ABriefStudyoftheLoanWordsinEnglish

錢曉娟+高楠

It was reported that some Chinese words such as “guanxi”， “Maotai”， “dim sum” has been taken in The Oxford English Dictionary；the latest report is that the phrase “NO zuo no die”， “you can you up” were also taken in the Urban Dictionary in America. Earlier， those words have been taken in this dictionary， such as “geilivable”、“people mountain people sea”、“l(fā)ong time no see”. The Chinese people believe that more and more Chinese loanwords in English can fully prove that Chinas international power has been increasing greatly in these years.

It could be seen that Chinese attitudes towards loanwords are totally different from that of English. In this paper， I will explore the differences of loanwords in Chinese and English， because loanwords are common phenomenon in any language， and in the future with the increasing communication between the two countries and the development of the modern communication technology and Internet， more and more loanwords will be used and have to be accepted， therefore， how to treat the loanwords appropriately becomes a problem.

PART ONE DEFINATION OF LOANWORDS

Halliday argued that loanwords are also called borrowed words. A borrowed word refers to a term that was borrowed from another language. It is fully incorporated into the new language， taking on the new languages phonology and orthography so that it is interpreted by most speakers as a native language. Language borrowing is a common social phenomenon in the course of language development， and it is also one of the most important methods of acquiring new words and enlarging the vocabulary. English has an inevitable effect on Chinese vocabulary with the contact of the two countries become increasingly closer.

Loan words have the elements of “foreign lingual culture”， they more or less remain basic features of the source language. Loan words are the products of melting language. Language consists of three elements：phonetics， lexicon and grammar. Generally speaking， lexicon is the most open part in a language， also the most changeable part. So， in the process of language melting， mutual absorption of lexicons is often be used. The absence of new objects and concepts in a nation language entail borrowing from a foreign language by means of any forms so that they can be understood by the native speakers in the process of cultural communication. Lexicon of another language can be absorbed into the local language gradually.

Loan words are the component of native languages lexicon. When a language absorbs a word from outside， sometimes the word will be set in the system of grammar， phonetics and lexicon， and modified by the local language pronunciation custom， grammar rules and lexicon features. Therefore， in terms of origin， borrowing words are foreign， but seen from their position within the native language system， they are also words of the native language.endprint