Cite this article as: Kaoje H. I. & Yusuf B. (2024). An Analysis of the Impact of French Vocabularies on English Lexicon: A Study in Cultural Exchange and Linguistic Security. Proceedings of International Conference on Rethinking Security through the lens of Humanities for Sustainable National Development Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Pp. 143-149.
AN
ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF FRENCH VOCABULARIES ON ENGLISH LEXICON: A STUDY IN
CULTURAL EXCHANGE AND LINGUISTIC SECURITY
By
Hussaini
Ibrahim Kaoje
Department
of English and Literature
Federal University Gusau
And
Babangida
Yusuf
Department
of English and Literature
Federal University Gusau
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of French
vocabularies on English words as a cultural exchange between the two languages.
English and French are both Indo-European languages and they had been in
contact for quite a long period of time. The paper aims at analyzing how French
language influences English language through its vocabularies as a result of
borrowing of French words by the English language, due to the issue of cultural
exchange between the two languages. Among the objectives of this paper are to
study: the impact of French language via its vocabularies on the English
language, the positive results of borrowing vocabularies between the two
languages and as to whether or not cultural exchange between languages helps in
peace building and linguistic security. The paper gives insight that language
borrowing or cultural exchange helps in conflict resolution and peace building
between people of different cultures who happen to come into contact hence,
exchanging and borrowing words from each other’s language(s). Texts
particularly are used and the internet sources for gathering data of this
paper. The research adopts ‘Linguistic Intergroup Contact Theory’ proposed by
Joshua Fisherman (1972), which suggests that language borrowing can lead to
greater understanding and cooperation between different linguistic and cultural
groups. Finally, the paper is able to find out that cultural exchange leads to
cooperation between different linguistic and cultural groups which,
subsequently plays the role of conflict resolution and peace building.
Keywords: Lexicon, Impact, Cultural contact, borrowing,
Asymmetrical, Teutonic.
Introduction
Language borrowing enriches the recipient language, enhancing its
expressive power and facilitating communication (Fisherman, 1972, p. 12). As
Haugen (1953) noted, borrowing allows languages to adapt to changing cultural
and technological contexts. Language borrowing also promotes linguistic
security by providing a means for languages to maintain their relevance and
competitiveness in a globalised world (Kachru, 1983, p. 42).
Language borrowing can be seen as a positive force that brings
people together and promotes mutual understanding. Christiana Schmid (2007),
believes that language plays the role of conflict resolution and peace
building. Also, Andrei Rady(2010), points out that language borrowing can
create a shared vocabulary between different groups and serve as a common
ground for communication and understanding. He has suggested that language
borrowing can help to bridge cultural divides and promote cooperation and collaboration
between different groups.
Elaine Aston and George Savona (2016), have studied the use of
language in conflict situations, including the ways in which language borrowing
can be used as a tool for peace building and reconciliation. The paper is
limited in its scope to study the influence of French vocabularies on the
English lexicon as a result of cultural exchange in promoting mutual
understanding, conflict resolution and peace building between the cultures
involved. Mufwene (2001) noted that understanding of language contact and borrowing
is essential for promoting linguistic diversity and security in the modern
world.The majority of French terminology in English came from the Norman
Conquest of England in 1066, when Old French, specifically the Old Norman
court, government, and elites, were introduced. According to Laura K.
Lawless(2019), more than a third of modern English vocabulary is of French
origin, while Linguist Henriette Walter(2024), believes that words of French
origin account for more than two-thirds of the English lexicon.
Borrowing is a sociolinguistic phenomenon in which a word or phrase
from one language is utilised in another. Borrowing a single word is referred
to as a loan word. A loan word is one that has been borrowed from one language
and added to the vocabulary of another (Garba 1979). Borrowing is the technical
term used to describe the movement of words, phrases, or even ideas between
languages. The mobility of people, including the English language, was the
primary driver of the creation of the languages we speak today. English, the
most widely used and learnt language in the world, has evolved significantly
throughout the centuries. The English language is a mixture of influences from
other languages, mainly French.
The addition of vocabulary according to a study published in the
journal “English Language and Linguistics (2001), at least 45% of the modern
English vocabulary is directly borrowed from French. Words like “Prince”,
“Joyful”, and “beef” come from the French language, as well as many other words
such as: ‘’attache”, a’la carte, coquette, coup d’état, femme fatal, fracas,
genre, gourmet, grand prix, louvre, malaise, milieu, patois, petite,
bourgeoisie, piece, vis-à-vis, spirit de corps, baccalaureate, deja’vu, debut,
de luxe, elite, en block, gratine’, adieu, bon appe’tit, bonbon, en brosse, par
excellence, duress, cul-de-sac, communiqué, a’ la mode, chic, aid-de-camp, tete
‘a te’te, subjoin, a’id-de-memoire, among others, originated from French and
borrowed into English language. It is currently estimated that English speakers
who have never studied French can still recognize about 15,000 words in French
(Thoughco, 2019). You may hear words like “Clich’e, “dej’a vu,” and “faux pas”
in everyday speech. These words are directly taken from French and have not
changed at all!
Some vocal sounds that French has contributed to English include
the “g” sound in “mirage” the “v” in “vacation” and the “z” in “zigzag.” French
is a beautiful language to listen to, and its influences on English
pronunciation have added an additional layer of beauty in English. Scholars
such as Mufwene believe that language borrowing is a natural process that
reflects the dynamic nature of language and culture (Mufwene, 2001, p. 14).
Once again, Kymlicka & Patten assert that linguistic diversity is a key component
of linguistic security, as it allows languages to maintain their unique
characteristics and cultural significance (Kymlicka & Patten, 2003, p. 23).
Methodology
Different texts that discuss the issues of language borrowing and
cultural exchange among languages have been consulted in collecting data for
this research. Likewise, some internet sources have been used to bring forth
the information needed for the accomplishment of the work. The data obtained
thereof has been categorized into different types: grammar, vocabulary and
word-building/spelling. Also, the phases have also been stated; Anglo-French
borrowings, Central French borrowings and Late French borrowings.
French Influence on English Grammar
The Norman Conquest introduced French verb conjugations and tenses
into Middle English, which eventually replaced the Old English system (Baugh
& Cable, 2013, p. 145). The only influence of French on English grammar as
argued by a historian Otto Jesperson (1905), was to accelerate the change from
Synthetically to Analytical: it did for the Midland and Southern dialects what
the Danish language had already done for the Northern dialects. We say
accelerate designedly; for the change would have come in any case, though
possibly neither so rapidly nor as completely as it did, without the help of
French.
Symptoms of the change had shown themselves clearly enough before
French Influence had begun to work, and even to some extent before the
conquest. In Layamon’s Brut, a 12th-century Middle English
poem(2004), which shows no signs of French influence and contains very few
words of French origin, the “levelled” inflexions of old English. The growing
tendency of English was to strengthen the accent on the first syllable, so that
the last syllable, containing the inflexion, was slurred over or lightly
sounded. French loanwords often retained their original verb conjugations,
leading to the development of new verb forms in English (Kastovsky 1992, p.
334).
Thus, forms like nam-a (name),
sun-u (son), became nam-e, sun-e. In the same way all unaccented vowels in the
final syllable excepting I were “levelled’’ or assimilated vowels to e ,
so that –an, -as, -ath, -on, -od, became –en, -es, -eth, -en, and –ed.
Adjectives of French origin seldom took English inflexions, which helped
English adjectives to discard theirs (Baugh, A. C., & Cable, T. 2013).
French prepositions, such as ‘de’ and ‘à’, influenced the
development of English prepositions, leading to changes in word order and
sentence structure (Hock, 1991, p. 456), as well as the French loanwords that
often brought with them French prepositions, which incorporated into English
word order patterns (Danchev, 1997, 278). Similarly, French influence on
English clause structure led to the development of new subordinate clause
constructions, such as the use of ‘that’ and ‘which’ (Traugott, 1992, p. 234).
French Influence on the English
Vocabulary
The Norman Conquest gave England a foreign court, a foreign
aristocracy, and a foreign hierarchy. Language convergence is a process where
languages in contact influence each other’s structure and vocabularies, leading
to language change and evolution (Thomason, 2001, p. 42). For a period, the
Norman dialect of the French language served as the only polite medium of
contact. The native dialect, once scorned as the language of a subordinate
race, was temporarily abandoned in favour of boors and serfs (Trevelyan, G.M.
1942). Words denoting the commonest and most familiar objects, such as the
elements, seasons, divisions of time, natural scenery, soils and metals, the
closest types of kinship, parts of a house, food and clothing, agricultural
implements and processes, trees and plants, quadrupeds, birds, water, animals,
insects, body parts, actions and postures, etc., are to this day, in a large
number of instances (though not by any means exclusively), of Teutonic origin
(Baugh, A. C., & Cable, T.2013).
A few generations after the conquest, when English began to be used
for general literature in the place of French, most of the terms at hand to
express ideas above those of daily life were to be found in the French of the
privileged and learned classes, who, for the past two centuries, had the chief
control of art, science and law (Strang, B. M.H. 1970). Hence each successive
literary effort of the reviving English tongue shows a large adoption of French
words to supply the place of the forgotten native ones. Thus in general
literature we have ancestors for fore-elders, beauty for fair-hood, caution for fore-wit, conscience
for in-wit, library for book-hoard,
obstructive for hinder-some, remorse for ayen-bite (=again-bite), astronomy for
star-cræft, arithmetic for rim- cræft, agriculture for field-tilth, etc,
(Strang, B. M.H. 1970).
Other Results of French Influence
Aside from the impacts already mentioned, we owe the following to
the combination of French and Latin:
Word-building - This impact gave rise to a huge number of prefixes
and suffixes, many of which are still used to generate new words today. Our
Romantic suffixes are far more numerous than our Teutonic ones. The French fem
suffix -ess replaced the Teutonic and Romantic parts in hybrid words such as
cott-age (from Anglian cot, "hut" + age, Fr. Suffix). Thus, our
language gained wealth while losing purity. Many of these affixes are still
productive today, allowing English speakers to create new words to express
modern concepts (Marchand, 1969).
Spelling- The chief, perhaps the only, harm that French did to
English language was to disturb the phonetic spelling that it possessed in its
earliest form. It is to French that we owe the unnecessary compound qu (the
function of which was served equally well by our own cw in A.S.), the sibilant
sound of c before the vowels e and i, the sound of g as j before the same
vowels, and the use of the letter i as a consonant to denote the sound now
expressed by j. Thus almost all words containing a j are of French or other
foreign origin. The introduction of French loanwords and spelling conventions
into English did indeed disrupt the phonetic spelling system of Old English
(Baugh & Cable, 2013).
Phases of English Borrowings from
French
Anglo – French borrowings, up
to about A.D 1350. These are called Anglo-French, as distinct from those of
every other French dialect, because this dialect was developed in England
independently of foreign influence.
Our Anglo-French words are on the whole quite as necessary to our
language as Anglo-Saxon ones. The word hour,
for example, is indispensable A. S tid (= tide), which also meant ‘’hour,’’ is
now used to denote the ebb and flow of the sea. Again, second is indispensable as the ordinal for ‘’two,’’ because A.S.
ōðer (=other, lit. ‘’second’’) has become useful in other ways. CF. Lat. Autumn and A.S. harvest. The example of
“hour” replacing Anglo-Saxon “tid” illustrates how French loanwords have become
essential to Modern English (Baugh & Cable, 2013). Similarly, the word
“second” is used as the ordinal for “two” which shows how French influences
have filled gaps in the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary (Oxford English Dictionary.
(n.d.).
Titles, Offices,
etc,:- duke, marquis, baron, constable, count, lieutenant, major, prince,
viscount, emperor, vicar, dean, canon, chancellor, etc.
Feudalism and War, etc.:-
aid, cavalry, banner, battle, captain, fealty, lance, realm, armour, arms,
fief, escutcheon, homage, vassal, serjeant, serf, trumpet, etc.
Law:
attorney, barrister, damages, felony, larceny, fine, judge, jury, justice,
estate, fee, plea, plead, plaintiff, defendant, assize, prison, suit, summons,
etc.
Government:
people, parliament, crown, reign, treaty, council, cabinet, court, minister,
etc. Church: friar, relic, tonsure,
ceremony, baptism, Bible, prayer, preach, lesson, cloister, penance, homily,
sermon, etc.
Hunting:
course, covert, falcon, leveret, quarry, rabbit, venison (hunted flesh), catch,
chase.
Cookery:
beef, veal, pork, mutton, pullet, boil, roast, broil, salmon, sausage, etc.
Abstract terms:
sense, honour, glory, fame, colour, dignity, chivalry, piety, art, science,
nature, etc.
Relationship:
aunt, cousin, spouse, parent, uncle, nephew, niece.
Note:
Most terms expressing very close relationship are, however, Teutonic; such as
son, daughter, father, mother. Hybrids like grandfather, grandmother help to
show how completely the two languages were blended.
Central French borrowings,
from A.D. 1350 to about 1660: By the middle of the fourteenth century, when
English was the only language spoken, and Anglo-French had almost ceased to
affect our vocabulary, we had begun to borrow from literary French, that is,
the French derived from book-Latin, and not that derived, as old French was
from Lip-Latin(Baugh & Cable, 2013).
Specimens of central French borrowings found in Chaucer: cadence
(Lat. Cadentia, Anglo-French chance), poetry, advertence, agony, annex,
ascendant, casual, complexion, composition, conservative, triumph, urn, volume,
vulgar, etc.
Specimens in Lydgate, fifteenth century: - adulation, ambiguity,
artificer, combine, condign, chronicle, deception, decoction, demure, dissent,
doublet, encourage, fraudulent, hospitality, immutable, inclination, influence,
inspection, etc.
The French borrowings of this period were not all book-words. Some
were names of products imported into England through France by way of Calais.
The following examples are given in their modern English splelling:- sugar,
almonds, spicery, vermition, figs, raisins, saffron, ivory, pepper, ginger,
liquorice, sulphur, incense, pæony, anise, dates, chestnuts, olive oil, rice
turpentine, cotton, canvas, fustian, etc.
Late French borrowings,
from A.D. 1660 onwards, exhibit distinct characteristics, such as:
1.
Scarcity of
verbs: Unlike earlier French borrowings, Late French loans contain few verbs,
indicating a shift in linguistic influence (Baugh & Cable, 2013).
2.
Different
Pronunciation: Late French borrowings reflect the modern French pronunciation
of vowels and consonants, which differs from Old French and Middle English
pronunciation (Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.). Examples illustrating the
pronunciation difference:
3.
They contain scarcely any verbs, which shows
that Modern French method of pronouncing vowels and consonants; compare for
example rage (Old French) with rouge (=roozh, Modern French). Old French, on the contrary, was pronounced
in nearly the same way as English was at the time of its incorporation. Café (Late French) vs. café (Modern
French, pronounced “(kah-fay”). In
contrast, Old French was pronounced more similarly to Middle English,
facilitating earlier borrowings (Baugh & Cable, 2013).
Summary of Findings
This study examined the impact of French vocabularies on the
English lexicon, focusing on cultural exchange and linguistic security. The
analysis revealed that French loanwords have significantly contributed to the
English language, particularly in fields like law, government, cuisine, and
fashion. The findings indicate that:
1.
French
loanwords have enriched the English vocabulary, providing new words and
concepts.
2.
The majority of
French loanwords entered English during the Norman Conquest and subsequent
cultural exchange.
3.
French
influences have altered English spelling and pronunciation conventions.
4.
Late French
borrowings (post- 1660) exhibit distinct characteristics, such as scarce verbs
and modern French pronunciation.
Discussion
The findings of this study underscore the profound impact of French
vocabularies on the English lexicon. The significant presence of French
loanwords in English reflects the historical cultural exchange between the two
nations. This exchange has not only
enriched the English vocabulary but also contributed to the language’s
complexity and diversity. The study’s results also highlight the importance of
linguistic security, as the adoption of French loanwords has, in some cases, led
to changes in English spelling and pronunciation conventions.
Furthermore, the distinct characteristics of Late French borrowings
demonstrate the evolving nature of language contact and cultural exchange. This
research has implications for language teaching, lexicography, and cultural
studies. By examining the impact of French vocabularies on English, this study
promotes a deeper understanding of language contact, cultural exchange, and the
complex history of English language.
Conclusion
This study has demonstrated the profound impact of French
vocabularies on the English lexicon, highlighting the significant cultural
exchange and linguistic security implications. The findings underscore the
complex history of the English language, shaped by language contact and
cultural exchange. The incorporation of French loanwords has enriched the
English vocabulary, contributing to its diversity and complexity.
This research contributes to a deeper understanding of language
contact, cultural exchange, and the evolution of the English language. The
study’s results have implications for language teaching, lexicography, and
cultural studies. By acknowledging the cultural and historical contexts of
French loanwords, we can promote a more distinct understanding of the English
language and its complex heritage.
Ultimately, this research highlights the dynamic nature of
language, shaped by cultural exchange, historical events, and linguistic
evolution. As languages continue to intersect and influence one another, it is
essential to recognise and appreciate the rich cultural heritage embedded in
the words we use. This study has provided a comprehensive examination of the
impact of French vocabularies on the English lexicon, revealing the intricate
dynamics of language contact and cultural exchange.
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