Linguistic term needed
R. Rankin
rankin at ku.edu
Mon Apr 12 03:44:12 UTC 2004
Got an example? I'm not sure I have the proper term, but I'm thinking of the
Chinese borrowing the word "America" as mei-guo (which has 2 similar syllables).
And mei-guo, perhaps conscious choice, means roughly 'beautiful kingdom'. I
suppose it's a kind of "loan-blend", but not the typical kind.
Bob
> Does anybody have a proper linguistic term for the phenomenon
> of borrowing a word from a foreign language in such a way as to
> build a native construction that approximately chimes with the
> phonological sequence of the original? I've been using "pun",
> but I suspect there's a more appropriate term for it.
>
> Thanks!
> Rory
>
>
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