Structural borrowing in word-formation: An exploratory overview

Overview & Synopsis

This exploratory overview of structural borrowing in word-formation discusses the multiformity of processes and patterns affected by language contact and then reviews linguistic and sociolinguistic indicators that may impact on the relative plausibility of scenarios of contact-induced change. A number of key features of this type of borrowing are highlighted: first, it is not a negligible phenomenon and should gain a more prominent position in the general contact linguistics literature; second, it is a manifold phenomenon and fine-grained descriptions, in both their qualitative and quantitative aspects, need to be considered; third, certifying the external causation of change is a challenge and the analysis should cautiously be limited to arguments of relative plausibility, which may combine and strengthen each other.