The Phonetic and Morphological Integration of Loanwords: A Study of the Vocabulary of Baseball In Dominican Spanish

Keywords

Phonetic adaptation, anglicism, baseball, caique, dominican Spanish, loanwords, lexical borrowing

Abstract

This article examines the processes of phonetic adaptation and morphological integration affecting baseball terms imported from English into Dominican Spanish. The data are taken from three sources: television and radio broadcasts; a word association test designed to elicit speakers' available lexicon in this semantic field; a questionnaire administered under controlled conditions. Analysis of the data indicates that the importation of new lexical items from English does not represent a threat for Spanish since the Spanish linguistic system has the ability to assimilate and integrate such items by adapting them to its own structures. In this sense, the arrival of loanwords may be viewed as a natural phenomenon that enables the language to expand and enrich its lexis without disrupting its phonological and morphological structures in the process.

Original Publication Citation

RLA, Revista de Lingüística Teórica y Aplicada, 45 (2), II Sem. 27, pp. 89-19

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2007-09-01

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/2388

Language

Spanish

College

Humanities

Department

Spanish and Portuguese

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS