LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Phonological Adaptation of English Loan Words in Pahari

Abdul Qadir Khan, Ph.D. Candidate and Nadeem Haider Bukhari, Ph.D.

Introduction

There are around 7000 languages spoken all over the world. It has been found that when languages come in contact, there is transfer of words from one language to another, especially from the dominating language (Hock, 1986; B.Kachru, 1989; and Y. Kachru, 1982). According to Hock (1986:380), the term 'borrowing' refers to the "adaptation of individual words or even larger set of vocabulary items from another language."

According to Kachru (1994), there are two hypotheses about the motivation for lexical borrowing in languages. One is the deficit hypothesis and the other is dominance hypothesis.

Kachru (1994:139) states, "the deficit hypothesis presupposes that borrowing entails linguistic gaps in a language and the prime motivation for borrowing is to remedy the linguistic deficit, especially in the lexical resources of a language". This means that lexical items are borrowed from other languages because there are no equivalents in a particular borrowing language. For example, one needs to borrow when he/she needs to refer to object, people or ideas, etc which do not exist in his/her environment.

The dominance hypothesis presupposes when two cultures come into contact, the direction of culture learning and subsequent word-borrowing is not mutual but from dominant to the subordinate. This is not necessarily done to fill the gaps. Many words are borrowed even though they have their native equivalents because they seem to have prestige. This happens especially when there is a prolonged socio-cultural interaction between the ruling countries and the countries governed. For example, when English became powerful and colonized many countries of the world including the sub continent, people from these countries borrowed words from English into their languages.

"Englishization"

At present English has become the most influential language of the world and many languages borrowed words from it. This contact between a language and English is termed 'Englishization' (Kachru, 1994). Nowadays, it is not necessary to have physical contact of two language communities rather media is a powerful source of spreading borrowing.

Ways of Borrowing

Borrowing can take place in different ways, i.e., direct borrowing with very little, or no change to a particular word (loanword), translating the loanwords into words already available in the language (loan translation), combining a loanword and an already existing word in the language (loan blend).

The Focus of This Paper

This paper will address the first type of borrowing-English loanwords into Pahari language with little or no phonological change to the original word. The main reason of linguistic borrowing is to fill the gap in the borrowing language to describe new concepts and elements which may not have been in existence earlier and suddenly enter into a language and become its part such as computer, sports, etc.

Situation in Pakistan

English is one of the official languages in Pakistan. In today's education policy, much importance is given to improving the knowledge of English and IT skills in Pakistan and in the Kashmir region in Pakistan. According to Rahman (2006), the power and authority is captured by two languages - English and Urdu. English, being the language of colonizers of the recent past, is the symbol of power, authority, manner and sophistication. Urdu is the second powerful language. On the other hand, indigenous languages are being neglected by the political quarters and are being devoured by the powerful languages. Electronic media is playing a crucial role in spreading loanwords, especially in the field of advertising; the use of English loanwords has increased.

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