A Study On The Borrowing Process Of English-Originated Loanwords In Chinese Neologisms

English-originated loanwords are an essential part of Chinese neologisms and the byproduct of social changes and development as well as the communication and contact between Chinese and English.The history of the loanword is quite long,while the academic study towards this topic has a short history.Besides,there are rare systematic studies which have a clear timeline.This study treats English-originated loanwords that have appeared in the last ten years(2008 to 2017)as the object and exhaustively collects foreign words from 27 dictionaries and authoritative academic works to summarize their distribution rules,and systematically analyze the borrowing process of English-originated loanwords and the characteristics in each process.Through exhaustive collecting among above mentioned works,this study has collected 246 English-originated loanwords.Based on Thomason and Kaufman's language contact framework and Zuckermann's Folk-Etymological Nativization theory,this study divides the borrowing process of loanwords into three parts,respectively,the adoption process,the assimilation process,and the continuation process.In addition,a detailed analysis of loanwords within each process is also given.This study finds that the annual distribution of these 246 English-originated loanwords is equal,and new loanwords from different semantic fields entering into the Chinese language every year.The contact between Chinese and English is quite intense which can cover various semantic fields.Based on static analysis,the hybrid loans comprise the highest proportion,followed by semantic loans;and the proportion of graphic loans and phonetic loans is similar,indicating that Chinese holds a more active attitude towards the letter words.During the assimilation process,Chinese assimilated the source words phonetically,semantically,and graphically.Phonetic assimilation and graphic assimilation are considered as the most obvious assimilation,aiming to make the source words meet the linguistic rules of Chinese.Semantic assimilation mainly consists of semantic broadening and narrowing together with shifting in semantic color.During the continuation process,some of the loanwords disappear while some of them become a fixed word-formation component after being morphemized.