Fuzzy Borders Between Invisible and Semi-(in)Visible Anglicisms

Evidence from the GLAD Database and NSZA Dictionary

Abstract

In language contact literature on the typology of linguistic borrowing sharp divisions have repeatedly been made into various types of loan. Loan categorisations are determined by the borrowing strategy adopted by recipient language (RL) speakers and by the formal features of the product of the borrowing process (see e.g. Haugen’s 1950; Weinreich1953; Görlach 2002; Haspelmath 2009; Pulcini et al. 2012). In more recent research, the well-established categories were redefined and relabeled to reflect a cognitively-oriented approach to the borrowing process (e.g. Winter-Froemel 2008), yet the fundamental three-fold typology of lexical Anglicisms has been retained. Authentic language data collected for the Polish contribution to the Global Anglicism Database (GLAD) and the New Dictionary of Polish Anglicisms (NSZA) point to the fuzzy borders and categorial indeterminacy of invisible and semi-(in)visible loans, motivated, as assumed, by RL-specific systemic features and adaptation processes. This paper focuses on the blurred borderline between a loan translation, e.g. Pol. obiad biznesowy <Eng. business lunch and a hybrid (loanblend), e.g. Pol. anioł biznesu <Eng. business angel. While the long-standing terminological tradition and the GLAD template both require making definite decisions as for the loan categorial status, there is much evidence among Polish covert and partially covert Anglicisms that establishing clear-cut borderlines between loan categories may be challenging and therefore may require arbitrary decisions as for their labelling.