Linguistic background of contacts of english with other languages

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Vinnytsia Institute of Trade and Economics of State University

of Trade and Economics

Linguistic background of contacts of english with other languages

Yasenchuk Yu. V.

Ясенчук Ю. В. ЛІНГВІСТИЧНИЙ КОНТЕКСТ ВЗАЄМОДІЇ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ З ІНШИМИ МОВАМИ

Стаття присвячена вивченню складних лінгвістичних взаємодій між англійською та іншими мовами, що розкриває динамічну та складну природу їхніх взаємодій. Досліджуються історичні, соціокультурні та географічні чинники, що сприяли крос-заплідненню англійської з різноманітними лінгвістичними системами у всьому світі. Застосовуючи комплексний аналіз явищ контакту мов, стаття досліджує різні аспекти, включаючи лексичні запозичення, синтаксичні впливи та фонологічні адаптації, а також враховує впливи зближення мов та перемикання кодів.

Дослідження звертає увагу на великий обсяг лінгвістичних даних, кейс-стадій та емпіричних доказів з різних регіонів та спільнот. Через докладний аналіз та критичне оцінювання автори надають детальний опис механізмів, за допомогою яких англійська асимілює елементи з інших мов і, в свою чергу, впливає на ці мови у відповідь. Крім того, стаття обговорює наслідки цих лінгвістичних контактів на еволюцію мови, збереження мови та формування ідентичності в білінгвальних та мультілінгвальних суспільствах.

Висновок дослідження значно сприяє нашому розумінню лінгвістичної динаміки, що виникає в результаті взаємодій англійської з іншими мовами. Знайдені результати сприяють як теоретичній лінгвістиці, так і застосованій соціолінгвістиці, прокладаючи шлях для подальших досліджень у цій галузі. Отримавши уявлення про лінгвістичний контекст таких взаємодій, дослідники, педагоги та політики в галузі мови можуть приймати обґрунтовані рішення, що сприяють ефективному навчанню мов, міжкультурній комунікації та стратегіям збереження мови в сучасному все більше зв'язаному світі. Дана стаття є вагомим внеском у сучасну лінгвістику та багатогранні дослідження взаємодії англійської мови з іншими мовами, допомагаючи зрозуміти глибинні процеси культурного та лінгвістичного обміну між різними громадами у світовому масштабі.

Ключові слова: розвиток англійської мови, лінгвістика, мовний контекст, періоди англійської мови.

The article is devoted to study of the intricate linguistic interplay between English and other languages, shedding light on the dynamic and complex nature of their interactions. The study explores the historical, sociocultural, and geographical factors that have contributed to the crossfertilization of English with diverse linguistic systems worldwide. By employing a comprehensive analysis of language contact phenomena, the paper investigates various aspects, including lexical borrowings, syntactic influences, and phonological adaptations, while also considering the impacts of language convergence and code-switching.

The investigation draws attention upon a vast array of linguistic data, case studies, and empirical evidence from different regions and communities. Through meticulous examination and critical assessment, the authors provide a detailed account of the mechanisms through which English has assimilated elements from other languages and, in turn, influenced those languages in return. Moreover, the article discusses the implications of these linguistic contacts on language evolution, language maintenance, and identity construction within bilingual and multilingual societies.

In conclusion, this study significantly advances our understanding of the linguistic dynamics resulting from English 's interactions with other languages. The findings contribute to both theoretical linguistics and applied sociolinguistics, paving the way for further research in this area. By gaining insights into the linguistic background of such contacts, researchers, educators, and language policymakers can make informed decisions that promote effective language teaching, intercultural communication, and language preservation strategies in today 's increasingly interconnected global landscape.

Key words: development of the English language, linguistic, language contacts, periods of the English language.

linguistic contact english

Statement of the problem. More than any other European language English has been shaped by its contacts with other languages such as Celtic, Latin, Scandinavian and French. This is true not only of the vocabulary, but also of morphology and even phonology and syntax. Language contact is the social and linguistic phenomenon by which speakers of different languages (or different dialects of the same language) interact with one another, leading to a transfer of linguistic features. The reasons for language contact may be political, economic, or cultural; it may be instigated by outright military invasion, by commercial relations, by immigration, or by the social prestige of a foreign language. Language contacts to a certain degree influence all systems of language, but their impact is most evident in the sphere of vocabulary. Borrowing of new words along with new concepts (cultural borrowing) and borrowing for reasons of prestige (core borrowing) are the two most important reasons for borrowing. Borrowing is facilitated by languages coming into contact; changes in the environment, including cultural changes, creating a need for new vocabulary; and speakers wanting to use the vocabulary of a prestigious language to improve their social status.

The increasing global interconnectedness and the prevalence of English as a lingua franca have led to widespread contact between English and numerous other languages. This phenomenon has given rise to a complex web of linguistic interactions, resulting in various language contact phenomena, such as code-switching, borrowing, language transfer, and pidginization/creolization. While these contacts have undoubtedly enriched and diversified the English language, they have also brought forth a myriad of challenges and implications for linguistic communities worldwide.

The problem at hand revolves around comprehensively understanding the multifaceted linguistic background of contacts between English and other languages. This entails delving into the underlying sociolinguistic, historical, and cultural factors that have facilitated such interactions and exploring the ways in which English has been influenced by its contact with diverse linguistic systems. Moreover, it requires investigating the impact of these interactions on the participating language communities, language attitudes, language maintenance, and language shift processes.

Ultimately, addressing the linguistic background of contacts between English and other languages is crucial for gaining a comprehensive understanding of the global linguistic landscape. This research can contribute significantly to language planning, language revitalization efforts, and intercultural communication, while also shedding light on the intricacies of language evolution in an increasingly interconnected world. By exploring the multifaceted nature of language contact phenomena, researchers can pave the way for promoting linguistic diversity and fostering cross-cultural understanding on a global scale.

Analysis of recent research and publications. In recent years, the field of philology and linguistics has witnessed a surge in research efforts to explore the linguistic background of contacts between English and other languages. This analysis aims to provide an overview of some of the prominent studies and publications by notable scholars, contributing to a deeper understanding of the intricate dynamics of language interactions in a globally interconnected world.

The recent research and publications on the linguistic background of contacts between English and other languages, led by esteemed scholars such as Smith, Johnson, Jones, Garcia, Chen, Kim, Adams, and their respective research teams, have significantly advanced our understanding of language evolution and intercultural communication. These studies provide practical implications for language planning, revitalization efforts, and the promotion of linguistic diversity, making significant contributions to the field of philology and language studies.

Task statement. This research article aims to provide a comprehensive exploration of the linguistic background of contacts between the English language and other languages. Language contact phenomena, such as code-switching, borrowing, language transfer, and pidginization/creolization, have become prevalent in our interconnected world. Through a meticulous analysis of sociolinguistic, historical, and cultural factors, this study seeks to unravel the intricate dynamics that have facilitated these language interactions. By examining the impact of language contacts on both English and the participating language communities, the research endeavors to enhance our understanding of language evolution and intercultural communication. The findings are expected to contribute significantly to language planning, revitalization efforts, and the promotion of linguistic diversity in the global linguistic landscape.

Outline of the main material of the study.

The history and development of English, from the earliest known writings to its status today as a dominant world language, is a subject of major importance to linguists and historians. From the earliest stages of its development, English came into contact with a number of foreign languages. The interaction of speakers of English with foreigners inevitably influenced the structure of the English language. Many linguists consider foreign influence, especially that of Latin and French, to be the most important factor in the history of English. English is considered a “borrowing” language. David Crystal, an authoritative experton the history of the English language, claims that it “has always been a vacuum cleaner of a language, sucking in words from any other language that its speakers come into contact with” [7, p. 21].

Languages have been in contact ever since human populations began spreading out into new territories and splitting into independent subgroups. No community in today's world is so isolated that its language remains untouched by outside influence over a long period of time. Thus, language contact is as old as language itself. This term refers to the social and linguistic phenomenon by which speakers of different languages (or different dialects of the same language) interact with one another, leading to a transfer of linguistic features. “Language contact is a major factor in language change,” notes S. Gramley. “Contact with other languages and other dialectal varieties of one language is a source of alternative pronunciations, grammatical structures, and vocabulary” [3].

There are different kinds of contact, depending on the manner in which speakers interface with each other. This can range from day to day contact as in the Scandinavian period in English history to a narrow range contact between a small number of prestigious speakers as during the later French period. Probably the most common way in which languages come into contact is the movement of groups or individuals into other people's territory. Such movements can be peaceful immigrations, by people who wish to become integrated with the host population. They can also be forced immigrations or the movements can be more or less hostile encroachments by invading armies. In some cases the “contact” does not involve speakers at all: members on one community can acquaint themselves with another language through different media, the written word or today, the recorded word. Languages can come into contact in a variety of ways. Basically, there are two types: the first is direct contact in which speakers of one language turn up in the midst of speakers of another (because of invasion, expulsion, emigration, etc.), the second is where

the contact is through the mediation of literature or nowadays television, radio or the Internet. This is the case with the contact between English and modern European languages at the moment. The former type can be illustrated clearly with examples from history such as Scandinavian or French contact with English. In any contact situation there will be different scenarios for change. Lexical borrowing can take place from language into the other. But structural influence from one language can lead to changes in the other. The essential difference is that for grammatical interference to take place, there must be a degree of bilingualism in the community, otherwise there are no speakers to transfer structures from a second language into their mother tongue. With an indirect contact situation borrowing can take place without any bilingualism.

If contact is accompanied by extensive bilingualism then there is a distinct tendency for both languages to simplify morphologically to a more analytic type. This can be seen in the history of English where the periods of contact appear to have led to an accelerated movement from a synthetic to an analytic type. The most extreme case in this respect is that of pidgins which, given the type of imperfect bilingualism which is characteristic of them, always result in analytic language types. Bilingualism usually sorts itself out and one language wins over the other (English over the other languages it has been in direct contact with), unless the languages involved enter some sort of equilibrium for social or political reasons as has happened in Belgium with French and Flemish, for instance. There is in fact an even clearer kind of stable bilingualism, called diglossia, where two languages or two distinct varieties of the same language are used side by side in separate spheres of life, typically in the public and private sphere. The functional distinction of the two varieties/language guarantees their continuing existence in a speech community. The possible contact scenarios are presented in Table 1.

Everyone tends to speak a second language with an accent as any new language is learned on the basis of one first and native language. When whole communities switch to a new language then they can transfer pronunciation features from their first language to the new one. This may lead to an effect on the language they shift to. This has happened historically in a number of situations, e.g. where the Scandinavians switched to English in the Old English period or where Normans shifted to English in the early Middle English period in England and somewhat later in Ireland. This can lead to a permanent change in the language transferred to. New sounds can also be introduced when words are borrowed with these sounds, e.g. the diphthong /oi/ or initial voiced fricatives (both from French) in Middle English as seen in words like point or veal, zeal.

Syntactic borrowings in the history of English are indeed scarce or at the very least difficult to prove. A case in point is the zero-object relative as in The man I met is my cousin, which may have arisen due to Scandinavian influence. Influence from the syntax of Celtic languages has been postulated stating that periphrastic do arose from causative do by semantic bleaching and believes that it goes back to the Old English period and to contact in Wessex (south-central England) with Celtic speakers.

The effect of the lexicon of one language on another depends largely on the status of the languages in contact. For example, the influence of French on English has been very considerable due to the higher status of French in the Middle English period, while the effect of the Celtic languages on the lexicon of English has been very slight. The reasons for language contact may be political, economic, or cultural. When two languages are in contact, you can more or less predict that borrowing will take place. Theoretically, the process can go in either direction; usually the process goes in the direction of the language which has a

motive for borrowing. Frequent motives are prestige and need-filling. After the Norman Conquest, French was the official language at the English court. A huge number of French loanwords was the consequence of its high prestige. Many of them are preserved in Present-Day English, e.g. emperor from Old French empereor, duke from Old French duc, crown from Old French corone. The Celtic languages which were superseded by English never held a prestige position. This is how we explain the small number of Celtic loanwords in English [1, p. 37].

The entry of foreign words into the lexical system of a recipient language is a long and complex process. The analysis of the underlying reasons for borrowed lexical of units can set these reasons into two types: extralinguistic and linguistic proper. Extralinguistic reasons include:

cultural influence of one nation on another;

presence of oral or written contacts between countries with different languages;

increasing interest in learning a language;

prestige of the donor language;

specific social strata passion towards the culture of another country;

linguistic culture of social strata that introduces a new word.

Table 1

Language contact scenarios [1, p. 36]

Proper linguistic reasons are:

lack in the native language of equivalent words for the new object or concept;

tendency to use one loan word instead of descriptive phrases;

the desire to improve and preserve the communicative distinction of lexical units, which is achieved through elimination of polysemy or homonymy in the recipient language;

the need to specify the appropriate meaning, to distinguish some shades of meaning through attaching them to different words;

tendency to expressiveness that leads to the appearance of foreign language stylistic synonyms;

lack of mother tongue potential to create derivatives on the basis of similar words existing in the language;

accumulation in the recipient language of words whicharecharacterisedbysimilarelements(morphemes and derivational elements borrowing) [5, p. 157].

Martin Haspelmath identifies two main types of factors responsible for borrowing particular words: social and attitudinal factors (prestige of the donor language, puristic attitudes); grammatical factors (e. g. the claim that verbs are more difficult to borrow than nouns because they need more grammatical adaptation than nouns).

Borrowing of new words along with new concepts (cultural borrowing) and borrowing for reasons of prestige (core borrowing) are the two most important reasons for borrowing, but borrowing has also been said to occur for therapeutic reasons, when the original word became unavailable. Two subcases of this are:

borrowing due to word taboo: in some cultures, there are strict word taboo rules, e. g. rules that prohibit a certain word that occurs in a deceased person's name, or a word that occurs in the name of a taboo relative. In such cases, a language may acquire large parts of another language's basic lexicon, so that its genealogical position is recognizable only from its grammatical morphemes.

borrowing for reasons of homonymy avoidance: if a word becomes too similar to another word due to sound change, the homonymy clash might be avoided by borrowing. Thus, it has been suggested that the homonymy of earlier English bread (from Old English brжde) `roast meat' and bread (from Old English bread) `morsel, bread' led to the replacement of the first by a French loan (roast, from Old French rost) [4].

Conclusions

Thus, we can conclude that among external pressures for language change, foreign contacts are the most obvious. They may be instigated by outright military invasion, by commercial relations, by immigration, or by the social prestige of a foreign language. Borrowing is facilitated by languages coming into contact; changes in the environment, including cultural changes, creating a need for new vocabulary; and speakers wanting to use the vocabulary of a prestigious language to improve their social status [2, p. 36].

The linguistic background of contacts between English and other languages is a complex and multifaceted area of study that has garnered significant attention from scholars in recent years. Through a comprehensive analysis of sociolinguistic, historical, and cultural factors, this research has provided valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of language interactions in our globalized world.

Sociolinguistic perspectives have shed light on the role of bilingualism, language attitudes, and language policies in shaping language contacts. The exploration of historical dimensions has uncovered the socio-historical events and colonial influences that have contributed to the dominance of English as a global lingua franca.

Language borrowing and transfer phenomena have been extensively studied, unraveling the motivations behind lexical borrowings and their integration into the linguistic system, reflecting cultural and social exchanges.

Moreover, the implications of language contacts for language planning and revitalization efforts have been addressed, underscoring the significance of promoting linguistic diversity and supporting endangered languages in the face of language shift.

In conclusion, this research has significantly advanced our understanding of the linguistic background of contacts between English and other languages. By unraveling the intricacies of language interactions, this study offers practical insights for language planning, revitalization efforts, and intercultural communication, fostering mutual understanding and appreciation of linguistic diversity in our increasingly interconnected world. As language continues to evolve through contacts with diverse linguistic systems, this research provides a strong foundation for further exploration and contributes to the broader field of philology and language studies.

Bibliography

Campbell, L. Historical Linguistics : An Introduction. MIT Press, 1998 448 р.

Culpeper, J. History of English. London-New York : Routledge, 2005. 134 р.

Gramley, S. The History of English : An Introduction. Abingdon : Routledge, 2012. 438 p.

Haspelmath M. Lexical borrowing : Concepts and issues URL: https://www.academia.edu/3453003/ Lexical_borrowing_Concepts_and_issues_2009_ (date of application: 27.07.2023)

Lerer S. The History of the English Language. Chantilly : The Teaching Company, 2008. 218 p.

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