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Football: A History of Semantic and

Cultural Borrowing [1]


Me lanie Bernard-Be ziade and Michae l Attali
Sport is a practice, yet it is also a language conveying the representations of those who
structure it and those who employ it. The contribution of numerous English lexical units
to the lexicon of other languages in touch with United Kingdom participates in the
diffusion of sport and its level of penetration in geographical spaces. France does not
escape this phenomenon and its language borrows from its Anglo-Saxon neighbour.
Anglicisms have been described in opprobrious terms for a long time by critics who
consider them the sign of Frances dependence on the British Empire. Through the
analysis of ve types of anglicisms (intact, truncated, gallicized, signied and signier
anglicism) and about 60 lexical units, we will identify the privileged forms of borrowings,
their origins and the meaning to be attributed to them and thus show the role of sport in
general and football in particular in linguistic and cultural diffusion.
Une histoire demprunt culturel et semantique : le football
Si le sport est pratique, il est aussi langage ve hiculant les repre sentations de ceux qui le
structurent et de ceux qui lemploient. Lapport de nombreux termes anglais dans le
lexique des autres langues en contact avec lAngleterre participe ainsi de la diffusion du
sport et de son niveau de penetration dans les espaces ge ographiques. La France ny
echappe pas et sa langue emprunte a` sa voisine anglo-saxonne. Les anglicismes, dont
lexpression appara t en 1687, ont depuis longtemps stigmatise les critiques en
conside rant quils seraient le signe dune dependance de la France a` lempire
britannique. A travers lanalyse de cinq types danglicismes (anglicisme intact, anglicisme
tronque, anglicisme francise, anglicisme de signiant, anglicisme de signie ) et dune
soixantaine de lexies, nous pre ciserons les formes demprunt privilegie es, leurs origines et
le sens a` leur attribuer permettant de situer la place du sport en ge neral et du football en
particulier dans la diffusion linguistique et culturelle.
Melanie Bernard-Beziade, Doctor In Linguistics, 48 rue Voltaire, 33400 TALENCE, France;
Michael Attali, Ma tre de conferences Universite de Grenoble 1, Laboratoire SENS, 1741 rue de la
Piscine, 38400 St Martin dHe`res, France. Correspondence to: melanie.beziade@gmail.com
The International Journal of the History of Sport
Vol. 26, No. 15, December 2009, 22192235
ISSN 0952-3367 (print)/ISSN 1743-9035 (online) 2009 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/09523360903367677
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Historia de un caso de apropiacio n semantica y cultural: el fu tbol
El deporte es una practica, pero tambie n es lenguaje que expresa las representaciones
de los que lo estructuran y los que lo utilizan. La contribucion de numerosas
unidades le xicas del ingles al le xico de otros idiomas en contacto con Gran Bretana
ha contribuido a la difusion del deporte y a su nivel de penetracion en los diversos
espacios geogracos. Francia no es ajena a este fenomeno y su idioma ha tomado
pre stamos de su vecino anglosajon. Durante mucho tiempo los anglicismos han sido
descritos en te rminos infamantes por parte de una cr tica que los considera signos de
la dependencia francesa respecto del Imperio Britanico. Mediante el analisis de cinco
tipos de anglicismos (intacto, truncado, galicizado, anglicismo signicante y
signicado) y de unas sesenta unidades le xicas, identicaremos los tipos privilegiados
de prestamos, sus or genes y el signicado que se les debe atribuir, poniendo as de
relieve el papel del deporte en general y del futbol en particular en la difusion
cultural y lingu stica.
Eine Geschichte des kulturellen und semantischen Anleihens: Fuball
Sport ist ein praktisches Handlungsfeld, zugleich ist es auch die Sprache, die die
Ausfuhrungen derer ubermittelt, die ihn strukturieren und ausuben. Der Beitrag
zahlreicher englischer lexikalischer Einheiten in die Lexika anderer Sprachen, die mit
Grobritannien in Kontakt stehen, tragt zur Ausbreitung des Sports und dem Ausma
seiner Durchdringung in geographischen Raumen bei. Auch Frankreich entkommt
diesem Phanomen nicht und seine Sprache leiht bei seinem angelsachsischen Nachbarn
an. Anglizismen sind von Kritikern mit schmahenden Worten bezeichnet worden, die
diese als Zeichen fur die Abhangigkeit Frankreichs vom britischen Empire ansehen.
Durch die Analyse funf verschiedener Typen von Anglizismen (intakt, verkurzt,
(gallicised), gekennzeichnete und kennzeichnende Anglizismen) und etwa 60 lexika-
lischer Einheiten werden die bevorzugten Formen der Anleihen, deren Ursprunge und
Bedeutungen, die ihnen zugeschrieben werden, identiziert, um somit die Rolle des
Sports im Allgemeinen und des Fuballs im Speziellen in linguistischer und kultureller
Ausbreitung darzustellen.
2220 M. Bernard-Beziade and M. Attali
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Like any social activity, sport is based on sociocultural exchange, which results in it
being analysed more as a product than a state. Far from being xed, it undergoes
many changes over time which prevents it from being considered immutable in its
practices, conceptions and speech. In this framework, sports origin and areas of
expansion provide important clues to explain its development. England has played
an important role in this development, a role which extends beyond the area of
sports. Englands inuence on other countries has been growing since the
seventeenth century. It has been felt in the domains of maritime business, exotic
travel, customs (dance, clothes, food, card games) and parliamentary and judicial
terminology. Nevertheless, beyond practice, representations of practice are
permanently marked by British inuence. In a context where geopolitics and
representations of practice occupy an increasingly important place in international
relationships, [2] sport in general, and football in particular, due to its popularity,
plays a cultural propaganda role not limited to sports competitions. [3] Sport
promotes a way of thinking or talking. Linguistic representations are particularly
important within the framework of activities that were rst developed in England.
Sport is, then, an interesting tool of analysis to understand the role and the
inuence of British representations, their evolution, even their transformations
from the moment they spread beyond national boundaries. While the rules,
techniques and forms of activities such as sport have already been studied, [4] the
semantic aspects have not been, until now, the aim of detailed investigations.
Indeed, if sport is practice, it is also language conveying representations of it.
Numerous English terms in the lexicon of other languages spoken in areas in
contact with England provide evidence of the spread of sport-related language.
Following the industrial and technological revolution of the nineteenth century,
Englands dominance spread throughout Europe, leading to the linguistic
dominance of English at the beginning of the twentieth century. France did not
escape this phenomenon and its language has borrowed from its Anglo-Saxon
neighbour. Since the nineteenth century, there has been an increase in borrowings
from English in all spheres, despite French reluctance in some circles to go along
this route and adoption of measures to stem this tide. [5]
A History of Semantic and Cultural Borrowing 2221
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Thanks to its worldwide dimension and the important place it holds on both sides
of the Channel, football has become a eld of analysis in which to examine the level
of semantic spread. Through the language used in the football, we will analyse current
anglicisms, and attempt to explain the origin and the subsequent transformations
that reveal processes of cultural identication.
Anglicisms
Plural Modalities
For a long time, anglicisms have been considered the sign of Frances geopolitical
dependence on the British Empire. Because the use of anglicisms extends beyond the
United Kingdom and forms a worldwide language, they delimit a sphere of inuence in
competition with French, they have been described in opprobrious terms. For many
French authors, anglicisms might be more specically considered as a symbol of French
vocabularys lack of power to withstand its expansionist neighbour across the English
Channel. Nowadays, the English language plays the role that the French language used
to play in the seventeenth century: lingua franca. In spite of several initiatives to
counteract its reach, as evidenced after 1937 with the creation of the ofce de la langue
francaise. After some reorganizations, it became in 2001 la delegation generale a` la
langue francaise et aux langues de France (DGLFLF). This delegation coordinates the
development of lists of lexical items thanks to the commissions ministerielles de
terminologie et de neologie (CMT); they allow, in each ministry, to propose to French
speakers some recommendations for the use of terms relative to each sector. The sport
CMT was created in 1984, its aim is to nd French equivalents to anglicisms in sport.
The word anglicism appeared for the rst time in the Grand Dictionnaire franc ais
by Mie`ge (1687) with the following denition: Anglicism, an expression proper to
the English. [6] This denition dating back over three centuries has evolved little and
has been the object of only minor adjustments: for example, Pergnier [7] suggested
three denitions: an anglicism is (1) An English word or an English form met
occasionally in an utterance in French. [. . .]; (2) An English term or a term inuenced
by English, whose frequency of use is enough to be considered as being integrated
(however, well or poorly) into the French lexicon and listed in dictionaries and
glossaries [. . .]; (3) An English word used wrongly in place of the correct French
word. The rst two denitions concern the language events themselves, whereas the
third implies a judgement in respect to its correct usage (anglicisms are indexed for
correction by various language commissions).
An anglicism thus indicates a lexical unit [8] of which the signier and/or the
signied originates in the English language. The difculty of this denition is the
Saussurean dichotomy signier and signied because to borrow from another
language does not necessarily mean borrowing the signier (the sound or written
word) and the signied (the meaning). Partially following Mareschals typology, [9]
we will examine ve types of anglicisms for this study:
2222 M. Bernard-Beziade and M. Attali
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The intact Anglicism. An English form and its meaning (or one of its meanings) are
imported into French and adopted as is with the referent they stand for (e.g. football);
The truncated Anglicism. An English form and its meaning are borrowed with the
referent they stand for but the signier is truncated when it enters into French
(e.g. foot or it has already been truncated in English (e.g. penalty);
The gallicized anglicism. That can be divided into two categories:
The gallicized anglicism by adaptation. An English word is imported with its referent
and integrated into the French linguistic system and undergoes graphic and
morphological adaptations with the aim of giving it a French appearance (e.g. tackle
became tacle);
The gallicized anglicism by derivation. It corresponds to lexical units whose root keeps
the English form and are derived thanks to French afxes (e.g. dribbleur);
The signier Anglicism. Only the form is English, neither the meaning nor the referent
are borrowed from English (e.g. footing);
The signied anglicism. It comes fromthe attribution of an English meaning to a French
word which already exists into the French language, it is due to the same morphological
features that two lexical units canpossess, it exists a lot of lexical units that have the same
form in English and in French but not the same meaning (for example, the meaning of
amateur as someone who takes part ina sport andwithout being paidfor it is due tothe
inuence of the English amateur, in French, amateur means, in its rst sense, someone
who likes a particular thing, such as amateur dart or amateur de vin.)
Origins of anglicisms. If anglicisms represent evidence of relations between France and
England, they are a testimony to the familiarity of French people with the Anglo-
Saxon world, the discovery of a foreign country occurring almost always through its
language: relations which have been established between two peoples since the
sixteenth century have brought into French an uninterrupted wave of anglicisms. [10]
The history of sport in France [11] and of football [12] in particular reveals the role of
England in its development and codication. We know that through contact between
nations, peoples vocabulary also undergoes a change because of mutual exchange
between the languages. [13] Language is tied to the history of the society and culture in
which it is used. Taking advantage of economic exchange, the British controlled for a
long time and of British importance in international relationships, the British also
exported a lifestyle, cultural practices, a vision of the world via the language.
The English exported football into France with its characteristic vocabulary
and French people have, for the most part, adopted and adapted this vocabulary.
In 1920, when writing about English terms used in the French language, Bonnaffe
[14] already stressed the importance of journalists and the integration of linguistic
borrowings
[These] words are collected on site, in England and the US, by tourists, writers,
business men, traders, and more importantly journalists, professional news
recorders, word inventors, who give them their concrete form under which they
A History of Semantic and Cultural Borrowing 2223
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will penetrate the public domain through the press, books, the theatre and print
peoples memories.
As Le Bidois [15] also stresses: no one will deny that the French press offers to
English words an extremely favourable culture medium. The origin of these
borrowings often comes from the written language, especially the written press. From
1924, the rst generation of sports journalists, xated as they were on Anglo-Saxon
culture, [16] turned naturally to their colleagues in other countries within the
international association of sports correspondents, who they considered the most
qualied in this eld. Revealing their admiration for the performances of the British
athletes, they imported the specic vocabulary of the sport without trying to gallicize
it so as not to run the risk of misrepresenting it.
Following these two linguists assertions, we thoroughly analysed articles dealing
with football and extracted from LE

quipe, a daily newspaper, in order to identify the


origin and the nature of those anglicisms that are still the most frequently used today.
As for LEquipe, it is a national reference [17] in terms of sport and provides a good
representation of the vocabulary used in the media.
The Data
The corpus was collected by extracting the English words from the sport newspaper
LEquipe between 14 and 30 August 2004 and 8 and 24 August 2008. These periods,
corresponding to the Athens and Beijing Olympics Games, the French national
football championship and, moreover, a part of other European championships, are
of particular interest in so far as they provide a concentration of sports analyses. They
thus offer a wide corpus of anglicisms, with on the one hand the Olympics Games,
where the two ofcial languages are French and English [18] and on the other, the
French and European championships that use their national language with a lot of
English borrowings. [19] The ve tables below present the different types of
anglicisms found in the analysed corpus, and we have given for each of them the date
they were introduced into the French language. Nevertheless, we should specify that
these dates are only approximate because the words for which we can indicate the
exact date of their introduction into the language are few. Mostly, we have to be
satised with an approximation and we must not forget that the rst appearance of a
word in a book is not always the date of its birth. [20]
This approach leads us to classify anglicisms in a temporal interval and thus to
establish hypotheses about cultural representations and the semantic analyses of
the latter through the course of the history of the French language. The
comparison between the meaning of the term used and the original meaning in
English will be an important clue of semantic transformations in the language of
sport.
The study of a newspaper allows work on an authentic and living document, but
the constitution of a corpus based on a daily newspaper does not provide an
2224 M. Bernard-Beziade and M. Attali
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exhaustive list of anglicisms. It provides insight, nevertheless, into the attitudes
adopted by the journalists and their perception of the subject.
In terms of methodology, we did not take into account proper names which
correspond to intrinsic realities in each country nor intact anglicisms because they
become integrated into French structure: for example, intact anglicisms like the
adjective international. Its morphological construction inter nominal root (i.e.
the basic element in a word which remains after all afxes have been removed, and
which may form the basis of a number of related words) al is a usual structure of
French; moreover, the French language possesses nation and national, so, if the
lexical unit when it appeared in 1802 could be perceived as an anglicism, its
integration to French morphology has since hidden its origin and only scholars or
linguists are able to recognize it as a borrowing.
Intact anglicisms. The intact anglicisms (see Table 1) found in articles relating to
football have been borrowed by the French language uninterrupted since the
beginning of the nineteenth century, with a paroxysm between 1850 and 1950 (30
anglicisms borrowed out of 43). [21]
These anglicisms are usually named obviousness [22] in linguistics, that is to say
the borrowing was both done at the level of the signier and of the signied, and both
come from the English language. But the semantic evolution of these lexical units did
not occur in the same way in the two languages. For example, the bookmaker is the
person who receives bets on racetracks, then, by extension, everyone who takes bets
in sports, whereas in Anglo-Saxon countries, the word bookmaker extends well
beyond the setting of sports. In this context, we notice that the integration of an
intact anglicism corresponds to a restriction of the meaning of the term used, usually
limited to its original meaning in the English language. This situation leads to the
assumption that even though the use of sports terminology comes from intercultural
exchanges, it does not assume all its aspects. This temporal difference is found in the
meaning used with numerous distortions revealing either a model of British
particularity or a misunderstanding of the borrowed language. Indeed, using English
to talk about sports tends to convey an identifying message for the one who uses it
appropriately, adding prestige to his speech and his person.
We know that, in all languages, there are transfers of words or sentences that come
from a particular domain and can be used in another. It is certain that sport is a
socio-cultural phenomenon which has huge importance in our societies today, and
the connections between sports and other domains show a constant interpenetration
of their respective vocabulary. Sportsmen are often compared to movie stars with the
use of expressions such as casting, star, show or superman, and football, due to its vast
diffusion, increases the tenor and the function. The strong impact of Anglo-Saxon
culture on French culture manifests itself in borrowing anglicisms in their original
form and meanings; these new lexical units, which accompany cultural and social
changes, mark an evolution in the French language, a transformation and an
enrichment of it. The semantic analysis of the expression fair play, which usually
A History of Semantic and Cultural Borrowing 2225
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Table 1 Intact anglicisms
Word
Date of
introduction
in French
[25]
From the
English Example
Un bookmaker 1855 Bookmaker . . . Arsenal reste le favori des bookmakers.
14 Aug. 2004 (p. 22)
Un boss 1869 Boss Quand jai rencontre le boss . . . 17 Aug.
2008 (p. 27)
Un break 1960 Break Ils avaient fait le break . . . 23 Aug. 2008
(p. 22)
Un casting 1972 Casting . . . chacun semblait anticiper lerreur de
casting . . . 21 Aug. 2004 (p. 23)
Un challenge 1884 Challenge . . . relever le challenge de Manchester
United et Chelsea . . . 17 Aug. 2008
(p. 27)
Un club 1733 Club C a fait deux fois quon joue contre des
clubs qui evoluent tre`s bas. 17 Aug.
2008 (p. 20)
Un coach 1910 Coach . . . le coach aime bien que lon sen tienne
au cadre. 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 24)
Un derby 1876 Derby . . . a` dix jours du derby . . . 21 Aug. 2008
(p. 21)
Un dribble 1913 Dribble . . . un dribble emberlicote de Ceara . . .
17 Aug. 2008 (p. 20)
Le fair play 1856 Fair play . . . il faut alors lui remettre un prix du
fair-play. 11 Aug. 2008 (p. 21)
Le ghting spirit Recent Fighting spirit . . . comble par le ghting spirit de
lequipe . . . 15 Aug. 2004 (p. 21)
Le football 1872 Football . . . le football etait alors considere dans sa
cite. 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 24)
Le goal-average 1926 Goal average Faire 8
e
quand on a un goal-average . . .
14 Aug. 2004 (p. 17)
Groggy 1910 Groggy . . . le Bresilien groggy . . . 23 Aug. 2004
(p. 18)
Un handicap 1839 Handicap . . . un handicap sur le plan sportif.
21 Aug. 2004 (p. 23)
Un head coach Recent Head coach . . . il est desormais le head coach.
14 Aug. 2004 (p. 22)
Un hold-up 1925 Hold up On peut toujours faire un hold-up sur un
match. 14 Aug. 2004 (p. 18)
Une interview 1887 Interview Dans son interview . . . 22 Aug. 2008
(p. 21)
Un joker 1912 Joker Il a ajoute deux matches joker. 23 Aug.
2008 (p. 20)
Un/une leader 1822 Leader . . . lASM est un curieux leader
provisoire . . . 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 22)
Un manager 1857 Manager . . . le manager general. 17 Aug. 2008
(p. 24)
Le marketing 1944 Marketing . . . ce qui ressemble a` une considerable
operation marketing. 19 Aug. 2008
(p. 18)
(continued )
2226 M. Bernard-Beziade and M. Attali
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refers to sportsmanship, reveals that it is used in French in other elds. This
expression stands for conformity to the established rules. There is even a comite du
fair-play (fair play commitee) in France. This word does not need to be translated
Table 1 (Continued )
Word
Date of
introduction
in French
[25]
From the
English Example
Un match 1827 Match Dans un match tre`s muscle . . . 17 Aug.
2008 (p. 16)
Out 1891 Out Les recrues out... 14 Aug. 2004 (p. 18)
Un / une outsider 1859 Outsider On part comme le gros outsider . . .
25 Aug. 2008 (p. 23)
Une performance 1839 Performance . . . sa remarquable performance
personnelle . . . 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 23)
Le punch 1909 Punch . . . son punch en font deja` une attraction
. . . 14 Aug. 2004 (p. 19)
Le record 1882 Record Le record dafuence a failli etre battu.
16 Aug. 2004 (p. 20)
Un remake 1946 Remake . . . un remake de la dernie`re nale . . .
26 Aug. 2004 (p. 9)
Un reporter 1828 Reporter . . . annonce le reporter britannique.
26 Aug. 2004 (p. 19)
Le score 1896 Score Rapidement menes au score . . . 17 Aug.
2008 (p. 22)
Le self-control 1883 Self-control . . . garder son self-control . . . 16 Aug.
2004 (p. 20)
Le soccer 1913 Soccer . . . elles ont domine la plane`te soccer.
27 Aug. 2004 (p. 8)
Le sponsor 1972 Sponsor . . . lattention que lui porte les
sponsors . . . 14 Aug. 2008 (p. 18)
Le sponsoring 1974 Sponsoring . . . un avantage au niveau du
sponsoring . . . 21 Aug. 2004 (p. 23)
Un sprint 1895 Sprint . . . une serie de six sprints de
40 me`tres . . . 14 Aug. 2008 (p. 22)
Le staff 1944 Staff . . . faute de renforts juges satisfaisants
par le staff technique . . . 17 Aug. 2008
(p. 21)
Le standing 1914 Standing . . . une seconde periode plus conforme a`
son standing. 15 Aug. 2004 (p. 17)
Une star 1919 Star Il a tout pour etre lune des stars de la
saison. 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 27)
Un stress 1950 Stress . . . aucun stress particulier . . . 23 Aug.
2008 (p. 20)
Un supporter 1930 Supporter . . . les supporters du PSG nattendront
pas . . . 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 20)
Le suspense 1951 Suspense Elle na pas laisse de place au suspense.
14 Aug. 2008 (p. 20)
Un tablo d 1933 Tabloid . . . la presse tablo d . . . 22 Aug. 2008
(p. 22)
A History of Semantic and Cultural Borrowing 2227
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because it represents an ideal, a perfect behaviour that does not need to be specied:
the meaning is known by the majority of French people.
To retain its character as a living language, the French language must constantly be
enriched with new words and expressions, [23] it is undeniable that our
contemporaries prefer more and more certain English expressions in their daily
communications: they seem incomparably more expressive and in any case more up
to date than their French equivalents. Often associated with modernity [24] and
youth, the domain of sports is very marked by this last tendency which is only
increasing its social and symbolic function.
Table 1 makes no claims to be exhaustive, but, nevertheless, it represents a sample
that reveals some basic tendencies. We notice in particular that most of the intact
anglicisms were introduced during the rst period of exportation of football into
France. [26] It constitutes a legacy of the practice under consideration, somewhat
subjected to some transformations but still allowing identication of its nature. Some
of them appeared more recently and correspond to changes in the eld (i.e. sponsor)
or football organization (i.e. head coach). To be football is to master its rules but
also its codes of which language makes up one of the elements of promotion. It
underlines its universality that constitutes one of the priorities of the institutions that
run it [27] while showing its differences with other sports that are not as easily
recognizable according to countries.
Truncated anglicisms. Truncated anglicisms (see Table 2) also have their place in the
vocabulary of football. We know that the English language possesses numerous
ellipses, truncations, abbreviations of long words, amputations of compounds while
keeping just one term of the compound, and clear and concise vocabulary. Purists
and defenders of the norm recommend the use of periphrases to represent a concept
already borrowed by the French language in its English form: for example, a free kick
taken from a corner of the eld and given when one of the players on the opposing
team has kicked the ball behind the goal line denes what is meant in English by
corner. This expression was taken into French for its conciseness and its periphrasis
Table 2 Truncated anglicisms
Word
Date of
introduction
in French
From the
English Example
Un corner 1897 Corner kick . . . deposait un corner . . . 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 23)
Un fan 1951 Fanatic Nasri a vite conquis ses nouveaux fans. 17 Aug.
2008 (p. 27)
Le foot 1924 Football . . . on doit etre une ville de foot . . . 17 Aug. 2008
(p. 24)
Un penalty 1902 Penalty kick . . . un troisie`me penalty . . . 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 16)
Pro 1881 Professional Ils sont pros . . . 21 Aug. 2008 (p.21)
Un test 1893 Mental test Cetait un bon test. 21 Aug. 2008 (p. 18)
2228 M. Bernard-Beziade and M. Attali
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(i.e. a roundabout way of saying something) coup de pied de coin seems to be used only
by some obstinate Gauls. The French language has even developed this particularity of
the English language in sports, by truncating many anglicisms, and even giving them a
typically French meaning: le foot does not mean part of the leg but the sport in which
two teams of 11 players try to send into the opponents goal a round ball with their feet,
their head or any other part of the body except the hand or arm. This word, while
considered borrowed, designates a particular reality to French speakers. This semantic
evolution marks a process of cultural identication: even though the word comes from
the truncated form of an English word, the signied is typically French. The linguistic
phenomenon of truncating, by apocope (loss of pronunciation of the nal syllable or
letter of a word, e.g. photo[graph]) or apheresis (omission of a syllable at the beginning
of a word, e.g. [auto]bus), represents a semantic appropriation of a new lexical unit
produced by borrowing. It reveals a double instrumentalization of the English language
in the domain of sports used by the French: both practical (English words are shorter)
and serving to set those French people using English expressions instead of their French
equivalents apart from French purists.
Gallicized anglicisms. Gallicized anglicisms (see Table 3) are a type of anglicisms in
constant evolution, following the needs of the French language. They allow the
creation of new lexical units relating to the same lexical eld. As for the vocabulary of
Table 3 Gallicized anglicisms
Word
Date of
introduction
in French
From the
English Example
Booster 1962 Boost . . . ce qui est arrive a` leur copain peut les
booster comme produire leffet inverse.
23 Aug. 2008 (p. 19)
Une competition 1759 Competition . . . au meme stade de la competition . . .
17 Aug. 2008 (p. 16)
Un debrieng 1982 Brief . . . au debrieng collectif . . . 23 Aug. 2008
(p. 20)
Un dribbleur 1895 Dribbler . . . Thorstein est un peu moins dribbleur . . . .
23 Aug. 2008 (p. 20)
Forfait 1829 Forfeit Forfait mercredi avec lequipe de France . . .
22 Aug. 2008 (p. 22)
Un footballeur 1892 Footballer le footballeur Thalassis . . . 14 Aug. 2004 (p. 3)
Footballistique 1988 Football . . . sa declinaison footballistique . . . 16 Aug.
2004 (p. 20)
Un manageur Recent Manager Le manageur italien . . . 12 Aug. 2008 (p. 20)
Pe naliser 1902 Penalize Et on a ainsi penalise lOL et les autres clubs
francais. 23 Aug. 2004 (p. 18)
Stopper 1841 Stop . . . jusqua` ce quil stoppe un coup franc . . .
23 Aug. 2004 (p. 18)
Un tacle 1907 Tackle Il sagit dun tacle propre . . . 11 Aug. 2008
(p. 21)
A History of Semantic and Cultural Borrowing 2229
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football, we have, for example, the nouns footballeur/footballeuse (based on masculine/
feminine gender -eur -euse), the adjective footballistique (based on an analogy with
journalistique or touristique). While keeping its morphological root, the word football
created derivatives, [28] integration of the foreign term is denitively completed when a
range of derivatives develops from this word, formed with French afxes . . ..
This phenomenon of lexical enrichment of the language, by the creation of new
lexical units based on borrowing, marks a transformation of thought and an
appropriation of a new cultural phenomenon, a cultural identication to the French
language by the use of typically French afxes. Brunots assertion, published in the
foreword of the Dictionnaire des anglicismes at the beginning of the century is thus
invalidated, that he considers
[that] a day will come [. . .] when we will want to look closely at our borrowings,
study them by periods or subjects, a day when we will try to nd out how come at a
certain moment in time French thought was unable to be expressed except in
foreign signs.
The French language is not expressed only in foreign signs, it uses them to be
enriched, to develop the communicative needs of its society and thus create a new
cultural identication. [29] When a foreign word even a proper name gives to the
language derivatives by adding a prex or, especially, a sufx, it means that the
borrowing is well integrated, at the point of becoming a derivational base outside its
initial context.
In this study we measure the importance of linguistic interpenetrations because
sport in general, and football in particular, provides a rich source of examples due to
the homologous nature of the practice of sport. It becomes thus an instrument of the
spread of anglicisms which can extend subsequently beyond the restricted eld of
sports. By participating in the acceptance of this language form, because it seems
natural when it deals with sports and when it constitutes a historical custom, it
participates in the transformation of the current linguistic trends.
Signied anglicisms. Signied anglicisms (see Table 4) are the most interesting to
study at the semantic level because this type of anglicism consists in giving an already
existing lexical unit in the French language a new meaning as it occurs in the English
language and used by an English lexical unit. It is due to the similar morphological
characteristics that two lexical units can possess. Indeed, many lexical units exist
which have the same form in French and English, but they do not always have the
same meaning in the two languages. Due to the phenomenon of languages in contact,
the signied of an English lexical unit is going to rub off on a French lexical unit;
this type of borrowing only concerns the signied, so it is very difcult to discern but
it testies to a strong linguistic and cultural interpenetration between these two
languages. With the English language as the intermediary, the signied Anglicism
enriches the French language, but imperceptibly: the inuence of the English
language is only present at the level of the signied, the signier adapts itself
2230 M. Bernard-Beziade and M. Attali
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completely to French language structure, so its presence is not always obvious, but yet
a fertile source of data while all dictionaries identify the word football as an
anglicism, they dont make mention of expressions such as arrie `re, avant, e quipe, in
their sport vocabulary. [30] Because the form of these anglicisms is integrated into
French language structure, only with detailed knowledge of the semantic content, of
the history of the lexical unit and of the borrowed language can these words and
phrases be recognized as coming semantically from the English language.
Signier anglicisms. However, the French language also introduces some ambiguities,
whereas the truncated, gallicized and signier anglicisms characterize a cultural
identity:
every individual maintains a dialectical relationship with the word he utters: the
speaker, as a human-being, born at a certain time and at a given moment in history
is preceded by language, as he is by all socio-historic objects and institutions, which
fundamentally determines his relationship with the world. He receives the
language, and as Sartre said about freedom, he receives it in a different way
depending if he was born in Passy or Billancourt. On the other hand and at the
same time, he appropriates and internalizes this language which shapes and
determines him. [32]
The signier anglicisms represent a specic case of anglicisms. They possess two
characteristics: the lexical units have a French signied different from the English
Table 4 Signied anglicisms
Word
Date of
introduction
in French
From the
English Example
Amateur 1833 Amateur Pensionnaire du championnat de France
amateur . . . 11 Aug. 2008 (p. 22)
Un entra neur 1884 Train . . . lentra neur bresilien . . . 17 Aug. 2008
(p. 16)
Entra ner 1828 Train Puisquils jouent souvent comme ils
sentra nent . . . 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 24)
Un entra nement 1885 Train . . . lentra nement avec le Bayern de
Munich . . . 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 25)
Une nale 1895 Final Pour pouvoir honore ce rendez-vous aux
vrais airs de nale . . . 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 16)
Un naliste [31] 1924 Finalist . . . naliste du Mondial des moins de 20
ans . . . 22 Aug. 2008 (p. 15)
Professionnel 1842 Professional . . .de pouvoir disputer demain soir son
493e match professionnel . . . 22 Aug. 2008
(p. 21)
Une qualication 1840 Qualication . . . leur debut de campagne de qualication.
19 Aug. 2008 (p. 18)
Qualier 1840 Qualify Argentine et Bresil ont souffert pour
se qualier . . . 17 Aug. 2008 (p. 16)
A History of Semantic and Cultural Borrowing 2231
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signied or else the signier does not exist in English. In reality, there are called false
anglicisms, [33] that is to say there are lexical units composed of English morphemes
but neither the referent nor the signied exists in English. They function as
mythologies [34] aiming to introduce a French reality in an English form to intensify
its legitimacy at least symbolically. An English form would be enough to assure the
support of a wide public, in particular young people, without arguing the
truthfulness and the meaning. Table 5 presents the signier anglicisms found in
our corpus. To esh out this type of anglicism, we can mention recordman or
recordwoman (record-holder in English).
Conclusion
This study highlights a tendency that is important but has been little studied in
current linguistics: semantic and cultural borrowing. Sport, and football in particular,
is a tool of diffusion of language and notably of anglicisms thanks to the press, but to
borrow a lexical unit from a foreign language does not inform the real modalities of
the borrowing (signied, signier, referent). Through the analysis of ve types of
anglicisms and about 60 lexical units collected from a sport newspaper, we studied
their origin and their nature as well as the evolution, even the semantic
transformations allowing us to understand the status and the inuence of United
Kingdom in cultural representations. It turns out that sport has been identied by a
particular structured language since the second half of the nineteenth century and
which has seen successive adjustments up until today.
Beyond its morphological integration into the borrowing language, the language
of sport undergoes semantic transformations over time which provides a process of
cultural identication. The French language borrows from the English language,
then these lexical units borrowed evolve in a different way in each language as a
function of the needs of the speakers and of the instrumentalization they make of
it, a lexical unit can change its lexical eld or can refer to several lexical elds. This
study allowed us to understand the semantic evolution of the lexical units
Table 5 Signier anglicisms
Word
Date of
introduction
in French
From the
English Example
Un coaching Recent Instruction . . . pour le coaching en cours . . . 18 Aug. 2008
(p. 24)
Un footing [35] 1892 Jogging Il effectuera un footing aujourdhui . . . 14 Aug.
2008 (p. 21)
Le pressing 1950 Pressure . . . le pressing de Monaco la broye . . . 15
Aug. 2004 (p. 17)
Le speaker 1904 Announcer . . . le speaker nannonce pas . . . 14 Aug. 2008
(p. 19)
2232 M. Bernard-Beziade and M. Attali
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presented, the borrowing does not establish an end in itself, each living language
must develop its anglicisms but it also has to watch their appropriation within
French society because using the English language in sport conveys a representation
and a message of identity.
Each language conveys its cultural representations, the Spanish language is an
interesting example to study because this latter possesses a singular tradition in the
anglicisms borrowings: it borrows anglicisms directly from the English but it also
adopts anglicisms from French. Pratt [36] found this intervention of French in the
introduction of English lexical units because these latter adopted some linguistic
characteristics absent in English and present in French. Indeed, we notice that some
signier anglicisms, created in French with English elements, are borrowed by the
Spanish language (it is the case of recordman) underlining the internationalization of
sports language structured by successive borrowings in the languages of the countries
in which the practices spread. This has contributed to the globalization of sport via
the actual practice with shared rules throughout the world but also thanks to shared
perception media of which language is the main vehicle.
Notes
[1] Thanks to Jacqueline Thomas for reviewing an early version of this essay.
[2] Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780.
[3] Beck, Scoring for Britain: International football and international politics 19001939, 27283.
[4] Basket-ball was recently the subject of a colloquium examining the nature of intercultural
exchanges between both sides of the Atlantic Ocean: Archambault, Artiaga, Bosc, Double Jeu.
Histoire du basket-ball entre France et Ame riques, and more generally Riess, City games: The
evolution of American urban society and the rise of sports.
[5] Crystal, English as a global language, and for the French language, Tournier, Les mots anglais
du franc ais.
[6] Mackenzie, Les relations de lAngleterre et de la France dapre `s le vocabulaire I. Les inltrations
de la langue et de lesprit franc ais: les anglicismes franc ais, 108.
[7] Pergnier, Les anglicismes: danger ou enrichissement pour la langue franc aise, 1920.
[8] The lexical unit corresponds to an item retained together as a chunk, which is called a
memorized lexical unit (Tournier, 1988).
[9] Mareschal, Contribution a` le tude comparee de langlicisation en Europe francophone et au
Quebec, 6777.
[10] Hoer, Dictionnaire des anglicismes, V.
[11] Poyer Linstitutionnalisation du sport (18801914) in P. Tetart, Histoire du sport en France
du Second Empire au re gime de Vichy.
[12] Cox, Vamplew, Russell, Encyclopedia of British Football Publisher.
[13] Weinreich, Languages in contact: Findings and problems.
[14] Bonnaffe, Dictionnaire des anglicismes, IX.
[15] Le Bidois, Les mots trompeurs ou le de lire verbal, 253.
[16] Marchand, Les de fricheurs de la presse sportive, 16.
[17] Andreff, E

conomie du sport, 107.


[18] The ofcial languages of the IOC are French and English. At all Sessions, simultaneous
interpretation must be provided into French, English, German, Spanish, Russian and Arabic.
In the case of divergence between the French and English texts of the Olympic Charter and
A History of Semantic and Cultural Borrowing 2233
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any other IOC document, the French text shall prevail unless expressly provided otherwise in
writing. (http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_122.pdf).
[19] Rethacker, La fabuleuse histoire du foot, 23.
[20] Nyrop, Grammaire historique de la langue franc aise, 3-Formation des mots, 9.
[21] Bernard, Les anglicismes dans le sport en langue franc aise: modes dinte gration et aspects
sociolinguistiques, 3289.
[22] Beaujot, Anglicismes et anglomaniaques, 8593.
[23] Walter, Laventure des mots franc ais venus dailleurs, 192.
[24] Holt, Sport and the British. A modern history.
[25] Rey, Dictionnaire historique de la langue franc aise; Tournier, Les mots anglais du franc ais;
Hoer, Dictionnaire des anglicismes.
[26] Eisenberg, Lanfranchi, Mason, Wahl, FIFA 19042004. Le sie`cle du football.
[27] Wagg, Giving the game away. Football, politics and culture on ve continents.
[28] Dubois, Lemprunt en francais, 1016.
[29] Yaguello, Le grand livre de la langue franc aise, 412.
[30] MacKenzie, Les relations de lAngleterre et de la France, 47.
[31] The English nalist, for example, player or runner who acts in a nal trial, seems, in the form
naliste, to be a French word. See Orr Les anglicismes du vocabulaire sportif, 303.
[32] Porcher, le sociologique dans le linguistique, 610.
[33] Spence, Quest-ce quun anglicisme?, 32334.
[34] Barthes, Mythologies.
[35] In French, footing has been created based on the English word foot, to dene a sports pace;
the lexical item footing does not exist in English. See Guilbert, Anglomanie et vocabulaire
technique, 281.
[36] Pratt, El anglicismo en el espanol peninsular contemporaneo. Madrid: Gredos, 1980.
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a
d
i
a
n

R
e
s
e
a
r
c
h

K
n
o
w
l
e
d
g
e

N
e
t
w
o
r
k
]

A
t
:

1
8
:
3
2

9

J
a
n
u
a
r
y

2
0
1
0

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