It’s a bit more nuanced than that. There is a spectrum of language borrowing that ranges from “whatever works, let’s use it” to “let’s try to make our own word before we use someone else’s”. English is more like the former, whereas some languages (like Icelandic) is more like the latter. Yes, all languages borrow words and in this age of the internet where English is ubiquitous, no language can resist the onslaught. But some are more conservative and less willing to borrow than others.
English would be like Japanese-- both languages borrow foreign words without hesitation. Others are not so free and easy.
But when people talk about English’s borrowings, they’re mostly talking about French and Latin words that entered the language a long time before Britain became a world-spanning empire. I agree with Hypnagogic Jerk that many English-speakers tend to overstate the nature of borrowings in their language. It’s a defining feature, for sure, but it’s not unique in the least.
Are you sure it didn’t? AFAIK, there is no documentation that shows what the common man was speaking during the period that the court was speaking French. The only thing we know for sure is that at the end of that period, they were no longer speaking Anglo-Saxon and were now speaking a language that had a HUGE (and growing) influx of French words. Not to mention a nearly flat grammar.
This is such a cliche that I wouldn’t bother to post it… but it’s just too good a quote to pass by:
*
“Not only does the English Language borrow words from other languages, it sometimes chases them down dark alleys, hits them over the head, and goes through their pockets.”*
There is no documentation of a pidgin being used as a primary language, and no reason to believe that there was. It would be odd for someone in Britain to grow up speaking only a Pidgin form of Franglish.
You seem to be confusing the British Empire (during whose long golden years the world’s lingua franca was French) with the current American hegemony. May wanna check your maps.
I was thinking how ASL (and British and etc) have borrowed from oral languages a lot since the tech/media/global age. And they also borrow with each other - again, the global era and all. Probably a totally different category, though.
My dad’s girlfriend speaks Tagalog. A couple of times I jerk my head up because I hear Spanish words or verbage going on. Is that a possibility?
Of course, the Philippines were named after Phillip II of Spain and were the “bauble” that made it possible to claim that the sun did not set in his realm; the European and American parts alone wouldn’t have justified the claim. They were Spanish for about 300 years (too lazy to look it up).
What would have been unbelievable is for Tagalog and Spanish not to have picked words from each other, with that much contact.
No, I understand that. I just thought given the history of the Philippines, maybe it would be a candidate. Again, since I know this woman (well, child-bride, but whatever) well enough, so she just came to mind.
I have no idea what she says when she updates her FB, though. That’s an art form I don’t quite understand.
Count for what? A language? Absolutely. The fact that they rely on gestures and facial expressions to communicate rather than vocalizations merely makes them unique. But as far as linguists are concerned, ASL is as much a language as English or Mandarin.
I know this. I meant for the purpose of the discussion. And I wasn’t sure if a sign language borrowing from an oral language puts it in the proper category for the OP. And any sign language is more visual or…I can’t think of the word…um, idea-based than single-word based. So it’s maybe apples and oranges.
To make the question unambiguous one would have to specify a time depth. For example, “King” and many other English words are indeed inherited from proto-Germanic, but proto-Germanic itself acquired them from some non-IE source.
And while Oldest English was never a creolizable pidgin, there are other hybridization scenarios including koiné, imperfect learning, and abrupt creolization. (Do linguists yet agree on whether Mbugu is a Cushitic language with Bantu adstrate, or vice versa?)
None of which answers OP. Actually I just posted in order to be first to say:
Heh, you may wanna remember who colonised America.
I’m talking about the situation today, with the Brit efforts at colonialism a mere memory. Nonetheless, the anglosphere is a creation of it, like it or lump it - including America.
