The interaction of orthography, perception and phonology in the adaptation of E /ɜ:/ in loanwords into Russian

Kateryna Laidler

doi:10.31261/pr.14159

Published: 2023-03-05

No. 1 (181) (2023)

The interaction of orthography, perception and phonology in the adaptation of E /ɜ:/ in loanwords into Russian

Kateryna Laidler

Section: Artykuły

https://doi.org/10.31261/pr.14159

Abstract

In the process of loanword nativisation, foreign sounds are inevitably altered so as to comply with the phonological principles of the borrowing language. There is, however, an ongoing debate as to whether such modifications are attributable to the phonological similarity between the source and the target segments, their acoustic closeness, orthographic conventions of the languages involved or an impact of additional extralinguistic factors. The issue seems particularly relevant in the case of those sounds whose adaptation in the target language involves several changes. The present paper deals with the issue of the so-called British English long schwa adaptation in loanwords from English into Russian. E /ɜ:/ nativisation poses an interesting research problem due to its lacking a single phonologically or phonetically closest equivalent in Russian. Thus, a considerable variability can be observed in how it is adapted. The present paper aims to examine the major mechanisms and patterns of E /ɜ:/ nativisation in Russian loanwords and shed some light onto the interplay of phonology, acoustic similarity and orthography.

Towards this goal, the major adaptation scenarios of 200 established loanwords containing E /ɜ:/ have been compared to the results of an online experiment in which 41 native speakers of Russian with no command of English listened to a list of English words containing the sound in question in different segmental contexts and were asked to transcribe them using Cyrillic characters. The analysis demonstrates that while established loanwords are often influenced by orthography, spelling-based adaptations are inevitably reinforced by phonology and in some cases acoustic similarity. Moreover, a number of such adaptations is marginal if they are not supported by either phonology or phonetics, and the most common substitutes show an interplay of all three factors. Hence, our findings shed some light onto the nature of /ɜ:/ nativisation in the Russian language as well as add to the debate of the loanword adaptation phenomena in general.

Keywords:

loanword adaptation; phonology; phonetics; acoustics; orthography; Russian; English.

Download files

pdf (Język Polski)

Citation rules

Laidler, K. (2023). The interaction of orthography, perception and phonology in the adaptation of E /ɜ:/ in loanwords into Russian. Przegląd Rusycystyczny [Russian Studies Review], (1 (181), 180–206. https://doi.org/10.31261/pr.14159

Cited by / Share

References

Bartmiński, Jerzy, and Bartmińska, Izabela. Słownik wymowy i odmiany nazwisk obcych. Bielsko Biała: PPU “Park”, 1997.
Google Scholar

Boersma, Paul. Functional Phonology: Formalizing the Interactions between Articulatory and Perceptual Drives. The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics, 1998.
Google Scholar

Boersma, Paul, and Hamann, Silke. “Loanword Adapation as First-Language Phonological Perception.” In Calabrese, Andrea, and Wetzels, Willem L. (eds). Loan Phonology, 2009. 11-58. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Google Scholar

Brasington, Ron. “Cost and Benefit in Loanword Adaptation.” Working Papers in Linguistics 1997, no. 3: 1–19.
Google Scholar

Cruttenden, Alan. Gimson’s Pronunciation of English (8th edition). London, New York: Routledge, 2014.
Google Scholar

Daland, Robert; Oh, Mira; Kim, Syejeong. “When in Doubt, Read the Instructions: Orthographic Effects in Loanword Adaptation.” Lingua 2015, no. 159: 70–92.
Google Scholar

Dupoux, Emmanuel, and Kazohiko, Kakehi, and Hirose, Yuki, and Pallier, Christophe, and Mehler, Jacques. “Epenthetic Vowels in Japanese: A Perceptual Illusion?” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 1999, no. 25: 1568-1578.
Google Scholar

Dyakov, Anatolij. Slovar′ anglicyzmov russkogo jazyka. Moscow: Flinta, 2021 [Дьяков, Анатолий. Словарь англицизмов русского языка. Москва: Флинта, 2021.]
Google Scholar

Hamann, Silke, and Colombo, Ilaria E. “A Formal Account of the Interaction of Orthography and Perception. English Intervocalic Consonants Borrowed into Italian.” Nat Lang Linguist Theory 2017, no. 35: 683–714.
Google Scholar

Ingram, John C. L., and See-Gyoon, Park. “Language, Context, and Speaker Effects in the Identification and Discrimination of English /r/ and /l/ by Japanese and Korean Listeners.” Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1998, no. 103: 1161–1174.
Google Scholar

Itô, Junko, and Mester, Armin. “The Phonological Lexicon.” In Tsujimura, Natsuko (ed). The Handbook of Phonological Theory, Oxford: Blackwell, 1999: 62–100.
Google Scholar

Jacobs, Haike, and Gussenhoven, Carlos. 2000. “Loan Phonology: Perception, Salience, the Lexicon and OT.” In Dekkers, Joost, and v. d. Leeuw, Frank, and v. d. Weijer, Jeroen (eds). Optimality Theory. Phonology, Syntax and Acquisition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000: 193–210.
Google Scholar

Kang, Yoonjung. “Perceptual Similarity in Loanword Adaptation: English Postvocalic Word-Final Stops in Korean.” Phonology 2003, no. 20: 219–273.
Google Scholar

Kenstowicz, Michael, and Suchato, Atiwong. “Issues in Loanword Adaptation: A Case Study from Thai.” Lingua 2006, no. 116: 921–949.
Google Scholar

Knyazev, Sergej, and Pozharitskaya, Sof′ja. Sovremennyy russkiy literaturnyy jazyk: Fonetika, orfoèpija, grafika i orfografija: Učebnoe posobie dla vuzov. Moscow: Gaudeamus, 2012 [Князев, Сергей; Пожарицкая, Софья. Современный русский язык: Фонетика, орфоэпия, графика и орфография. Учебное пособие для вузов. Москва: Гаудеамус, 2012.]
Google Scholar

Laidler, Kateryna. “Adaptation of Interdental Fricatives in English Loanwords into Russian. Established versus Online Loans.” In Szpyra-Kozłowska, Jolanta, and Radomski, Marek (eds). Phonetics and Phonology in Action, Berlin: Peter Lang, 2019: 63–90.
Google Scholar

Laidler, Kateryna. From Jazz and Rap to Dzhaz and Rep. Phonological adaptation of English loanwords in Russian, Peterlang, Berlin 2022.
Google Scholar

Leonov, A., and Makarov, Ilya, and Sorokin, Viktor. “Frequency Modulations in the Speech Signal.” Acoustical Physics 2009, no. 55: 876–887.
Google Scholar

Lin, Yen-Hwei. “Loanword Adaptation and Phonological Theory.” In Xiao, Yun (ed). Proceedings of the 21st North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-21), Smithfield, Rhode Island: Bryant University, 2009: 1–12.
Google Scholar

Mathieu, Lionel. “Orthographic Traces in Romanian and Japanese Loanwords: Enriching Phonological Representations.” Journal of Language Contact 2012: 144–181.
Google Scholar

McCarthy, John J., and Prince, Alan. “Faithfulness and Reduplicative Identity.” University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers 1995, no. 18: 249–384.
Google Scholar

Molęda, Jacek. A Comparative Study of Phonological Adaptations of Anglicisms in Czech and in Polish since the 1990s. Racibórz: Wydawnictwo PWSZ w Raciborzu, 2011.
Google Scholar

Oh, Mira. “English Stop Adaptations as Output-to-Output Correspondence.” Onin Kenkyuu 2004, no. 7: 165–172.
Google Scholar

Paradis, Carole. “The Inedequacy of Faithfulness and Filters in Loanword Adaptation.” In Durand, Jacques, and Laks, Bernard (eds). Current Trends in Phonology: Models and Methods, Salford: University of Salford Publications, 1996: 509–534.
Google Scholar

Paradis, Carole, and LaCharité, Dariene. “Preservation and Minimality in Loanword Adaptation.” Journal of Linguistics 1997, no. 33: 379–430.
Google Scholar

Peperkamp, Sharon. “A Psycholinguistic Theory of Loanword Adaptations.” 30th Annual Meeting of the Berkley Linguistic Society. Berkley, CA: The Society, 2005: 341-352.
Google Scholar

Peperkamp, Sharon; Dupoux, Emmanuel. “Reinterpreting Loanword Adaptations: The Role of Perception.” In Solé, Maria-Josep; Recasens, Daniel; Romero, Joaquin. Proceedings of the 15th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Barcelona: Casual Productions, 2003: 367–370.
Google Scholar

Prince, Alan; Smolensky, Paul. Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction in Generative Grammar. Rutgers University, University of Colorado: Boulder, 1993/2004.
Google Scholar

Steriade, Donca. “The Phonology of Perceptibility Effects: the P-Map and its Consequences for Constraint Organisation.” In Hanson, Kristin; Inkelas, Sharon (eds). The Nature of the Word: Studies in Honor of Paul Kiparsky, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 2001/2008: 151–180.
Google Scholar

Szpyra-Kozłowska, Jolanta. “Input to Loanword Adaptation of Anglicisms in Polish.” In Bloch-Rozmej, Anna; Bondaruk, Anna. Spotlight on Melody and Structure in Syntax and Phonology, Lublin: KUL, 2015: 305–329.
Google Scholar

Szpyra-Kozłowska, Jolanta. “Perception? Orthography? Phonology? Conflicting Forces Behind the Adaptation of English /ɪ/ in Loanwords into Polish.” Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 2016, no. 52(1): 119–147.
Google Scholar

Timberlake, Alan. A Reference Grammar of Russian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Google Scholar

Vendelin, Inga, and Peperkamp, Sharon. “The Influence of Orthography on Loanword Adaptations.” Lingua 2006, no. 116: 996–1007.
Google Scholar

Yip, Moira. “Cantonese Loanword Phonology and Optimality Theory.” Journal of East Asian Linguistics 1993: 261–291.
Google Scholar

Kateryna Laidler

kateryna.laidler@mail.umcs.pl
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1455-9089

Affiliation:

UMCS Poland

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Assistant Professor at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland, where she teaches courses in phonetics and phonology. The topics she has published on include loanword phonology, English and Slavic phonology and Optimality Theory.

No. 1 (181) (2023)
Published: 2023-03-05

ISSN: 0137-298X

Publisher

Polskie Towarzystwo Rusycystyczne oraz Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego

Submit

The interaction of orthography, perception and phonology in the adaptation of E /ɜ:/ in loanwords into Russian

Abstract

Keywords:

Kateryna Laidler

Information