Anglicisation (linguistics)

In linguistics, anglicisation or anglicization is the practice of modifying foreign words, names, and phrases to make them easier to spell, pronounce or understand in English.^[1]^[2] The term commonly refers to the respelling of foreign words or loan words in English, often to a more drastic degree than that implied in, for example, romanisation. One instance is the word "dandelion", modified from the French dent-de-lion ("lion's tooth", a reference to the plant's sharply indented leaves). The term can also refer to phonological adaptation without spelling change: for example, pasta (pronounced [ˈpasta] in Italian) is accepted in English with Italian spelling, but anglicised phonetically in being pronounced /ˈpɑːstə/ in American English and /ˈpæstə/ in British English. The anglicisation of non-English words for use in English is just one case of the more widespread domestication of foreign words that is a feature of many languages, sometimes involving shifts in meaning. The term does not cover the unmodified adoption of foreign words into English (e.g. kindergarten) or the unmodified adoption of English words into foreign languages (e.g. internet, computer, web).

^ English in Wales: diversity, conflict, and change – Page 19 Nikolas Coupland, Alan Richard Thomas – 1990 "'Anglicisation' is one of those myriad terms in general use which everyone understands and hardly anyone defines. It concerns the process by which non-English people become assimilated or bound into an ..."
^ The British World: Diaspora, Culture, and Identity – Page 89 Carl Bridge, Kent Fedorowich, Carl Bridge Kent Fedorowich – 2003 "Beyond gaps in our information about who or what was affected by anglicisation is the matter of understanding the process more fully in terms of agency, periodisation, and extent and limitations."

[1] English in Wales: diversity, conflict, and change – Page 19 Nikolas Coupland, Alan Richard Thomas – 1990 "'Anglicisation' is one of those myriad terms in general use which everyone understands and hardly anyone defines. It concerns the process by which non-English people become assimilated or bound into an ..."

[2] The British World: Diaspora, Culture, and Identity – Page 89 Carl Bridge, Kent Fedorowich, Carl Bridge Kent Fedorowich – 2003 "Beyond gaps in our information about who or what was affected by anglicisation is the matter of understanding the process more fully in terms of agency, periodisation, and extent and limitations."

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