Anglicization of French words

Zusatztext

The stream of immigrants from the French language has been for almost a thousand years larger than that from any other tongue; and even today it shows little sign of decrease. Of all the strangers within our gates none are more cordially received than those which come to us from across the Straits of Dover. None are more rapidly able to make themselves at home in our dictionaries and to pass themselves off as English. At least, this was the case until relatively recently, when the process of adaptation and assimilation became a little slower and more than a little less adequate. Of late French words, even those long domiciled in our lexicons, have been treated almost as if they were still aliens, as if there were here on sufferance, so to speak, as if they had not become members of the commonwealth. They were allowed to work, no doubt, and sometimes even to be overworked; but they functioned as foreigners, perhaps even more eagerly employed by the superior because they were foreigners and yet held in disregard by the more meticulous because they were not truly English. That is to say, French words are still as hospitably greeted as ever before, but they are now often ranked as guests only.


Perhaps this may seem to some a too bizarre presentation of the case. Perhaps it would be simpler to say that until comparatively recently a foreign word taken over into English was made over into an English word, whereas in the past two or three centuries there has been an evident tendency to keep it French and to use it freely while retaining its French pronunciation, its French accents, its French spelling, and its French plural. This tendency is contrary to the former habits of our language. In my term paper I will firstly make a brief outline of the history of the English language. Secondly I will describe Anglicization in the English language in general terms. Then I will analyse the Anglicization of some French words especially the suffixes "ation and "able, the prefixes ultra-, pre- and non-. Then I will examine some French words in general which have been anglicized especially those which came into the English through the invasion of the Normans in the 11th century. In conclusion I will illustrate in which way the English language has been influenced by French in terms of phonology.


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