Anglicisation (linguistics)
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In linguistics, anglicisation or anglicization is the practice of modifying foreign words, names, and phrases to make them easier to spell, pronounce or understand in English.
Loan words
Non-English words may be anglicised by changing their form and/or pronunciation to something more familiar to English speakers. Changing grammatical endings is especially common. The Latin word obscenus /obskeːnʊs/ has been imported into English in the modified form "obscene" /əbˈsiːn/. The plural form of a foreign word may be modified to fit English norms more conveniently, like using "indexes" as the plural of index, rather than indices, as in Latin. The word "opera" (itself the plural form of the Latin word opus) is understood in English to be a singular noun, so it has received an English plural form, "operas". The English word "damsel" is an anglicisation of the
The French word "homage" was introduced by the Normans after 1066,[a] and its pronunciation became anglicised as /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, with stress on the first syllable; but in recent times showbusiness and Hollywood have taken to pronouncing "homage" in the French fashion, rhyming with "fromage".[4]
Place names
Some places are named something different in English than they are in their native language, e.g. Florence for Firenze. This is not always the case; some places are just transferred instead, e.g. old names like Amsterdam and Madrid and new names like Port-au-Prince.[5]
De-anglicisation has become a matter of national pride in some places and especially in regions that were once under colonial rule, where vestiges of colonial domination are a sensitive subject.[6][7] Following centuries of English rule in Ireland, Douglas Hyde delivered an argument for de-anglicisation before the Irish National Literary Society in Dublin, 25 November 1892: "When we speak of 'The Necessity for De-Anglicising the Irish Nation', we mean it, not as a protest against imitating what is best in the English people, for that would be absurd, but rather to show the folly of neglecting what is Irish, and hastening to adopt, pell-mell, and, indiscriminately, everything that is English, simply because it is English."[6]
In some cases, a place name might appear anglicised compared with the most widely used name, but the form being used in English is actually the borrowing of an older or different form that has since been changed. For example, Turin in the Piedmont region of Italy is named Turin in the native Piedmontese language, but is known as Torino in Italian.[8]
Personal names
The translation of personal names used to be common, e.g. Copernicus rather than Kopernik. According to The Economist, the tradition 'seems to belong to another era'.[9] The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya style guide for example recommends not translating the names of contemporary royalty, but does recommend translating papal names. Furthermore, names written in the Latin alphabet should be written according to the spelling conventions of the native language, including reasonable diacritics. They say names written in other scripts should still be anglicised.[10]
Immigrant names
During the time in which there were large influxes of immigrants from Europe to the United States and United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries, the names of many immigrants were never changed by immigration officials (as demonstrated in The Godfather Part II).[11]
The anglicisation of a personal name now usually depends on the preferences of the bearer. Name changes are less common today for Europeans emigrating to the United States than they are for people originating in
See also
Notes
- ^ Earl and nobles would pay "homage" to the king.
References
- ^ English in Wales: diversity, conflict, and change – Page 19 Nikolas Coupland, Alan Richard Thomas – 1990 "'Anglicisation' is one of those myriad terms in general use which everyone understands and hardly anyone defines. It concerns the process by which non-English people become assimilated or bound into an ..."
- ^ The British World: Diaspora, Culture, and Identity – Page 89 Carl Bridge, Kent Fedorowich, Carl Bridge Kent Fedorowich – 2003 "Beyond gaps in our information about who or what was affected by anglicisation is the matter of understanding the process more fully in terms of agency, periodisation, and extent and limitations."
- ^ The Economist, 13 May 2017, page 53: "The ultimate concession is to give activists representation on the board in return for keeping schtum."
- ^ "'homage, n.'. OED Online. June 2020. Oxford University Press". Oxford English Dictionary.
- ^ "Translation of Geographical Names". translationjournal.net. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ a b Hyde, Douglas (25 November 1892). "The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland". Retrieved 27 March 2008.
- ^ ""de-anglicisation", in Free Online Dictionary". Retrieved 21 October 2013.
the elimination of English influence, language, customs, etc.
- ^ Owen, James (6 March 2006). "From "Turin" to "Torino": Olympics Put New Name on the Map". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2008.
- ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ^ "What should and shouldn't I translate? - UOC Language & Style". www.uoc.edu. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- ISBN 9780791453582. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
- a "...arrives at Ellis Island in 1901 (film version) and accepts the change of his name to "Corleone..." — pg. 214, ¶ 2.
- .