Pseudo-anglicism explained

A pseudo-anglicism is a word in another language that is formed from English elements and may appear to be English, but that does not exist as an English word with the same meaning.[1]

For example, English speakers traveling in France may be struck by the "number of anglicisms—or rather words that look English—which are used in a different sense than they have in English, or which do not exist in English (such as rallye-paper, shake-hand, baby-foot, or baby-parc)".[2]

This is different from a false friend, which is a word with a cognate that has a different main meaning. Sometimes pseudo-anglicisms become false friends.[3]

Definition and terminology

Pseudo-anglicisms are also called secondary anglicisms, false anglicisms, or pseudo-English.

Pseudo-anglicisms are a kind of lexical borrowing where the source or donor language is English, but where the borrowing is reworked in the receptor or recipient language.

The precise definition varies. Duckworth defines pseudo-anglicisms in German as "neologisms derived from English language material." Furiassi includes words that may exist in English with a "conspicuously different meaning".

Typology and mechanism

Pseudo-anglicisms can be created in various ways, such as by archaism, i.e., words that once had that meaning in English but are since abandoned; semantic slide, where an English word is used incorrectly to mean something else; conversion of existing words from one part of speech to another; or recombinations by reshuffling English units.

Onysko speaks of two types: pseudo-anglicisms and hybrid anglicisms. The common factor is that each type represents a neologism in the receptor language resulting from a combination of borrowed lexical items from English. Using German as the receptor language, an example of the first type is Wellfit-Bar, a combination of two English lexical units to form a new term in German, which does not exist in English, and which carries the meaning, "a bar that caters to the needs of health-starved people." An example of the second type, is a hybrid based on a German compound word, Weitsprung (long jump), plus the English 'coach', to create the new German word Weitsprung-Coach.

According to Filipović, pseudoanglicisms can be formed through composition, derivation, or ellipsis. Composition in Serbo-Croatian involves creating a new compound from an English word to which is added the word man, as in the example, "GOAL" + man, giving golman. In derivation, a suffix -er or -ist is added to an anglicism, to create a new word in Serbo-Croatian, such as teniser, or vaterpolist. An ellipsis drops something, and starts from a compound and drops a component, or from a derivative and drops -ing, as in boks from "boxing", or "hepiend" from "happy ending".

Another process of word formation that can result in a pseudo-anglicism is a blend word, consisting of portions of two words, like brunch or smog. Rey-Debove & Gagnon attest tansad in French in 1919, from English tan[dem] + sad[dle].

Scope

Pseudo-anglicisms can be found in many languages that have contact with English around the world, and are attested in nearly all European languages.

The equivalent of pseudo-Anglicisms derived from languages other than English also exist. For example, the English-language phrase "double entendre", while often believed to be French and pronounced in a French fashion, is not actually used in French. For other examples, see dog Latin, list of pseudo-French words adapted to English, and list of pseudo-German words adapted to English.

Examples

Many languages

Some pseudo-anglicisms are found in many languages and have been characterized as "world-wide pseudo-English",[4] often borrowed via other languages such as French or Italian:[5]

Japanese

Korean

See main article: Konglish.

Romance

French

French includes many pseudo-anglicisms, including novel compounds (baby-foot), specifically compounds in -man (tennisman), truncations (foot), places in -ing (dancing meaning dancing-place, not the act of dancing), and a large variety of meaning shifts.

Italian

Germanic

Danish

Dutch

German

See also: Denglisch. German pseudo anglicisms often have multiple valid and common ways of writing them, generally either hyphenated (Home-Office) or in one word (Homeoffice).[42] Infrequently, CamelCase may also be used.

Norwegian

Swedish

Slavic

Polish

Russian

Austronesian

Tagalog

See main article: Philippine English.

Malaysian Malay

Indonesian

Other languages

Chinese

Maltese

See also

Sources

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Ilse Sørensen, English im deutschen Wortschatz, 1997, p. 18, as quoted in Onysko, 2007, p. 53: "words that look English, but which deviate from genuine English words either formally or semantically"
  2. Nicol Spence 1976, as quoted in Ayres-Bennett, 2014, p. 335
  3. Henrik Gottlieb, "Danish pseudo-Anglicisms: A corpus-based analysis", p. 65 in Furiassi 2015
  4. Broder Carstensen, "Euro-English", in Linguistics across historical and geographical boundaries: in honour of Jacek Fisiak..., 2, in Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 32, 1986, p. 831
  5. e.g., Λεξικό της κοινής Νεοελληνικής s.v. σμόκιν
  6. http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/autostop/ «Autostop»
  7. Georgios Babiniotis, Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, 1998, s.v.
  8. Web site: SBL Herr. www.sblherr.se.
  9. https://en.pons.com/translate/bulgarian-english/%D0%BA%D1%8A%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B3 PONS Online Dictionary
  10. https://en.pons.com/translate/russian-english/%D0%BA%D0%B5%CD%81%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B3 PONS Online Dictionary
  11. https://en.pons.com/translate/polish-english/kemping PONS Online Dictionary
  12. Web site: Camping .
  13. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=smoking smoking
  14. Web site: Smoking .
  15. Web site: Duden Smoking Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Herkunft. 2021-08-13. www.duden.de. de.
  16. Oxford Paravia Italian Dictionary, 2001,, s.v.
  17. Gorlach, 2001, s.v.
  18. Web site: Search result for '원샷'. 2023-08-09.
  19. Web site: Search result for '핸드폰'. 2023-08-09.
  20. Web site: 8 words that look like English but actually aren't – ESL language studies abroad . 1 October 2019 . ESL Stories . 29 July 2021.
  21. Matthew Anderson, "The foreign words that seem like English – but aren't", BBC Culture 13 October 2016
  22. Collins le Robert French Dictionary, 11th ed., 2020, s.v. (usage note)
  23. Collins le Robert French Dictionary, 11th ed., 2020, s.v.
  24. Clyde Thogmartin, "Some 'English' Words in French", The French Review 57:4:447-455 (March 1984)
  25. http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/autogrill/ «Autogrill»
  26. http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/beauty-farm/ «Beauty farm»
  27. http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/tag/block-notes// «Bloc-Notes»
  28. Cristiano Furiassi, "How jolly is the joker? Problemi di traducibilità dei falsi anglicismi" in the Atti del 5° congresso di studi dell’Associazione Italiana di Linguistica Applicata (AItLA). Bari, 17,18 febbraio 2005
  29. Web site: English Translation of "autobus" | Collins Italian-English Dictionary .
  30. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=babylift babylift
  31. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=butterfly butterfly
  32. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=cottoncoat cottoncoat
  33. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=cowboytoast cowboytoast
  34. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/doorstep doorstep
  35. Web site: Legekøkken | Køb dit legetøjskøkken online her | Coop.dk. shopping.coop.dk.
  36. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=monkeyclass monkeyclass
  37. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=speedmarker speedmarker
  38. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=stationcar stationcar
  39. https://ordnet.dk/ddo/ordbog?query=timemanager timemanager
  40. Web site: Beamer (LaTeX) . Vullers . Pim . 2012 . Radboud University . 2020-12-09.
  41. Web site: Box . etymologiebank.nl . 2024-06-12.
  42. Web site: Duden Homeoffice Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Herkunft. 2021-08-13. www.duden.de. de.
  43. Web site: Duden Beamer Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Herkunft. 2021-03-14. www.duden.de. de.
  44. Web site: German Pseudo-Anglicisms – Yabla German – Free German Lessons.
  45. Web site: Duden Funsport Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Herkunft. 2021-08-13. www.duden.de. de.
  46. Web site: Handy ohne Vertrag: Angebote März 2023. www.sparhandy.de.
  47. Web site: Duden Jobticket Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Herkunft. 2021-03-13. www.duden.de. de.
  48. Web site: Duden Trampen Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition, Herkunft. 2021-05-13. www.duden.de. de.
  49. Web site: hands . 2024-07-05. www.naob.no.
  50. Web site: Sixpence . 2022-09-18 . www.skittfiske.no.
  51. News: After work ett svenskt påhitt. Dagens Nyheter. 11 March 2015. 12 December 2015. Swedish.
  52. Web site: Topplistan Pocket – Akademibokhandeln. www.akademibokhandeln.se.
  53. Web site: dres. Słownik wyrazów obcych. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN. 11 April 2012. Polish.
  54. Web site: Преимущества и недостатки дресс-кроссинга . 19 September 2015 .
  55. https://translate.academic.ru/страйкбол/en/ru/страйкбол «страйкбол»
  56. [:ru:Страйкбол|Страйкбол]
  57. Web site: 16 English Words and Sayings Travellers Won't Understand in the Philippines. Escalona. Katrina. 5 September 2017. theculturetrip.com. 7 January 2019.
  58. Web site: 21 'English Words' Yang Menyimpang Jauh Maksudnya Bila Orang Kita Guna Untuk Bersembang. Johari. Farouq. says.com.
  59. Web site: 9 perkataan English yang terpesong maknanya bila di-Melayukan. 13 August 2016. soscili.my. 5 September 2022.
  60. Web site: 10 Perkataan English Yang Telah Di Melayukan. Mat Salleh Pun Takkan Faham. Roslan. Rizmi. 18 January 2015. The Vocket.
  61. Web site: Kompasiana.com . 2012-09-05 . Istilah Bahasa Inggris Kreasi Orang Indonesia . 2023-12-11 . KOMPASIANA . id.
  62. Web site: Chucky . 2016-11-26 . 5 Kelmiet Li Taħsibhom Ingliżi Imma Mhumiex . 2024-02-24 . Lovin Malta . en-GB.