hyperforeignism
English
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Etymology
[edit]1982, hyperforeign + -ism.
Noun
[edit]hyperforeignism (countable and uncountable, plural hyperforeignisms) (linguistics)
- (uncountable, strictly) use of a sound or form that is perceived as foreign in a context where a native sound or form would be more correct based on the original language of a given loanword
- When he wrote that he was going to “Hämbürg”, this was considered hyperforeignism because the German form is “Hamburg”.
- (uncountable, by extension) misapplication of foreign pronunciation or usage more broadly; approximation that is misapprehensive or pedantic; use of foreign forms that are not in common use
- When she talked about the beautiful “freschi”, this was considered hyperforeignism because in English one says “frescoes”.
- (countable) An instance or example of such misapplication.
- 1982, John C. Wells, Accents of English 1: An Introduction, page 108:
- Educated people are thus aware that words in or from foreign languages are subject to somewhat different reading rules from those applying to English. But they are often vague about them, and about the different rules applicable to different foreign languages. Many resulting pronunciations are absurd in that they reflect neither the reading rules of English nor those of the language from which the word in question comes. For example, there is an awareness based on French that /dʒ/ is an English-type consonant, for which /ʒ/ is the ‘foreign’ equivalent. But when this leads to raj, Taj Mahal, mah-jongg, or adagio with /ʒ/ instead of /dʒ/ (although the languages of origin have affricates in these words), we have what might well be called a hyperforeignism. [boldfaced in source]