The English language has a rich vocabulary with around 600.000 entries in the Oxford English Dictionary and is nowadays spoken in countries all over the world. Therefore, many languages have borrowed words from the English language and adopted them into their language. So did the German language accept anglicism in many aspects of everyday life and borrowed terms like baby or steak which are now fully adapted and a part of the German language. However, there is also Germanism in the English language, or better said original German words appearing in the British and American English language today, called loanwords. When confronting people with the term “German loanword” they normally only come up with a few examples like Aberglaube or Bratwurst. But how frequent are they actually used in British English (BrE) and American English (AmE) and how are different spelling norms applied?
Loanwords might have gone through a process of different spelling variations during time. Nonetheless, this study will only focus on synchronic spelling differences in British and American English. The original German spelling will also be compared with the English one. It is a corpus-based study and the aim is to clarify the usage and integration of german loanwords in the British and American English language today. As there exist many german loanwords, after all, this study only takes a few loanwords into consideration. There are a lot of different semantic fields of borrowing, for instance, science, food, education et cetera. For my research I have selected a variation out of the following three categories: Food, Society and Music.
This paper is structured as the following. Firstly, the term loanword is being defined as well as previous studies regarding spelling modifications are given and the chosen loanwords are presented. Chapter three gives inside in the work with the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the British National Corpus (BNC) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and mentions limitations of the research design. The following chapter four presents a clear overview of synchronic spelling differences for the chosen loanwords, which are then discussed regarding previous studies in chapter five. Finally, the last chapter summaries the findings of the paper while also adding some suggestions for future research.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Theoretical Background
2.1 The definition of the term ”loanword”
2.2 History of German loanwords
2.3 Typical orthographical modifications of loanwords
2.4 Chosen loanwords and expectations
3 Methodology
3.1 Oxford English Dictionary
3.2 Corpora
3.3 Limitations of the research design
4 Results
4.1 Synchronic spelling differences of the chosen loanwords
4.2 Frequency of loanword spelling variations comparing AmE with BrE
4.3 Different phonemes and orthographical changes in AmE and BrE compared to German
4.4 Other abnormalities
5 Discussion
5.1 Synchronic spelling differences comparing BrE and AmE
5.2 English spelling compared to German spelling
5.3 Differences in categories
6 Conclusion
Research Objectives and Themes
This study aims to investigate the usage and integration of German loanwords within British and American English, specifically focusing on synchronic spelling differences. By analyzing selected loanwords from the categories of Food, Society, and Music using corpus linguistics, the research evaluates how these terms adapt to English orthographic norms and compares the findings with existing lexicographical data.
- Synchronic spelling analysis of German loanwords in British and American English.
- Comparative corpus-based study using the British National Corpus (BNC) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA).
- Examination of orthographical modifications and phonemic changes in loanwords.
- Evaluation of the reliability of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in documenting contemporary spelling variations.
- Comparison of loanword frequency across different semantic fields.
Excerpt from the Book
2.2 History of German loanwords
English Language has borrowed many words over time and still does. A study from Garland Cannon (1987) shows that there are more than a thousand loanwords adapted into English from 84 different languages. Although 25% of all these loanwords are from French origin, German is with 6% the sixth biggest origin (Jackson and Zé Amvela 2007: 50).
The first German loanwords appeared in Great Britain around 1520 via writing (Stanforth 1996: 9). However, the first German loanwords in North America were noticed a little later in the late 17th century. The reason for that late discovery of German loanwords are the German inhabitants escaping from the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) (Garcia 2002: 74). Those immigrants have passed on the german words to English speaking habitants via conversation (Stanforth 1996: 9). This kind of word borrowing is called „intimate borrowing“ whereas borrowing via writing is specified as ”cultural borrowing”. It helps us to understand the development of German-British English influences compared to American English. Cultural borrowing is more likely to keep the same spelling whereas the pronunciation may differ from the original source. Compared to intimate borrowing, where the spelling adapts to the pronunciation which can be seen as a reason for the appearance of spelling differences. An example would be the loanword swine hound, derived from the German word Schweinehund (cf. Bloomfield 1933: 461).
Today, German loanwords are in fact very common, and that not only in English language. There are many German terms adapted into other languages all over the globe (f.e. Zeitgeist) (Limbach 2007: 3). Also Stanforth (1996: 132) adds, that German loanwords might be exotic at some times, but they give the text a certain touch.
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: Provides an overview of German loanwords in English, outlines the research objective of analyzing synchronic spelling differences, and describes the study's structure.
2 Theoretical Background: Defines the term "loanword," discusses the history of German influences on the English language, and presents classification criteria for borrowed terms.
3 Methodology: Explains the selection process for the nine chosen loanwords and the utilization of the OED, BNC, and COCA corpora for data analysis.
4 Results: Presents the findings regarding spelling variations, frequencies, and phonological adaptations of the selected loanwords within British and American English.
5 Discussion: Interprets the results, compares the observed spelling differences with original German norms, and reflects on the limitations of current dictionary entries.
6 Conclusion: Summarizes the study’s findings, confirming that while many loanwords adapt to English spelling, their usage patterns vary significantly between British and American English.
Keywords
German loanwords, English linguistics, orthography, synchronic spelling, corpus linguistics, BNC, COCA, language adaptation, semantic fields, phonemic changes, language borrowing, diachronic, American English, British English, lexicography
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this research paper?
The paper investigates how German-origin loanwords are spelled and utilized in contemporary British and American English, focusing on synchronic differences.
Which specific semantic fields are analyzed?
The study examines loanwords categorized under Society, Food, and Music.
What is the primary research goal?
The aim is to clarify how German loanwords have integrated into the English language and to determine if current dictionary entries reflect actual modern spelling usage.
Which scientific methodology is employed?
The research is a corpus-based study, comparing frequency and spelling data extracted from the British National Corpus (BNC) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA).
What does the main body of the work cover?
It covers the definition of loanwords, the history of German linguistic influences, detailed frequency tables of spelling variations, and a comparative analysis of British and American orthographic norms.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include German loanwords, corpus linguistics, orthography, and synchronic spelling.
Why did the author specifically select the OED for the initial word list?
The OED was chosen as it is the most comprehensive English dictionary, providing a robust foundation for identifying Germanic language origins.
How does the usage of loanwords differ between American and British English according to the study?
The study indicates that American English exhibits a higher frequency of loanword usage and a greater number of spelling variations compared to British English.
What does the author suggest regarding future dictionary updates?
The author concludes that dictionaries like the OED should update their entries to better align with the most frequent spelling variations found in modern, large-scale language corpora.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Anonym (Autor:in), 2019, The usage and integration of German loanwords in British and American English. How are different spelling norms applied?, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/513754
