framework of historical andcontact linguistics. In my thesis, I seek an answer to the questionconcerning the role of English as a lingua franca in modern lexicalborrowing by investigating how it borrows and lends elements at aninternational level. My work is based on theoretical foundations on two bigtopics: the role of English in today's global language system and theoriesof language contacts, especially lexical borrowings. In order to analyzethe present situation of English in great depth, I relied mainly on a modelproposed by DE SWAAN (2004) to describe the present linguistic relations inthe world. I have also included two case studies: one on the role ofEnglish in the EU and another one on the linguistic situation ofmultilingual Switzerland, for I argue that it can be considered alinguistic model of Europe from the point of view of language politics andgeolinguistics.
This theoretical background has been backed up by empirical studies, theaim of which is to show the characteristic features of lexical transfer onactual linguistic material. I have studied direct loans in four languages(altogether more than 5,000), placing in the centre of my attention English(which has been examined both as a source and as an intaking language), aswell as Spanish, German and Hungarian. My findings proved that the spreadof global English exerts a strong influence on relationships between otherlanguages and even on language contacts in general. The analyses have shownthat English plays a decisive role in international lexical transferprocesses, functioning as an international link language. Superimposingitself over other languages, English creates new types of languagecontacts, by enriching other languages and being enriched by others. Apartfrom its international role, its intranational importance is alsoincreasing in certain countries, which gradually leads to the emergence ofa new type of diglossia: between international English and the nationallanguage(s) concerned.
The global role of English is also justified by the fact that Englishelements make up a significant group among borrowings in other languages.My study has shown that supercentral languages are exposed to a somewhatslighter English influence than those playing a less central role in theglobal language system. We can also conclude that languages which stand ata higher level of the global communication hierarchy are enriched bylexical elements from a larger number of other languages than others. Froma semantic point of view, the main groups of borrowings in English areconnected to its global, hypercentral role: these words typically describeother cultures, namely those with which English enters into contactsituations. The largest semantic groups among Spanish, German, as well asHungarian borrowings are words of computer science and technology, which isdue to the fact that these elements are almost exceptionally borroweddirectly from English and the ultimate source language in all three casesis English. Over 90% of all analyzed borrowings in the four languages areNPs. Concerning their integration, a clear tendency can be observed: thesmaller a language is and the lower it is situated in the global languagesystem, the higher the degree of integration will be.
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