Topic 6: Loanwords in English Language

English has gone through many periods in which large numbers of words from a particular language were borrowed. These periods coincide with times of major cultural contact between English speakers and those speaking other languages. The waves of borrowing during periods of especially strong cultural contacts are not sharply delimited, and can overlap. For example, the Norse influence on English began already in the 8th century A.D. and continued strongly well after the Norman Conquest brought a large influx of Norman French to the language. It is part of the cultural history of English speakers that they have always adopted loanwords from the languages of whatever cultures they have come in contact with. There have been few periods when borrowing became unfashionable, and there has never been a national academy in Britain, the U.S., or other English-speaking countries to attempt to restrict new loanwords, as there has been in many continental European countries. There are some of the loanwords that came into English in different periods and from different languages. It was started by Germanic period or Pre-Old English, followed by Old English Period, Middle English Period, Early Modern English Period and ended with Present-Day English which is what we are using. There are three loanwords will be listed down below and which country it derives from.

First of all is Malay language. The Malay language is part of the Austronesian language family and it is widely used in Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia with its own variation. Malay has borrowed words from Sanskrit, Tamil, Portuguese, English, Dutch, Chinese and Arabic. As an example, “Abjad” which means alphabet in Arabic, “Agama” which means religion in Sanskrit/Dharma, “Almari” which means cupboard that has been borrowed from Portuguese (almário) and “Kongsi” which means share in Chinese-Hokkien (Kong-si). Some of the Malay words that are spelled correctly with English words such as hospitals, formats, transit, etc. Some Malay words have also been borrowed in English.

Photo 1: Malay loanwords

Second, Indonesian language. It has absorbed many loanwords from other languages, including Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindi, Arabic, Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese and other Austronesian languages. For an example, “Angkasa” which means sky in Sanskrit (ākāśa), “Amoi” which means girl/sister in Chinese-Hakka, “Acar” which means pickles in Hindi (achaar), “Medan” which means field in Persian (meidan), “Nahkoda” which means captain of a ship in Persian (nākhodā), “Ilusi” which means illusion from Dutch (ilusie), “Buku” which means book in Dutch (boek) and “Bulat” which means round in French (boulette).

Photo 2: Indonesian loanwords

Third, Hawaiian language. Many loanwords in Hawaiian Pidgin (or Hawaiian Creole English) derive from the Japanese language. The linguistic influences of the Japanese in Hawaii began with the first immigrants from Japan in 1868 and continues with the large Japanese American population in Hawaiʻi today. For an example, “Furikake’ which defines a seaweed and sesame seed based condiment commonly used to season rice, “Hanakuso” which means fried nasal mucus. Hana (nose) and kuso (waste). It typically refers to human excrement, “Bocha” which means take a bath (bocha-bocha), “Skosh” which means a little (sukoshi) and “Hanabuddah/ hanabata” which defines The fluid version of hanakuso. Bata is from English "butter". The term in Japanese is usually hanamizu ("nose water").

Photo 3: Hawaiian loanwords

Furthermore, as to why I think loandwords are important in English language is because by borrowing words from other languages, it will reveal what was previously not in the culture of any race or religion. It is also one of the most important things in communication. Language is always used by a group of people to communicate, collaborate, and perform daily activities. It is not only defines about the information of communication or any weather issues, language also maintains relationships with one another and has its own ability to acquire and use complex systems of ommunication, especially the human ability to do it, and it is one of the specific examples of the system of huge variety of  languages in this world.

As a solid conlusion, The story of English loanwords is one of the elements which must be taken into consideration, because it supplies specific and significant material. It is necessary to examine cultural, political and economic factors in order to obtain a clear picture of the linguistic influence involved.