This dissertation is devoted to the study of linguocultural features of Spanish borrowings in AmE. Spanish borrowing is defined as a language unit (an affixoid morpheme, word or phrase) transferred from Spanish into English either with a certain transformation or in the original form. The effects of the contact between AmE and Spanish are reflected in borrowing and interference, as well as in the emergence of such a linguistic phenomenon as Spanglish.
The thesis identifies four periods of Spanish influence on AmE, resulting in the enrichment of the latter with Spanish borrowings, namely: pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial, and contemporary. The latter is characterized by the intensification of diplomatic, political, sociocultural, and economic ties between the U.S. and Latin American countries, which brought about close contacts between Spanish and AmE.
The investigation has made it is possible to distinguish the following thematic groups of Spanish borrowings in AmE: Gastronomy (37%), Flora and Fauna (33%), Economics and Industry (16%), Culture and Art (10%), Natural Phenomena (4%). Structurally, Spanish borrowings fall into primary lexical borrowings; semantic, phraseological and hybrid units that combine English and Spanish elements.
According to the degree of their assimilation, Spanish borrowings have been grouped into fully assimilated, partially assimilated, and non-assimilated. Partially assimilated units have been further subdivided into those that have undergone certain changes at a particular language level (phonetic, graphic, semantic, and grammatical). Non-assimilated borrowings include exoticisms, barbarisms or words that do not сomply with the norms of English at any level.
According to the way of formation, Spanish borrowings have been classified into units formed by lexical and semantic derivation. The lexical ways include conversion (further subdivided into verbalization (N→V, Adj→V), substantivation (V→N), adjectivization (N→Adj)) and affixation. The non-morphological way of formation turned out to be more productive than suffixation.
The thesis explores the formation of hispanisms that takes place through the processes of semantic derivation such as generalization, specialization, metaphorical and metonymic transposition of their meaning. The present research has shown that Spanish borrowings acquire a phraseological meaning as a part of the hybrid set phrases in AmE. The changes in their semantics during the set phrase formation in AmE testify a high level of their integration into the receptor language. One of the sources of the idiom formation by using Spanish borrowings is a terminological or professional vocabulary.
The conducted investigation has demonstrated that the major consequence of the integration of hispanisms into AmE is the development and enrichment of American slang vocabulary. The most numerous are hybrid units containing Spanish and English (AmE) components. Regarding their component structure, such units can be divided into slang words formed by suffixation, stem composition, blending; contraction (abbreviations and acronyms); slang phrases formed by combining Spanish and English words; hybrid idioms with a Spanish ethnonym.
Slang words with a Spanish component are also represented by units formed morphologically (by affixation, telescopy, stem composition, and contraction) and non-morphologically (by conversion). The most common means is suffixation by using such English suffixes as -ed, -ing, ay, -y, -less, -arian, -istic, -ism, -aroo, -eroo, and the suffixoid -head, as well as the suffixes of Spanish origin -ateria, -eteria, -eria. The paper views the semantic way as an important formation means for new slang words and idioms with a Spanish component through changing the meaning of Spanish borrowings.
The study also enabled distinguishing the main functions of slang words and idioms with the Spanish component, namely: nominative (cultural and social), expressive, emotional, conspiratorial, and euphemistic functions, and that of linguistic economy. The multifunctional essence of borrowings manifests their pragmatic importance.
The research has made it possible to outline further prospects into the investigation of borrowings and hybrid units from a synergetic perspective.
