Interesting examples of how languages mix and cross-fertilise
Monday, 10th August 2009
When languages come into contact it’s common for them to get mixed up to some extent, and there is likely to be borrowing of words and structures. This process can lead to some interesting results.
Huge numbers of English words have been and are being borrowed in Japanese, for example. Their pronunciation is changed to fit Japanese phonology and they are often shortened to make them easier to say. Sometimes new compound words are created combining two English words or English and Japanese words.
Some borrowed words are relatively easy to decipher, including biiru (beer), terebi (TV), teburu (table) and, but others are more difficult. Wāpuro, for example, is an abbreviation of word processor, rimokon is a contracted form of rimōto kontororu (remote control), and sebiro is a suit, a word which comes form Savile Row, the street in London famous for its tailors shops. Examples of new compound words in Japanese include sarariman (salary man), for a male office worker, OL (ou-eru) for a female office worker or ‘office lady’, and kyoikumama (education mama), which refers to mothers who really push their children to study hard at school.
Quite a few Japanese words have been borrowed into English, including karate (lit, “empty hand”), jujistu (lit, “soft skill”), dojo (martial arts training area), futon, bonsai, geisha, ninja and origami. As with English words borrowed into Japanese, the meanings of these words can change and they are sometimes put to uses not found in the Japanese. For example, ninja can be used to describe someone who’s particularly skilled at something – he’s a ninja on the computer, whereas in Japanese it is just used for a particular type of warrior.
When it comes to Italian, an example of a word which has been borrowed is the word ‘panini’, meaning sandwiches or rolls. It has been adopted into English, but is used to refer to a single sandwich. When talking about more than one sandwich the default English plural ending is applied, i.e. paninis. In Italian the singular of this word in panino, and a few years ago when I visited Sicily, I was quite surprised to be given two sandwiches when I asked for “uno panini”. Fortunately I was hungry.
As for English words that have been adopted into Italian, there are many. There are some which have different meanings in Italian to their original ones in English though, including autostop (hitch hiking), spot (commercial), smoking (dinner jacket), spider (convertible car), footing (jogging), and tight (morning suit).
Tags: language, languages, tailor-made, italian, english
Posted by Simon Ager 2009-08 under Language variations,
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Posted by Peter Rodway on 08/13 at 05:24 PM
Interesting article. The katakana English words that are sounded out by syllable like terebi etc. are usually nouns and the meaning easily deciphered. The challenge for Japanese speakers (and people learning Japanese) is the correct use of "cross-fertilised" words with a different meaning eg. Frank and Naive both of which have a slightly different connotation than their English counterparts. Still, it is good to know that anyone starting out with studying Japanese already has a pretty strong vocabulary that they were unaware of!