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Anglicisation
Anglicisation or '''Anglicization''' (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize|-ise vs -ize) is a process of conversion of verbal or written elements of any other language into a more comprehensible English language|English form for an English speaker. Loanwords
Non-English words may be Anglicised by changing their form and pronunciation to something more familiar to English speakers. For example, the Latin word ''obscenus'' has been imported into English in the modified form ''obscene'' . Changing endings in this manner is especially common, and can be frequently seen when foreign words are imported into any language. For example, the English word ''damsel'' is an Anglicisation of the Old French ''damoisele'' (modern ''demoiselle''), meaning "young lady". Another form of Anglicising is the inclusion of a foreign Article (grammar)|article as part of a noun (such as ''alkali'' from the Arabic ''al-qili'').
Proper names
Place names
Place names are commonly anglicised in English. Examples include the Italy|Italian cities of ''Napoli'' and ''Milano'', known in English as Naples and Milan, the Germany|German city of ''München'' (Munich), the Denmark|Danish city of ''København'' (Copenhagen), the Sweden|Swedish city of ''Göteborg'' (Gothenburg), the the Netherlands|Dutch city of ''Den Haag'' (The Hague), the Spain|Spanish city of ''Zaragoza'' (formerly Saragossa), a number of Arabic language|Arabic speaking places, like Cairo (القاهرة ''Al-Qāhira''). Such Anglicisation was once universal: nearly all cities and people discussed in English literature up to the mid-20th century had their names anglicised. In the late 20th century, however, use of non-English names in English began to become more common. When dealing with languages that use the same Latin alphabet as English, names are now more usually written in English as they exist in their local language, sometimes even with diacritical marks that do not normally exist in English. With languages that use non-Latin alphabets, such as the Arabic alphabet|Arabic, Cyrillic alphabet|Cyrillic, Greek alphabet|Greek, Korean language|Korean Hangul and other alphabets a direct transliteration is typically used, which is then often pronounced according to English rules. Non-Latin based languages may use standard romanisation systems, such as Japanese language|Japanese Rōmaji or Mandarin language|Chinese (Mandarin) Pīnyīn. The Japanese and Chinese names are spelled English following these spellings with some common exceptions, usually without Chinese tone marks and Japanese macrons for long vowels (Chóngqìng -> Chongqing (重慶/重庆), Shíjiāzhuāng -> Shijiazhuang (石家莊/石家庄) in China, Kyōto -> Kyoto (京都) in Japan).
De-Anglicisation has become a matter of national pride in some places and especially in regions that were once under colonialism|colonial rule, where vestiges of colonial domination are a sensitive subject. Family and personal 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 changed. Many times this happened right at arrival, with the immigration officials mishearing and writing down whatever they heard, or was done by the immigrants to give themselves a more American or British sounding name.
French people|French immigrants to the United States (both those of Huguenot and French Canadian background) often accommodated those unfamiliar with French language|French pronunciations and spellings by altering their surnames in either of two ways: spellings were changed to fit the traditional pronunciation (Pariseau became Parizo, Boucher became Bushey, Mailloux became Mayhew), or pronunciations were changed to fit the spelling (Benoît, pronounced , became ). In some cases, it could go either way (Gagné, pronounced , become or Gonyea), or something only slightly similar (Bourassa became Bersaw).
Most Irish names have been anglicised. A good example of this can be seen in the surnames of many Ireland|Irish families – for example, Ó Briain has often become O'Brien, Ó Rothláin became Rowland, Ó Néill became O'Neill and some surnames like Ó Súilleabháin may be shortened to just O'Sullivan or Sullivan. Similarly, native Scotland|Scottish names were altered such as Somhairle to Sorley, Mac Gill-Eain to MacLean, and Mac Aoidh to MacKay. Many Wales|Welsh names have also been altered, such as 'ap Hywell' to Powell (surname)|Powell, or 'ap Siôn' to Jones (surname)|Jones.
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 East Asian countries. For instance, ''Xiangyun'' might be anglicised to ''Sean'' as the pronunciation is similar (though Sean - or Seán - is Irish language|Irish and is a Gaelicisation of the Anglo-Norman language|Anglo-Norman ''Jean'', which itself has been anglicised to John).
Ethnonyms
In some cases ethnonyms may be anglicised from a term in another language (either the language of the group described or the language of another people).
The Anglicisation of other languages
A more recent linguistic development is Anglicisation of other languages, in which words are borrowed ''from'' English, making the other language more similar to English; such a word is known as an Anglicism. With the rise in English-speaking world|Anglophone media and global spread of British and American cultures in the 20th and 21st centuries, many English terms have entered popular usage in other tongues. Technology-related English words like ''internet'' and ''computer'' are particularly common across the globe, as there are no pre-existing words for them. English words are sometimes imported verbatim, and sometimes adapted to the importing language in a process similar to anglicisation. In languages with non-Latin alphabets, these borrowed words can be written in the Latin alphabet anyway, resulting in a text made up of a mixture of scripts; other times they are transliterated. Transliteration of English and other foreign words into Japanese language|Japanese requires the special katakana script.
In some countries such Anglicisation is seen as relatively benign, and the use of English words may even take on a ''chic (style)|chic'' aspect. In Japan marketing products for the domestic market often involves using English or Japlish|pseudo-English brand names and slogans. In other countries, Anglicisation is seen much more negatively, and there are efforts by public-interest groups and governments to reverse the trend; for example, the Académie française in France insists on the use of French neologisms to describe technological inventions in place of imported English terms.
Anglicisation of minority language groups
The adoption of English as a personal, preferred language is another form of Anglicisation. Calvin Veltman, following the methods of analysis developed in Quebec, Canada for establishing rates of language shift, uses the term to refer to the practice of individuals in minority language groups who cease using their mother tongue as their usual, preferred language and adopt English instead. When such individuals continue to speak their mother tongue, they are referred to as "English-dominant bilinguals" and when they cease to do so, they are referred to as "English monolinguals". Rates of Anglicisation may be calculated by comparing the number of people who usually speak English to the total number of people in any given minority language group.
Americanization
Some Americans often use the term "Americanization" when referring to Anglicization and any conversion to the English language. This label is applied most often with Spanish words from Mexico and other nearby hispanophone nations, due to the proximity of the United States to Latin America.
References
See also
- Anglicism
- Anglish
- English exonyms of Arabic speaking places
- English words with diacritics
- Loanword
- Romanization
- Assimilation (linguistics)
Category:English language
Category:Scots language
Category:Types of words
Category:Word coinage
Category:Transliteration
Category:Cultural assimilation
simple:Anglicisation
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Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL
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