AN IN-DEPTH EXPLORATION OF A LANGUAGE WITH ACCUMULATED DEBTS: THE CASE WITH THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Abstract

English borrowed a wide range of words and expressions from different parts of the world.  The borrowings make the language a cosmopolitan one. When speakers imitate a word from a foreign language, they are said to borrow it, and their imitation is called a borrowing or loanword. Languages usually come into contact. When two or more languages meet, a good number of linguistic phenomena such as interference, code-switching, code-mixing and borrowing occur. It is these occurrences that this paper seeks to address.  English borrowed a number of words from French, such as names of animals and the meat they produce. During the period of modern English, a greatest number of words were borrowed from Latin. The century or so after 1500 witnessed the influx of many words. English also extended a great deal of their borrowings to German and Africa; most of the English words and expressions have their trace and origin to German and African. The focus of this paper is to show the influence of these borrowed words and expressions on the English language. The paper also established the fact that it is fashionable to use foreign words and expressions while communicating principally in a particular code.