Overview

Remade in France: Anglicisms in the Lexicon and Morphology of French chronicles the current status of French Anglicisms, a popular topic in the history of the French language and a compelling example of the influence of global English. The abundant data come from primary sources-a large online newspaper corpus (for unofficial Anglicisms) and the dictionary (for official Anglicisms)-and secondary sources. This book examines the appearance and behavior of English items in the lexicon and morphology of French, and explains them in the context of French neology and lexical activity. The first phase of the latest contact period (1990-2015) has its own complex linguistic characterization, including a significant influx of nonce borrowings and very low frequency Anglicisms, heterogeneous and creative borrowing outcomes, and direct phraseological borrowing. This book is a counterargument to the well-known criticism that Anglicisms are lexical polluters. On the contrary, the use of Anglicisms requires the inventive application of complex linguistic rules, and the borrowing of Anglicisms into the French lexicon is convincing proof that language change is systematic. The findings bring novel interdisciplinary insights to the domains of borrowing in a non-bilingual contact setting; global English as a source of lexical creativity in the French lexicon; the phases, patterns and processes of integration of English loanwords; the morphology of borrowing; and computational corpus linguistics. The appended database is a snapshot of a synchronic period of linguistic contact and a useful lexicographic resource.

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9780190625542

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Saugera reasons insightfully to decode the behavior of Anglicisms. [...] She has presented hard data to demonstrate that French journalists are adept at using Anglicisms to advantage without undermining the morphological integrity of the language. Any language must either totally isolate itself or else successfully adapt to its changing environment in order to survive. The former is now virtually impossible, particularly for a global language like French; the latter is the only viable way forward, and Saugera has provided compelling evidence that journalistic handlers of French have successfully embarked upon it. * French Review *

Saugera reasons insightfully to decode the behavior of Anglicisms. [...] She has presented hard data to demonstrate that French journalists are adept at using Anglicisms to advantage without undermining the morphological integrity of the language. Any language must either totally isolate itself or else successfully adapt to its changing environment in order to survive. The former is now virtually impossible, particularly for a global language like French; the latter is the only viable way forward, and Saugera has provided compelling evidence that journalistic handlers of French have successfully embarked upon it. * Michael Picone, French Review *

Author Information

Valérie Saugera is Associate Professor of French at the University of Connecticut.

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