Studies the specificities of the link to English in French-speaking Belgium. French in Belgium shows a higher degree of tolerance towards English on lexical and phonetic levels. Discusses legislative actions regarding French and the defensive attitude towards a policy of promotion of French. Discusses the possible future place of English in the…

Responds to a commentary on a 1996 paper that surveyed pronominal systems with first person n and second person m and showed that the n:m system is insufficient to prove genetic relatedness among languages exhibiting it, suggesting that the commentary was based on misunderstandings. The response addresses the commentary's discussion of study…

Presents evidence from English loans in Chichewa (Bantu), which shows that the recipient language is not a passive participant in the borrowing process: the borrowing language makes various modifications to the loan words to make them fit in the grammatical structure as well as cultural requirements of the recipient language. (Author/VWL)

Australian English shows a number of features that are due to contact between white and indigenous populations and that are taken to signal part of its local distinctiveness. This article discusses a questionnaire that sought to explore whether Australian-English speakers are aware of Aboriginal influences in Australian English. (Author/JL)

In language contact studies, specific features of the contact languages are often seen to be the result of transfer (interference), but it remains difficult to disentangle the role of intra-systemic and inter-systemic factors. We propose to unravel these factors in the analysis of a feature of Brussels French which many researchers attribute to…

Explores typology-based differences in patterns of bilingual behavior by analyzing code-switches of Korean-English bilingual speakers, a language group that has not received much study so far. Data collected from 20 balanced bilinguals were analyzed to address the issues of linguistic constraints on code-switching and applicability of concepts of…

Over the centuries, English has shown a remarkable flexibility in borrowing foreign words, which has resulted in a very cosmopolitan vocabulary. This study examines some of the latest Arabic loanwords frequently used in the context of the war in Iraq. The nature of those words, their connotations, and the semantic shifts that some of them have…

Determination of the authenticity of lexical items with Sub-Saharan origin in the voodoo rites of candomble and umbanda in Brazil requires establishing a socio-historical basis for the African diaspora and the current configuration of terreiros. The terreiros demonstrate varying linguistic repertoires according to their affiliation with candomble…

This article explores the traditionally accepted etymologies of several lexical borrowings in the indigenous languages of the Americas within the framework of comparative linguistics and linguistic classification. The first section presents a general discussion of the problem of tracing lexical borrowings in this context. The section features a…

Discusses certain lexical features of South Asian English peculiar to this variety of English as opposed to its other native and non-native varieties. A taxonomic classification of hybrids which developed over years of cultural and linguistic contact with the English-speaking world is presented. (SCC)

An analysis of a corpus of 252 specialized terms relating to the field of videotex, 144 in French and 108 in English, is presented in this document. The methods by which these terms are formed in both languages is examined, focusing on whether the terms have a linguistic basis in the French language or are borrowed from English. The differences…

An analysis of non-Arabic words used in two Kuwaiti daily newspapers reveals that (1) the newspapers often use loan words instead of their Arabic equivalents to emphasize that they are discussing something European; (2) the number and frequency of loan words relating to objects of daily use are much greater than those of abstract and technical…

Most freshman composition textbooks are inadequate in giving information to students on how to interpret dictionaries: instead of presenting them as aids in exploring word usage, textbooks foster a naive trust in dictionaries as arbiters of all usage questions. Rather than treating words as discrete items to be mastered without knowledge of…

Discusses the reasons for and prevalence of English words and phrases in the German language. (KM)

The effects of differing and often opposing language policies on the sociolinguistic position of the Alsatian language are discussed. An attempt is made to show how the function and scope of Alsatian have been reduced, and how borrowings from French have created a dialect with unique characteristics. It has survived despite its lack of official…