Assimilation of borrowed words

Most of the borrowed words adjust themselves to their new environment and get adapted to the norms of the recipient language. They undergo certain changes in pronunciation, grammar, semantics.

Phonetic assimilation can be of different types:

1. change in sound-form: Fr. long e becomes ei: communiqué, cafe ; Germ. spits [ pits]/[spits];

2. stress change: Fr. honn'eur, raison / 'honor, 'reason.

Grammatical assimilation consists in a change of the former grammatical paradigm:, e.g., old Latin borrowings cup, pound have such plurals as cups, pounds, but in the following examples phenomenon - phenomena; parenthesis – parentheses, virtuoso - virtuosi, virtuosos we encounter partial assimilation as the plural forms preserve their original variants.

Semantic (lexical) assimilation presupposes the following changes: reduction of semantic structure: Sp. cargo 'goods carried in the ship' / En ***; specialisation of meaning, e.g. Fr. hangar 'shed' / En.. 'a shed for aeroplanes'; generalisation of meaning, e.g. It. umbrella 'sunshade' /En. ‘any protection’; change of the order of meanings, e.g. fellow 'comrade, companion' / 'man, boy'; reinterpreting (folk etymology), e.g., Ofr estandard 'banner' / En. standard 'stable, officially accepted'.

So the degree of assimilation can be different as there are easily recognisable words facade, Zeitgeist, ballet; thoroughly assimilated pupil, master, etc.; partially assimilated phenomenon/ phenomena, etc. The factors of assimilation are: the period of borrowing, frequency of use (turbine, clinic, exploitation, diplomat in comparison with annui [a:nwi] 'apathy', coup [ku:] ; oral or written use.

Questions and Tasks.

1. Read the sentences. Write down the words underlined under the following headings [Old Norse, Native American, French, German, Spanish, Hindi, Italian, Dutch].

• The surgeon was brusque with her patients.

• According to proper etiquette, speaking with your mouth full is a faux pas.

• The motto of the old shop on the boulevard is «We serve the best!»

• The antique picture frame is made of opaque material.

• The sailor told a saga of being lost at sea in his small yacht.

• The public officials were disturbed by the fiasco over the reservoir.

• The furniture in the bungalow was painted with red lacquer.

• The toboggan was made of hickory.

• I learnt to swim and snorkel when I was in kindergarten.

• The new delicatessen is offering a bonanza of rare cheese.

2. Write a word from Task 1 that is a synonym for each underlined word below.

• The Australian vessel Australia won the 1983 America’s Cup.

• The French Canadians introduced the term runnerless sled.

• As the old saying goes, «When in Rome, do as the Romans do».

• Heirloom shops can be found in the Oltrano section in Florence.

• A breathing tube is necessary when skin-diving.

3. Study the examples of meaning changes. Fill in the table according to the pattern.

Before	now
smell, odor (meaning was positive) Roses stink. What a smell!	now the words are used with negative, and positive - scent, aroma
spacious (beautiful)
stupid (amazed)
exotic (foreign or strange)
curious (careful)
silly (blessed)

4. What English words can you turn up with the Latin stem magnus («large»):

• A person large in importance, as in an industry.

• Splendor; grandeur.

• Speaking big or in pompous or flowery style.

• Greatness.

• A large bottle for champagne or other wine.

• A great work; a literary or artistic work of importance.

5. Translate the sentences [A husband and a wife should be en rapport. Sarah Bernhardt was admitted to be an actress par excellence. A prize-fighter must be on the qui vive when he is in the ring].

6. Analyse the origin of the words in the following sentence from the lesson.

Linguistic causes presuppose a tendency to bring the language system into a new balance in the process of its linguistic development.

Lesson 14.