Re: Lexicons and Langauge Borrowing
From: | Padraic Brown <pbrown@...> |
Date: | Tuesday, March 16, 1999, 19:51 |
On Tue, 16 Mar 1999, Nik Taylor wrote:
> Padraic Brown wrote:
> > I think a language that _doesn't_ borrow from its neighbours is rather
> > odd.
>
> There are quite a few - Icelandic is famous for hating borrowings, and a
> number of languages have NO borrowed VOCABULARY, altho the grammar is
> often highly influenced by its neighbors.
Of course, this is still borrowing, just not lexical. Although I don't
remember any of the actual words, our Old Norse professor talked a bit
about Modern Icelandic and the native terms for things like radio and tv.
Padraic.