Loanwords vs foreign words
What is loan word?
Let’s take a look at these Italian words: alcool,
caffè, patata. What do these words have in common? Maybe it’s a recipe of a new
cocktail? Hmm, I don’t think so. No problem, if you don’t know it. We will turn to them a little bit later.
And what about these words? How do we call them in
Italian? Computer, kebab, jeans. What do they have in common? Ok, don’t worry
if you don’t know.
Lets’ go back to the first words. We have alcool,
caffè, patata in Italian. Moreover, did you know the word alcool originally
comes from Arabic? Weird, isn’t it? So, it means we have borrowed the term
‘alcohol’ from a culture that doesn’t even drink?
Anyway, these are loanwords in Italian. A loanword is a
term in linguistics, a word that has entered from a foreign language into the
receiving language.
Computer, kebab, jeans are foreign words in Italian. A
foreign word is also a word that has entered from a foreign language into the
receiving language.
Now, let’s see what’s the difference between loan word
and foreign word!
We said that computer, kebab, jeans are foreign words
in Italian. Foreign words are not integrated, we spell them as they are. “When
most speakers do not know the word and if they hear it think it is from another
language, the word can be called a foreign word.”
A loanword is an integrated word from a foreign
language, orthography adapted for the receiving language.
These terms are very close to each other and sometimes
it’s difficult to distinguish them because they all are born by language
contact. They all are lexical borrowings or loans from a foreign language.
Mainly, they differ from the aspect of the level of integration. A loan word is
when you don’t have the sensation that you are using a ‘strange’ word, because
it just sounds naturally.
Let’s see another example! Let’s examine the word computer!
We have just discussed and agreed that computer is a foreign word in Italian
because simply it sounds ’strange’. Italians don’t say computero, right?
Although it would be the ‘right’ pronunciation if it was a loanword. Do you
know how the word is in Spanish? Computadora. It’s a loanword in Spanish
because it is assimilated to the sound system. So, can you see the difference
between these terms?
Ok, if
everything is clear, let’s summarize what we have learned about loan word! We
found that it’s a term in linguistics, it’s a lexical borrowing. But we have
seen other types of borrowings or loans like foreign words. These also come
from a foreign language but they behave differently in the receiving language
compared to the loan words. So, we can state that loan words are lexical
borrowings which are different from other borrowings. A loanword is a word
adopted from one language (the donor language) and incorporated into another
language without translation.
Thank
you for attention!