Prestige as explanatory factor for borrowability: a Cognitive Contact Linguistic approach. KU Leuven
Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics (QLVL), Leuven, Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics (QLVL), Brussels Campus
Why do the Dutch refer to their best friend as their 'soulmate' instead of their 'zielsvriend'? Why do the French use 'pipole' to talk about 'celebrities'? More generally, why do people borrow words from other languages? The two most popular answers linguists have provided are lexical gaps and prestige. It is not hard to understand the importance of lexical gaps: new objects or concepts need new names, and borrowing words is a convenient way ...