Borrowing
Why does Japanese have loanwords for words it already has?
Play videoThis is a video discussing about loanwords; why we sometimes see loanwords despite the original language already having a word for it. Sometimes they start to carry different nuances, or in some cases the loanwords are intentionally used to override the impression that original word implies. It uses English-Japanese as an example but also mentions that similar things are seen in other languages too.
HAN "I GOT IT" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-RECORD]
Play videoInstance of English-Korean wordplay in k-pop/k-rap. The Korean-accented English pronunciation of "I GOT IT" in the chorus is homophonous with the Korean "아가리" which is a curse word/harsh way of saying "shut up". There are other uses of wordplay throughout, especially in the final few lines of the song. This is a commonly used tactic in k-pop to tiptoe around explicit language. When Korean swears are turned into English words (and vice versa), fans typically tend to think that the songs are cooler and the artists are smarter and edgier than normal—in other words, the lyricists index themselves and their work as sophisticated. This does not just apply to explicit language, and it carries different connotations depending on the exact wordplay being used.
I Can't Say Guacamole | On incorporating foreign words into English speech
Play videoBilingual English speaker talks about how he incorporates foreign words into his English speech; whether he should match the phonology with the language the foreign word came from, or adapt it to match that of his English speech
IndoMY Tweet 2
This tweet showcases the type of translanguaging discussed in Nurenzia Yannuar and Nazarudin's (2024) paper "Between Oppa and Borahae: Language and Identity among Indonesian K-Pop Fans", where resources from English, Indonesian are used seamlessly along with K-Pop in-group terms (both global and Indonesian-specific) and Islam, using translanguaging to transcend not only borderized languages but also borderized identificational oppositions, such as Global vs. Indonesian, East vs. West, and Islam vs. Secular Pop Culture. [Published on 02-07-2025]
IndoMY Tweet
This tweet is an example of the kind of translanguaging that takes place in the Indonesian K-Pop fan community on Twitter, seamlessly using resources from Indonesian and English (at different levels of incorporation, see "real life" vs "psikologi", assumingly an Indonesian phonetic respelling of "psychology") along with K-Pop in-group terms ("IndoMY" is a collective term for the fans of K-Pop group BTS in Indonesia, a fusion of the collective term for BTS fans globally, "ARMY" and "Indonesia", also a reference to a popular Indonesian instant noodle brand) and emojis (the purple heart is a reference to "borahae", a Korean term coined by the K-Pop group BTS literally meaning "I purple you", meaning "I'll love you to the end of the rainbow (purple)"), which is used to create transnational identifications, using the transcendence of language boundaries to transcend binaries of global and local and create multilayered community connections. Citation: Nurenzia Yannuar and Nazarudin, 2024. Between Oppa and Borahae, Language and Identity among Indonesian K-Pop Fans. [Published on 02-06-2025]
Es-tu lesbienne?
This is a Youtube-Shorts video.
The Dvita and Curtis reading reminded me of this video I came across a while ago. The poster, Sami Landri, uses mostly French (from Montreal), and English phrases ("girlboss," "come on, lez-queen!") are used for gay-affect, like "le coming-out" but a bit more modern. Although, this is pretty different from the article because the audience, location, and communicative intent are all different in a number of ways... [Published on 12-16-2023]
a mimir two mimir
An example of sharing language over the internet. A Spanish-speaker commented on a drawing made by a Japanese artist and shared a phrase in Spanish that the artist adopted and adapted when sharing more of their art. [Published on 06-20-2020]
"Anything else you want to say, buffoon?" | Santiago mimics Louis | Interview With The Vampire S2
Play videoA scene from AMC's Interview With The Vampire where a character with a New Orleans accent is mimicked and the nuances of his pronunciations are identified as being specifically from NOLA (based on borrowed pronunciation from French).
"Флексить", "рофлить". Что таится в недрах молодежного сленга
An article about the use of borrowed words from English in Russian internet slang (such as "флексить" from "flex" or "рофлить" from ROFL). [Published on 06-27-2019]
Raw Politics: Angela Merkel's "sh**storm" moment
Play videoAngela Merkel uses the word "shitshow" in the middle of a German sentence.
Why Do Americans Put an 'R' Sound in Colonel?
Brief, humorous explanation as to why English speakers, particularly Americans, pronounce the "r" in colonel. Traces migration of French vocabulary. [Published on 07-05-2022]
Japanese words replaced by English loans
Play videoA list of japanese words which have been replaced by english loans in common usage; not using these loanwords makes you seem outdated
JustDede Tiktok
A woman (incorrectly) uses slang terms (and nothing else) she's been taught by the internet to describe her chicken nugget. [Published on 01-26-2024]
Can Filipinos Speak Their Own Language?
Play videoThis video features street interviews with several Filipino people who attempt to speak pure Tagalog (no English or other loanwords). They also share their thoughts on the increasing incorporation of loanwords into everyday speech.
Contact between Spanish and Quechua
Play videoStudent-made video describing the current linguistic situation of the Quechua language and explore its contact situation with Spanish, the dominant language. They include excerpts of an interview with Prof. Liliana Sánchez (Rutgers University), examples of the linguistic influence of Quechua in Peruvian and Ecuadorian Spanish, and a commentary about bilingualism and language maintenance.
Salsa Tequila - Anders Nilsen
Play videoThis song "Salsa Tequila" by the Norwegian musician, Anders Nilsen, is a pretty clera example of mock Spanish. Most of the lyrics are disconnected Spanish words or short phrases, the kind that the average non-Spanish speaking person in the U.S. might know, as well as some places and names of celebrities. There are even some words that aren't Spanish like "tex mex" and "calamari", as well as some instances of incorrect Spanish like "por favor bailando" and "las ketchup". The chorus is just a repetition of the string of words "salsa, tequila, corazon, [and] cerveza" ending with "muy bueno". The music of the song is like the electronic dance music you might hear at a club, and along with the fact that the song is called "salsa tequila" (a dance and a kind of liquor notorious for making people take their clothes off) contributes to the language indexing a kind of partier persona, and projects that stereotype onto speakers of the language as a whole.
Sicilian and Italian: What's the difference?
Lingua o dialetto? Although Sicily is politically Italian, the variety spoken there has clear differences from mainstream Italian. From what I can gather, the relationship between Sicilian and Italian seems similar to that of Catalan and Spanish (Castellano), with the difference that it has assimilated more toward mainstream Italian in recent years than Catalan has toward Spanish. [Published on 06-02-2010]
Don Omar - Danza Kuduro ft. Lucenzo
Play videoThe song Danza Kuduro is an example of the effect globalization has had on language. It is sung in both Portuguese and Spanish, with the music video also utilizing English, by Don Omar, a Latin American pop star, and Lucenzo, a French-Portuguese artist. Borrowing from African culture, the kuduro itself is a type of dance that originated in Africa becoming popular in Angola, a Portuguese colony. The song was number one on the charts in Argentina, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland, showcasing how the song transcended language barriers and how globalization has impacted language use.
Resistance to Borrowing: Léo Ferré's "La Langue Française"
Play videoLéo Ferré's "La Langue Française" (1962) exemplifies standard language ideologies that consider foreign loanwords a threat to a language's 'purity' or even its very existence, the joke of the song centering on the irony of the singer declaring that he loves to speak French as he crams borrowings from English into everything he says.
World of dave: Guessing Konglish words.
Play videoDave, an American Youtuber who lives in Korean uses his youtube channel to teach Korean to English speakers and English to Koreans. In this video, his brother is visiting and he makes him guess the meaning of Konglish words. Konglish words, as you might be able to guess by the name, English words only used in Korean, but not really. It is a bit of a slang language as most Konglish words are spoken an American accent but are not the same words used in American English. The Koreans made their own words based on the properties of the item, idea or place. Some words are also based on American slang terms, such as sum, this is based on the slang for "something" which means there is a relationship between two people that are not an official couple.
For Me Formidable, French & English code-switching
Play videoThis song utilizes code-switching between English and French to make use of puns and access prestige in both languages. It questions constraint models with its intra-sentential switches that produce ungrammatical expressions in both English and French.
Palabra Mi Amor - A French song that’s mostly English and Spanish!
Play videoThe French band Shaka Ponk is known for their multilingual lyrics, as they code switch in Spanish, French, English, and Esperanto. This song is semi-exceptional as they use more French than in their other songs. (For a song with Esperanto, listen to Eh La Mala Lama Laico). They use a non standard variety of English while singing (copula deletion), and you can also see adoption of English loanwords into their French vernacular.
Japanese/English Code Switching / Borrowing
Play videoNihonglish Gairaigo -- English words sprinkled throughout the speech... although this is was created mostly as a showcase of intonation, it seems to be a bit of a social commentary on language use and foreigners.
Tokyo Bon 東京盆踊り2020 (Makudonarudo) Namewee 黃明志 ft. Meu Ninomiya 二宮芽生 @亞洲通吃2018專輯 All Eat Asia
Play videoThis is a song about how Japanese people speak English. In this song, many of the English words are put in the lyrics. People might find that there is a huge differences between Japanese and English pronunciation. And this video can also help people understand more about Japanese accent in speaking English.
The North Riding of Yorkshire
Play videoThis video shows how the Yorkshire Dialect relates to language contact we discussed in class. As it can be observed, the dialect uses words from Old Norse caused by warfare and migrations.
Maori words for mental health revised and added onto
New Zealand wanted to expand the mental health language to not have ‘sometimes condescending’ English terms and to use more nonjudgmental terms to better describe people with mental health problems.
Maz Jobrani: Comedy TedTalk in Qatar
Play videoMaz Jobrani is an Iranian-American who does a lot of comedy to bridge Americans with the Middle East, and to bring awareness of Middle Easterners.
"Stop Trying to Make 'Fetch' Happen"
Play video"Mean Girls" has provided us with an excellent example of the shortcomings of trying to attribute the success of certain linguistic features and usages solely to language-internal factors. The term 'Fetch', which would appear to offer extensive linguistic utility and appeal, finds its success limited by the asymmetric, structural power differential between Regina George and Gretchen. As sociolinguists we must consequently keep in mind the need to contextualize speech features within wider historical and political movements (see Milroy and Milroy 1985: 13, "Prescription and Standardization" in Authority in Language).
Similarities Between Spanish And Arabic
Play videoThis video shows two young women comparing some of the most commonly used words in Arabic and Spanish. Approximately 9% of the Spanish language is thought to have derived from Arabic due to the Islamic invasion of Spain by the Moors in 711. Through this invasion, we have the two languages mixing and creating what is modern day Spanish. You can hear the similarities between the two languages, and visually see how the Romanized spelling of Arabic looks like Spanish. I would also consider this code switching, because the words are first introduced in English, and then a count of 1, 2, 3 is given for each girl to say the word at the same time. It also shows the concept of mutual intelligibility with some words, and a modern-day proof of how the Spanish language was assimilated into what it is now from Arabic, because the Spaniards acquired words and syntax of their captor's language. You see how each girl and speakers of either language can understand what the other is saying without any type of special prior knowledge.
New Slang Added to Australian Dictionary
This article covers the addition of modern Australian slang to their national dictionary. The content added includes modern words and phrases commonly used by the various Australian native dialects and their definitions. As a lot of Australian saying and slang are uncommon and foreign to other English speakers, this addition to the Australian dictionary can provide definitions for their otherwise unfamiliar sayings. [Published on 08-24-2016]
Maya man Speaking Yucatec Spanish
Play videoA man in San Francisco speaks Maya. According to the video, he is speaking slowly so we are able to understand him. 10% of what he is speaking is Spanish and he is describing what you will see when you visit his town of Oxkutzcab.
The Top 10 Most Frequently Mispronounced Foods
Language borrowing has been an interest to various fields of linguistics for some time. A good example of loanwords can be found on menus. Here is a list of “The Top 10 Most Frequently Mispronounced Foods” by Kemp Minifie
Toward the end of the obnoxiously prescriptivist académie française?
The current French minister of culture and the French language holds a very progressist discourse about fluidity of language, its constant change and the ever growing richness of it. [Published on 03-12-2015]
How Do You Pronounce "Bon Iver"?
Our discussion of the foreign /a:/ potentially sounding pretentious made me think of this issue...
A cause of confusion and debate among hipsters and indie music listeners has been the pronunciation of Justin Vernon's musical project, Bon Iver. I have always pronounced it /bɒn aɪvər/* to avoid sounding pretentious and made fun of my boyfriend when he pronounced it in the more correct way, /bəʊn i:veər/*. It turns out that the band's creator doesn't mind it either way! Could the pronunciation of this band name tell us something about the speaker? It may not be as political as "Iraq", but I think it's worth discussing.
*Please forgive any IPA errors, I'm still getting the hang of it. [Published on 02-13-2012]
Rock Me Amadeus
Play videoThis is the song I chose for my music project--it shows a number of English borrowings and code-switches between German and English.
France protects itself from dreaded English language
A Daily Mail (a British publication) article on the restrictions on English borrowings into French put forth by the Academie Francaise in France. [Published on 03-12-2008]
Americans Are Barmy Over Britishisms
Discussion of increasing popularity of British vernacular in American English.
A Short Class in Manglish: 88, 3Q
Mandarin Chinese written internet-slang is becoming more popular; however, there is also growing opposition to the inclusion of English words and phrases into the Chinese language. By Patti Waldmeir.