EXOTIC BORROWINGS FROM A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

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EXOTIC BORROWINGS FROM A THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

Journal Title: ІНОЗЕМНА ФІЛОЛОГІЯ - Year 2017, Vol 130, Issue

Abstract

The vocabulary of a language tends to accelerate in its reaction to the changes in society. It also gets constantly enriched in the course of its own development and the development of its speakers. One of the sources of vocabulary enrichment is borrowing from other languages. The English language, one of the most widespread world languages, contains a great number of words of foreign origin. The readings in research on exotic borrowings convincingly demonstrate that heterogeneous lexical elements require a profound investigation. Although the problem of foreign words in English is of great interest to many scholars, the available information on exotic borrowings is not complete and, generally, is studied sporadically. The existing papers provide only some insights into the essence of an exotic borrowing and its linguistic nature. This article focuses on the defining characteristics of exotic borrowings based on the analysis of appropriate studies of exotic vocabulary in English and some other languages. The following methods have been used: analysis and synthesis (to identify and summarize the main criteria and features of exotic vocabulary) and definitional analysis (for differentiation of the leading terms of research and identifying the relations between them). It should be noted that the term “exotism” is used only in the work of East Slavonic researchers. They have collected a considerable amount of data to explain the status of exotisms and their role in the lexical and semantic systems of a language and, to a lesser extent, their functional potential. These contributions can be classified into certain groups united by the common methodological perspectives and goals. The limitations of the previous studies of exotic vocabulary are identified, and the characteristic features of the exotic vocabulary are determined. Exotic borrowings are the words from relatively unknown languages, which are associated with a foreign culture and are used to describe the peculiarities of clothes, manners and, more generally, customs of other nations. The most characteristic features of exotic borrowings are the absence of equivalents, nominative character of meaning, relative morphological homogeneity, localization at the linguistic periphery, inability to vary, weak syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, incomplete assimilation, and distinct national and cultural colouring. Exotic borrowings can be common (fixed in the dictionaries and included into the lexical system of the recipient language) and occasional (located outside the vocabulary of the language). They constitute a quite unstable, although dynamic and constantly replenishable, group of heterogeneous vocabulary. The research of the intercultural interaction and contacts between people of different cultures and languages, where language acts as the most important sign of identity, requires a special attention. This, in its turn, speaks of the significance of future investigations, which could focus on the analysis of communicative and functional potentials of exotisms as well as the description of their stylistic functions.

Authors and Affiliations

Tetiana Holovach

Keywords

borrowing heterogeneous vocabulary exotic vocabulary exotism national and cultural colouring

EP ID EP291783
DOI 10.30970/fpl.2017.130.1500
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