NewArchive / 15 - Assimilation of borrowings. Degrees of assimilation and factors determining it

15 - Assimilation of borrowings. Degrees of assimilation and factors determining it.

Assimilation is the process of changing the adopted word. In other words, assimilated word-is a word that is partially or totally adopted to morphological, lexical and other standards of a recipient Lang.

The process of assimilation of borrowings includes changes in sound-form, morphological structure, grammar characteristics, meaning and usage.

Types of assimilation:

• Phonetic comprises changes in sound-form and stress.

• Grammatical comprises the change of grammatical categories and paradigms of borrowed words, change of their morphological structure.

• Lexical includes changes in semantic structure and the formation of derivatives.

The degree of assimilation of borrowings depends on the following factors:

a) from what group of languages the word was borrowed, if the word belongs to the same group of languages to which the borrowing language belongs it is assimilated easier,

b) in what way the w is borrowed: orally or in the written form, ws borrowed orally are assimilated quicker

c) Frequency of use. Recent borrowings may be completely may be completely assimilated if they are widely and popularly employed. Words that are rarely used in everyday speech, that are known to a small group of people retain their foreign peculiarities. Thus many 19th-cenury French borrowings have been completely assimilated (e.g. clinic, exploitation, diplomat), whereas the words adopted much earlier (noblesse, éclat - дурная слава, публичный скандал) have not been assimilated even in point of pronunciation.

d) how long the word lives in the language, the longer it lives, the more assimilated it is.

e) historical conditions

f) The time of borrowing. The older the borrowing, the more thoroughly it tends to follow normal English habits of accentuation, pronunciation, etc. It is natural that the bulk of early borrowings have become fully assimilated (window, chair, dish, box). Late borrow­ings often retain their foreign peculiarities.

g) the degree of genitive proximity.

Accordingly borrowings are subdivided into:

 completely assimilated

 partly assimilated

 non-assimilated (barbarisms).

 Completely assimilated borrowings are not felt as foreign words in the language, cf the French word «sport» and the native word «start». Completely assimilated verbs belong to regular verbs, e.g. correct -corrected. Completely assimilated nouns form their plural by means of s-inflexion, e.g. gate- gates. In completely assimilated French words the stress has been shifted from the last syllable to the last but one.

 Partial assimilation

(not assimilated grammatically: datum-data, nucleus - nucleai)

(not assimilated phonetically: garage-party)

(not graphically assimilated: cafe, queue, picturesque)

 Barbarisms (not assimilated at all): curriculum vitae (Lat), carte blanche (Fr), siloviki (R), ciao