We explain what an Anglicism is, how they are incorporated into the language, what types exist and examples of daily use in various fields.
What is an Anglicism?
Anglicisms are the linguistic loans from English to other languages, that is, to the words, turns and idioms that, in our case, Spanish often takes from English, despite having its own resources to say the same thing. It is a kind of foreignness which, depending on the case and the point of view, can be classified as barbarism or as neologism, depending on the reasons that motivate its use.
Anglicisms are very common today, due to the great importance of English as a commercial, media and technological language, especially in nations Y geographic regions who have traditionally been in contact with British or American culture. Its main areas are usually the speaks adolescent, the lingo of show business and Internet, Spanglish speakers and idioms specialized in the scientific-technological area.
Like all foreignisms, Anglicisms are rejected and fought by the most purist positions of the idiomIn other words, by those who consider its incorporation into the language unnecessary, since it generally has the ability to name any reference or, in any case, to create new words to do so. On the other hand, others think that foreign words may be necessary, when they fill a gap in the language itself.
Anglicisms, in any case, can consist of:
- Lexical loans, that is, in words or idioms copied verbatim from English (such as "online" instead of "online").
- Spanishized terms (such as “tweet”), although they are often recognized in many cases as new pieces of the Spanish language (that is, as neologisms).
- Syntactic twists and set phrases (such as "make sense" instead of "make sense", by imitation of to make sense Anglo-Saxon).
Types of Anglicism
There is no formal classification of Anglicisms, but in general they can be differentiated between those that come to enrich the language and fill its potholes (necessary) and those that respond to banal reasons such as fashion, and that rather impoverish the language (unnecessary) . The former usually end up formally joining the language, while the latter do not.
The latter is the case, for example, of the use of storytelling instead of "narrative" in certain professional circuits, considered totally unnecessary and the result of posturing. While anglicisms like software they are much more difficult and cumbersome to translate into Spanish, which is why they have been accepted as neologisms.
However, we must remember that rule of a language, over time, always ends up being the use that its speakers make of it, so these two categories of Anglicisms can change from one era to another. The language, after all, is a living organism.
Examples of Anglicisms
The following are distinct cases of Anglicisms:
- software, Hardware, Pc (from Personal Computer), Internet, On-line, Torrent, E-mail, Copy, Chat, Link, Blog, Web, App, Mouse, CD (from Compact disc), DVD (from Digital Video Disc), Bluetooth, Click, Zoom, Router, Modem, Switch, and other terms from the world of computing and telecommunications.
- Business, Casting, Backstage, Show, Fashion, Trendy, Jeans, Look, Manager, Vip (from Very important person), Boom, Boxer shorts, Panties and other terms from the world of fashion and entertainment, especially the American one.
- Marketing, Pitch, Delivery, CEO (from Chief Executive Officer), Copyright, Rating, Stock, Banner, Cash, Trust, Dumping, Flow, Outsourcing, Coaching and other economic, financial or corporate jargon terms.
- Thriller, Prime, Reality show, Hobby, Spoiler, Single, Camping, LP (from Long play), Customize or customization (instead of "personalization") and other terms related to music, movies, video games and entertainment.
- Rugby, Golf, Cricket, Club, Volleyball¸ Basketball, Bungee jumping, Running Y runner, Football, Jogging, Jogging, Corner, Penalty, Skateboard, Goal and other terms from the sports world.
- Other voices in everyday use such as Parking, Test, Bacon, Braces, Tetra brick, Wipe, Ok, Hippie, Zombie, Mall, shopping, After office or Happy hour.