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PERIODIZATION OF THE BORROWING PROCESS OF CHINESE ORIGIN LEXICAL UNITS IN THE ENGLISH LITERARY LANGUAGE SYSTEM // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2019. Issue 7 (204). P. 96-104

Introduction. At the present stage of the development of linguistics as a science, no common criteria have been developed that would be applicable to all the languages in order to distinguish the periods of their historical development. This is due to the significant differences between literary languages at all, as well as the lack of a common opinion of researchers on this issue. The development of a certain periodization is intended to regulate the accumulated theoretical knowledge of the changes that occurred at different stages of the formation of a literary language. English literary language has the status of a language of international communication and is heterogeneous in its nature. In its vocabulary there are layers of borrowings from many other languages. The borrowing process, in turn, is ambiguous, and also needs a detailed description. Speaking about the layer of Chinese borrowings in the system of the English language, it should be noted that this structural part of the language system has its peculiar features determined by fundamental sociocultural differences between the European countries as a whole and the countries of Asia. The peculiarities of Chinese borrowings are closely connected with the evolution of the recipient language, therefore it is important to consider the periodization of the borrowing process in the context of the two cultures’ interaction. The aim of the paper is to suggest a certain periodization of the borrowing process of lexical units of Chinese origin in the system of the English literary language, taking into account the system and historical parameters of this borrowing layer. Material and methods. The borrowing process is the result of the interaction of languages over a definite period of time. Today, the number of languages that are not affected by foreign influence is minimal. On this basis, borrowing process seems to be one of the inherent phenomena peculiar to the language system at various points of its historical development. The evolution of the language, in turn, is determined by both linguistic and extralinguistic factors. The latter are the socio-cultural basis, which, in many respects, determines the linguistic side of the changes occurring in the language in different time intervals. By its nature, language is a social phenomenon; therefore, the description of its system requires an approach that is able to fully reflect the characteristic features of the various stages, which also includes an understanding of the cultural and historical environment of language functioning. Results and discussion. The existing periodization of the English literary language is considered. The correlation between the temporal division of the language history into stages and the language situation typical for each of them is revealed. The criteria for distinguishing periods in the process of borrowing lexical units of Chinese origin in the system of the English literary language have been developed: 1. language situation, 2. type of borrowing, 3. diversity of intermediate languages, 4. equivalence. Based on these criteria, the periodization of the borrowing process of lexical units from Chinese is proposed: Chinese borrowings of the Early period (XVII-XVIII centuries), Chinese borrowings of the Middle period (XIX century up to 1978) and Chinese borrowings of the Modern period (1978 – present time). Within the three periods listed above, the scientific novelty is represented by the development of a new set of criteria determining the periodization of the borrowing process for lexical units of Chinese origin. The description of borrowings in the system of the English literary language in the role of a recipient language is given considering the language situation as a significant factor for the development along with the traditionally accepted temporal criterion. Conclusion. The developed periodization allows structuring the layer of borrowed lexical units of Chinese origin in accordance with the peculiarities of the English literary language (recipient language) at different stages of its historical development. Taking the sociocultural factor into account contributes to creating a more complete picture of the language system evolution. The materials of the current research have both theoretical and practical value and can be applied to developing university courses and teaching such disciplines as English grammar, phonetics, stylistics, lexicology, sociolinguistics, history of English, intercultural communication, also in teaching theory and practice of translation.

Keywords: English literary language, vocabulary, periodization, Chinese borrowings, language situation

ADAPTATION STAGES OF CHINESE BORROWINGS BY THE ENGLISH LITERARY LANGUAGE SYSTEM // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2019. Issue 9 (206). P. 32-38

Introduction. English literary language is a historically heterogeneous structure, which includes various borrowed adstrata, more or less adapted by its system. Borrowings of Chinese origin as part of this recipient language have their own deep historical traditions and are the subject of this study. The synchronously functioning layer of borrowed Sinisms seems to be very heterogeneous in terms of assimilation, its levels and stages. Because the contacting languages – English and Chinese – are not related or even homologous, the process of assimilation by the system of elements of the Chinese adstratum is non-linear and has a number of characteristic features. This article is an attempt to fragment the process of assimilation/adaptation of Chinese borrowings in the system of English literary language by levels of assimilation and its stages. The aim of the paper is to distinguish the levels and stages of adaptation of borrowed lexical units of Chinese origin by the English literary system. Material and methods. As a general methodological foundation, a system-functional approach was used, which allows us to describe the functioning of a system or its individual part in the dynamics of linguistic evolution, an integral part of which is the phenomenon of borrowing. In the course of the study, a corpus of general and particular scientific (linguistic) methods was used, including: methods of logic (analysis, synthesis, deduction, comparison, generalization and modeling), statistics (grouping method, dialectic method), a comparative historical method with the step of internal reconstruction, component analysis method and the opposition method. Results and discussion. In linguistics, the terms “assimilation” and “adaptation” are traditionally contrasted: borrowings “assimilate” in the system of the recipient language, and the system itself adopts borrowed units. There are two approaches to the description of the process of assimilation/adaptation of these units: the first recognizes a borrowing adapted when it corresponds to the phonetic and grammatical appearance of the original words of the recipient language system. The second approach takes into account the influence of the lexical environment of the new foreign language unit. Thus, the approaches implicitly repeat the above opposition and differ in object-subjective position in relation to the borrowed unit and the system of the recipient language. Five three levels of assimilation of Chinese borrowings in the system of English literary language are distinguished: phonetic, morphological (grammatical) and spelling. The latter seems to be the most significant for the adapting Sinisms due to their highly heterogeneous graphic appearance. There are five stages in the adaptation of these units by the English literary language system: 1) the use of the unit in the form that it possesses in its donor language; 2) adaptation of borrowing to the laws to which the lexical means of the recipient language obey at the above levels; 3) loss by a unit of accompanying comments as applied to lemmatical corpuses of dictionaries and reference publications of the recipient language; 4) loss by borrowing of the previous stylistic differentiation; 5) consolidation of the borrowed lexical unit in the explanatory dictionary. Conclusion. The proposed stages and extrapolated approaches can find application in the practice of studying the Chinese adstratum in a number of other idioms that have historically been in contact with the Chinese language, as well as adstrata of a different origin in systems of unrelated languages. The empirical material of the study has high theoretical and practical value and can be used in reading university courses and teaching such disciplines as intercultural communication, history, lexicology, grammar and functional stylistics of the English language, contact and social linguistics, as well as in teaching the theory and practice of translation.

Keywords: borrowing, assimilation, adaptation, recipient language, donor language, English literary language, Chinese borrowing