French borrowings and their role in english language

Classification of borrowings according to the degree of assimilation.The degree of assimilation of borrowings depends on the following factors:a)from
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what group group of languages the word was borrowed,if the word belongs to the same group of languages to which the borrowing language belongs it is assimilated easier,b)in what way the word is borrowed:orally or in the written form,words borrowed orally are assimilated quicker,c)how often the borrowing is used in the language,the greater the frequency of its usage,the quicker it is assimilated,d)how long the word lives in the language,the longer it lives,the more assimilated it
Accordingly borrowings are subdivided into:completelyassimilated,partly assimilated and non-assimilated(barbarisms).
Completely assimilated borrowings are not felt as foreign words in the language,cf.the French word”sport” and the native word”start”.
Partlyassimilated borrowings are subdivided into the following group:a)borrowings non-assimilated semantically,because they denote objects and notions peculiar to the country from the language of which they were borrowed.e.g.,sari,sombrero,taiga,kvass,etc b)borrowings non-assimilated grammatically,e.g.nouns borrowed from Latin and Greek retain their plural forms(bacillus-bacilli,phenomenon-phenomena,datum-data,genius-geniietc.
c)borrowings non-assimilated phonetically.Here belong words with the initial sounds/v/and/z/,e.g.,voice,zero.

Non-assimilated borrowings(barbarisms) are borrowings which are used by Englishmen rather seldom and are non-assimilated,e.g.addio(Italian),tete-a-tete(French),dolce vita(Italian),an home a femme(French),etc.
Classification of Borrowings according to the language from which they were borrowed.Although the mixed character of the English vocabulary can not be denied and the part of borrowing in its development is indded one of great importance,the leading role in the history of this vocabulary belongs to word-formation and semantic changes patterned according to the specific features of the English language system.This system absorbed and remodelled the vast majority of loan words according to its own standards,so that it is sometimes difficult to tell an old borrowing from a native word.Examples are:cheese,street,wall,wine and other words belonging to the earliest layer of Latin borrowings.Many loan words,on the other hand,in spite of the changes they have undergone after penetrating into English,retain some peculiarities in pronunciation,spelling,ortheopy and morphology. Borrowing words from other languages is characteristic of English throughout its
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history.More than two thirds of the English vocabulary are borrowings.Mostly they are words of Romanic origin(Latin,French,Italian,Spanish).Borrowed words are different from native ones by their phonetic structure,by their morphological structure and also by their grammatical forms.It is also characteristic of borrowings to be non-motivated semantically.English history is very rich in different types of contracts with other countries,that is why it is very rich in borrowings.The Roman invasion,the adoption of Christianity,Scandinavian and Norman conquests of the British Isles, development of British colonialism and trade and cultural relations served to increase immensely the English vocabulary.The majority of these borrowing are fully assimilated in English in their pronunciation, grammar,spelling and can be hardly distinguished from native words.
English continues to take in foreign words,but now the quantity of borrowings is not so abundant as it was before.All the more so,English now become a “giving”language,it has become Lingva
franca of the twentieth century.
Borrowings can be classified according to different criteriation a:a)according to the aspect which is borrowed,b)according to the degree of assimilation,c)according to the language from which the word was borrowed.(In this classification only the main languages from which words were borrowed into English are described,such as Latin,French,Italian,Spanish,German and Russian).This list does not include words that come from French but were introduced into the English language via another language than French (e.g. domineer, ketone, loggia, lotto, mariachi, monsignor, oboe, paella, panzer, picayune, ranch, vendue, veneer).
Although French is mainly from Latin (which accounts for about 60% of English vocabulary either directly or via a Romance language), it also includes words from Gaulish and Germanic languages (especially Old Frankish). Since English is of Germanic origin, words that have entered English from the Germanic elements in French might not strike the eye as distinctively from French. Conversely, as Latin gave many derivatives to both the English and the French languages, ascertaining that a given Latinate derivative did not come to the English language via French can be difficult in a few cases.Most of the French vocabulary now appearing in English was imported over the centuries following the Norman Conquest of 1066, when England came under the administration of Norman-speaking peoples. The majority of the population of England
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continued to use their Anglo-Saxon language but it was influenced by the language of the ruling elite, resulting in doublets. Consider for example the words for the meats eaten by the Anglo-Norman nobility and the corresponding animals grown by the Anglo-Saxon peasants: beef / ox, mutton / sheep, veal / calf, pork / pig, or pairs of words pertaining to different registers of language: commence / start, continue / go on, disengage / withdraw, encounter / meet, vend / sell, purchase / buy. Words of French origin often refer to more abstract or elaborate notions than their Anglo-Saxon equivalents (e.g. liberty / freedom, justice / fairness), and are therefore of less frequent use in everyday language. It may not be the case of all English words of French origin though. Consider for instance: able, car, chair, city, country, fine, fruit, journey, juice, just, part, people, real, stay, table, travel, use, very, wait.

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After the rise of Henry Plantagenet to the throne of England, other forms of dialectal French may have gained in influence to the detriment of Norman French (notably the variants of Anjou where the House of Plantagenet came from, and possibly Poitevin, the tongue of Eleanor of Aquitaine). With the English claim to the throne of France, the influence of the language in use at the royal court of France in Paris increased. The cultural influence of France remained strong in the following centuries and from the Renaissance onward borrowings were mainly made from Parisian French, which became the de facto standard language of France.Norman rule of England had a lasting impact on British society. Words from Anglo-Norman or Old French include terms related to feudalism (chivalry, homage, liege, peasant, suzerain, vassal, villain) and other institutions (bailiff, chancellor, council, government, mayor, minister, parliament), the organisation of religion (abbey, clergy, cloister, diocese, friar, mass, parish, prayer, preach, priest), the nobility (baron, count, dame, duke, marquis, prince, sir), and the art of war (armour, baldric, dungeon, hauberk, mail, portcullis, surcoat). Many of these words related to the feudal system or medieval warfare have a Germanic origin (mainly through Old Frankish) (see also French words nof Germanic origin). The French dominance is particularly felt in the vocabulary of law. Most words pertaining to law are of French origin, e.g. accuse, attorney, court, defendant, fee, felony, guile, heritage, judge, justice, justify, penalty, plaintiff, privilege, session, suit, advocate, inquest, sentence, barrister etc.

It was also natural that many of the terms relating to military matters should be adopted from the language of the conquerors, as, for instance, army, arms, admiral, assault, armor, banner, battle, dart, dragon, ensign, guard, lance, mail, navy, sergeant, soldier, troops, vessel, victory, war etc.There is a predominance of French words in the vocabulary of cookery, which is shown by a great many words, such as: lunch, dinner, appetite, to roast, to stew, to boil, to fry, dainty, jelly, pasty, pastry, sauce, sausage, soup, toast etc.We shall find a very large number of French words denoting different objects that make life enjoyable, e.g. comfort, flower, fruit, pleasure, feast, leisure, delight, ease etc.Among French borrowings there are also such semantic groups words: a) words denoting family relations: parent, cousin, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece; b) words relating to fashion: luxury, coat, lace, pleat, embroidery; c) words belonging to jewelry: topaz, emerald, pearl; d) words relating to state government: administer, empire, state, government, realm, people, nation, crown, power, authority, parliament, council; e) words connected with the church: blame, lesson, pray, service, tempt etc.From the
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fifteenth century the importance of French loans decreased, while English turned increasingly towards Latin and Greek for new learned words. Scholarly and everyday words continued to be borrowed from French in the sixteenth century: fragrant, elegance, baton, accent, adverb, amplitude, cassock, chamois, demolish, pounce, admire, avenue et It should be stressed that words continued to be borrowed from French into English after 1650, too, mainly through French literature, but they were not as numerous and many of them are not completely assimilated. There are the following semantic groups of these borrowings:1) words relating to literature and music: belle-lettres, conservatoire, brochure, nuance, pirouette, vaudeville;
2) words belonging to military affairs: corps, echelon, fuselage, manoeuvre;
3) words relating to buildings and furniture: entresol, chateau, bureau;
4) words relating to food and cooking: ragout, cuisine.
We should also mention the 18-th century installment to the vocabulary of literature, e.g. novelist, publisher, magazine, editor etc.Recent borrowings from French are of course frequent enough, and often these words carry an unequivocally French appearance; and their number is far less than the number of borrowings directly from Latin.
French endings to English words: -able: drinkable, fishable, breakable; -ess: shepherdess; -ry: husbandry, -age: husbandage etc.
In many cases words borrowed from the French language have more derivatives in English than in French. For instance, mutin has only two derivatives in French (mutiner, mutinerie) while in Modern English there are four well-known derivatives of mutiny, namely: mutineer, mutinous, mutinously, mutinousness.
The following phonetic peculiarities are indicative of later adoptions from French: a) keeping the accent on the last syllable, e.g. cravat, finance, finesse, supreme etc.; b) ch pronounced as ]: avalanche, chandelier, chaperon, chaise, charade, chauffeur, charlatan, chic, douche, machine; c) g before e and i pronounced as [ ]: beige, massage, prestige, regime, rouge etc.; d) ou pronounced as [u], e.g. coup, rouge, sou; e) eau pronounced as [ou]: beau, chateau, bureau etc.; f) final consonant p, s, t not pronounced, as in: coup, debris, ragout, trait, ballet, debut.To sum it up, we can come to the conclusion that French borrowings which had come to the English language at different times constitute the largest group of borrowings. French loans in the English vocabulary may be subdivided into two main groups: 1) early loans – 12–15^th centuries; 2) later loans – beginning from the 16^th century. It should be added that early loans are known as Norman French
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borrowings, because they were borrowed from Norman French (also known as Anglo-French or Anglo-Norman), which was one of the provincial dialects of the French language. But later loans are known as Parisian borrowings, because they were borrowed from the Parisian dialect of the French language.There appear word-hybrids. These are the words in which a root part of the word addes a borrowing. For example, artless -the root art -borrowed suffix, dislike - borrowed prefi- like .There are also exotisms and barbarisms. Mixed languages like Creole, Pidgin - English appear. There are also pseudo-national and international words. These are all a result of the borrowing process.Also as a result of borrowing, there are many doublets. Doublets - are the words with similar origin. They differ phonetically and in the meaning, as they moved from different languages.Doublets basically have a Latin origin. In English they penetrated through the French language. For example : canal- channel, major- mayor, liquor- liqueur, fact- feat. Doublets appear in different dialects belonging to the same language.Doublet steam is formed when an ambiguous word values cease to be bound. For example, from the Latin persona were formed two English words: person, parson. Also, as an exception, there are etymological triplets: cattle – chattel- Capital .Another result of this process are secondary loans, in this case in the language a new word appears next to the previously borrowed and already assimilated. A new word has a different meaning - homonyms. In English, there was a borrowed word pilot in the value of the pilot, that is the one who controls the aircraft. In the late 20th century, the word pilot began to be used in the sense of "an athlete, managing high-speed vehicle." Word pilot in the second sense as well come from the French language. word pilot , Used to mean "a trial issue of the print edition," "pilot project", "Trial TV show", that is the meaning of "trial release of something," as well is the latest borrowing of the late 20th centur Sometimes borrowing in the host language takes on new meaning. Words formal fell into English from the German via French. It was used in the meaning "print sheet size". Later, word got to "a form of organization and presentation of data in the computer's memory." In such cases, you need to understand: these are the values of homonyms or ambiguous word. There is a principle of having common semantic components.Common semantic components suggest different meanings of an ambiguous word. For example, pilot within the meaning and pilot in the meaning of an athlete or pilot is a trial issue of the print edition with respect to the other meanings of the word.
Borrowing had a very important influence on English grammar. In connection with the borrowing of the French structure of + Noun expressing relations accessories: leg of the table English lost the end.Part of native English words, which is about 2/3 of the language came under the influence of borrowing. There are the Anglo-Saxon word options: face, money, war. Part of ancestral words passed into conversational
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and colloquial, compared with borrowed. Compare the English cow, pig, calf and the corresponding words of Scandinavian origin of beef, pork, veal. One of the results of the borrowing process are international words. International is the word, resulting in a borrowing spread in many languages of the world. A group of international words is mainly composed of the Greek words of Latin origin: analysis, Autonomy , system ,Latin: volume , Principle , progress , the nation . The group of international words are also the words of the other national languages (Italian balcony , sonata , fazade;French: Gallant , etiquette , an omelette ; Arabic coffee , alcohol , algebra , Indian the verandah , punch , the jungle , Russian nihilist , steppe .)In different languages internationalisms are written and pronounced differently. This should be considered when translating. For example the word Ambition. In French and English, the word has a neutral meaning of "the pursuit of goals." In Russian, the word ambition has sharper almost a negative value
Another example: family (Eng), familia (Spanish), familie (German) are used in the sense of a family. A similar Russian word in this sense is rarely used and is considered obsolete.. Such words are called pseudo-national or "false friends." They are lexical units of two languages
There is no doubt that the French language has had a profound impact on English over the years. In fact, there are currently numerous French words that are used in English today. But why do so many French words find their way into our language? And where did they come from in the first place?
One of the main reasons why so many French words have found their way into English is because of the close relationship that has historically existed between their countries of origin. In fact, for centuries, France was one of England's closest allies. As a result, the two countries have shared a lot of linguistic influence over the years.
But it's not just because of historical ties that French words have found their way into English. Many of these words have also become popular because they sound sophisticated and chic. After all, there's something undeniably alluring about the French language, and its associated words just seem to roll off the tongue.
So without further ado, let's take a look at some of the most common French words used in English – you’ll definitely recognize at least a few of them.

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A number of étiquettes (little cards) were used by courtiers to remember all the

little nit-picky rules they needed to abide by while at court. The word’s meaning gradually morphed into “how to conduct oneself properly in polite society.”
And did you know that sabotage originated from the French word sabot, which is a kind of wooden clog worn by French and Breton peasants? As industrialization swept Europe, disgruntled peasants soon discovered that a sabot, when thrown into machinery, was very effective at bringing much-maligned factories to a halt.
Going to the dentist? Why not simply say “toother” and be done with it? Because that’s what it means: “tooth” in French is dent, and the dentist is a “toother,” a professional who takes care of your pearly whites.
You love saving coupons for a discount? The word literally means “piece cut off,” since couper is “to cut” in French.
You’re hooked on crochet? Of course you are — it means “little hook” in French. You could crochet a rectangle (“straight angle”) depicting a scene from a renaissance (“rebirth”) painting while you wait for your soufflé (“blown”) to get properly light and fluffy in the oven.
Brimming with ideas for crochet patterns? Create a dossier (a bundle of papers with a label on the back, from the French dos, meaning “back”) to organize all those creative ideas. And take a break — your guests are arriving, and it would be a faux-pas (false step) to not have the table set. Prepare the hors d’oeuvre (literally “outside the work”) and fully embrace your role (from rôle, the “roll” of paper containing an actor’s part) as a gracious host for this rendezvous (literally “present yourselves”).
The guests arrive and Jonathan has brought his ouija board. While everyone nibbles and drinks, he clears a small table in the corner, and everyone gathers for a séance (“sitting”) to attempt to contact the dead. An angry spirit replies and suddenly a vase explodes! The debris (from the obsolete débriser, “to break down”) is scattered all over the floor. And the souflé also exploded! It’s a mess, so everyone decides to go to a restaurant (literally “to restore with food”) instead. Contacting the dead can be risky — it’s like playing roulette (“little wheel”).
There is a queue (“tail”) to get into the restaurant, but an ambulance (“walking hospital”) arrives and the crowd parts. According to the maître d (short for maître d’hôtel, “master of hotel,” the host), there was a fight inside, and the debacle (literally “unleash”) has closed the restaurant. Everyone decided to go home, but Jonathan suggested a detour (“change of direction”) to a food truck
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serving delicious falafels.
It seems Jonathan ruined and saved the night! But who can be mad at him? He knows how to amuse (“entertain”) and maneuver (literally “to operate with the hand”) himself out of difficulties with such… what’s the word? Ah, yes — panache! It literally means the “feather” worn on a hat or a helmet. This usage originated with King Henry IV of France, who was a courageous military leader with a love for the finer things. He wore a white plume on his helmet and was famed for his war cry: “Follow my white plume!” (Ralliez-vous à mon panache blanc !)

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Conclusion

English is primarily a West Germanic language that originated from the Anglo-Frisian dialects, brought to Britain by Germanic invaders and/or settlers from the places which are now called North West Germany and the Netherlands.English is considered a "borrowing" language.Middle English differed from Old English because of two invasions which occurred during the Middle Ages.
In order to understand this sphere of borrowings from French one must bear in mind that the first loans were to be found in the upper classes who spoke Anglo-Norman. This fact led to French loans being automatically placed on a level above the normal everyday English vocabulary. Up to the present-day this characteristic of French words in English has remained. While it is true that some of the common French borrowings have become part of the basic stock of English vocabulary (cf. air, age, cry, change, large, manner, mountain, place, point, village, voice) a large quantity of words has remained on a stylistically higher level alongside the lower English terms. This results in such word pairs as the following which are distinguished more by register than by basic meaning: dress : clothe; amity : friendship; commence : begin; conceal : hide; nourish : feed; liberty : freedom.
Aside from borrowing and word formation, French considerably influenced English phrasing. The loan translations range from polite turns of speech, such as at your service, do me the favour, to engage somebody in a quarrel, to make (later: pay) a visit, to idiomatic phrases like by occasion, in detail, in favour of, in the last resort, in particular, to the contrary.Nowadays 750 million people all over the world use English. It has become the language of the planet.Most of words are the same, but there are some differences. For example in Middle English ynogh is enough in modern English longe is long; agoon is ago and so on, but they are a little bit similar in writing, so it is not very difficult to understand them.Though the number of French loans in the modern period is relatively minor in comparison to Middle English, the contribution is most important. The French Loans were primarily borrowed to provide richness to the language. Whilst it was arguable during the Restoration whether the loans were corrupting or enriching the language,
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today there is no doubt or disputable grounds to argue that the loans did nothing but enrich the English language.
The borrowing of vocabulary is rapprochement of nations on the ground of economic, political and cultural connections. The bright example of it can be numerous French borrowings to English language.
Attempts to continue borrowings in 20th century did not have special success because language became more independent.
In my opinion we managed to study the problems of French borrowings in the English language. We understood possible ways of penetrating French words in the English language, we have seen difference ways of difference types of borrowings.
In spite of arrival of the words from different languages into the English vocabulary, the English Language did not suffer from large flow of foreign elements.

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