Peculiarities of the Borrowed Electric Vehicle Terms Adaptation in Modern French Language

Sakharov Yurii Aleksandrovich PhD in Philology Associate professor of the chair «Russian and foreign languages», Russian University of Transport 127994, GSP-4, Russia, Moscow, Obraztsova str., 9, building 9 amursky@riseup.net Other publications by this author

The development of scientific and technical ties between countries leads to the expansion of the composition of terminological systems by attracting new special vocabulary and terms for the nomination of new phenomena and objects that do not have a suitable designation in the recipient language. This process of attracting new terminology and special vocabulary is called borrowing. Modern French actively borrows foreign lexical units, adapting and assimilating them before introducing them into circulation.

The study of the peculiarities of adaptation and assimilation of vocabulary in French attracts the attention of researchers for a number of reasons. A change in the original form of a word can be evidence of language contacts between countries and cultures, an indicator of transformational processes in intercultural interaction, the result of the influence of linguistic and extralinguistic factors on the lexical unit.

The relevance of the research topic is due to the growing number of borrowed vocabulary in the French language. The study of assimilation of the special vocabulary of electric vehicle construction borrowed from different languages is important for understanding the development of new term systems (including electric vehicle construction) in the French language due to lexical borrowing.

The scientific novelty of the work consists in the fact that for the first time the features of assimilation of borrowed special units of the term system of electric vehicle construction are considered and the main types of assimilation of its terms are established.

The research is based on the publications of researchers of borrowed vocabulary and terminology (Golovin, 1987; Grinev-Grinevich, 2008; Zherebilo, 2010; Krysin, 2014; Leychik, 2014; Retsker, 2006; Haugen, 1972; Loubier, 2011, etc.).

The theoretical significance of the study consists in expanding the understanding of the process of borrowing foreign terminology and units of special vocabulary in modern French into emerging terminological systems. The practical significance lies in the possibility of using the results of the study in the development of training courses on the lexicology of the French language, further studies of terms and term systems in general.

The first electric cars appeared in Europe at the beginning of the XX century. in the form of individual copies that did not enter mass production. The difficulties of an industrial nature and the low efficiency of their electric motors did not allow electric vehicles to compete with classic vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines. Interest in electric vehicles and their advantages returned in the middle of the XX century. against the background of the fuel crisis and the search for alternative energy sources using the achievements of science and technology. In the 21st century, the production and mass operation of electric vehicles is fueled by the environmental agenda (for example, the agreements reached within the framework of the Paris Climate Conference in 2015): electric vehicles are considered as a means of reducing carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, and as a tool for ensuring sustainable development in France. Today, some automakers (for example, Volvo) are planning to make the transition from the production of gasoline cars to cars with a hybrid or electric engine. In addition, according to recent changes in legislation, starting from 2035, it will be impossible to purchase a car equipped with a gasoline, diesel or hybrid engine in the EU countries; preference is given exclusively to electric vehicles.

At the moment, the leading French companies mass-producing electric cars can be called Renault, Peugeot, Citroen. The texts of technical documentation in French on the operation and use of electric vehicles, released in 2010-2015, served as the material for the study. The total sample size was 536 lexical units of the French language (simple and complex terms and phrases of the electric vehicle industry). Among them, 322 units borrowed into the French language were identified.

Unlike other types of lexical units, the terms denote precisely defined concepts, objects, phenomena and are unambiguous words (and phrases) devoid of synonyms, often of foreign language origin. Ya.I. Retsker sees the main function of the term as "accurately, briefly and unambiguously define the concept in this branch of science, technology, art" ^{[10, p. 52]}. The term is associated with a scientific and technical concept or phenomenon of a specific field of knowledge. It is distributed together with the corresponding subject, whose name it is. The term is systematic and is in close connection with other terms in the same terminology (spontaneously formed set of terms) or term system (artificially formed systematized set of terms) ^{[9, p. 37; 3, p. 85]}.

V.M. Leychik and R.Y. Kobrin believe that the term system is created artificially and is the result of the ordering of terminology into a system of terms reflected in industry dictionaries, glossaries, and other publications ^{[9, p. 40; 3, p. 85]}. In France, the implementation and ordering of terms is carried out by a number of government agencies and scientific institutions, commissions and working groups, as well as industry experts, specialists, translators and researchers. Since 1960, the French Government has adopted a number of regulatory legal acts (Decree No. 72-19 of January 7, 1972, the Law of Ba-Loriol of 1975, Decree No. 96-602 of July 3, 1996, etc.) regulating the selection, creation and introduction of terms. In a simplified form, this process includes the formation of lists of new terms; consideration of each of the proposed terms, taking into account its necessity, compliance with the language norm, etc.; rejection or approval with subsequent publication in the "Official Gazette" (Journal Officiel) and its fixing for use in technical documentation and other documents ^{[2, c. 74; 7, p. 97]}. For example, un syst ? me d'optimisation d'adh ? rence for the English grip control / traction control system (JORF n°0135 du 3 juin 2020); une gestion thermique du moteur for the English thermomanagement / thermal control of the engine (JORF n°0073 du 28 mars 2018); un abaissement du r ? gime moteur for English downspeeding / downspeeding (JORF n°0172 du 28 juillet 2015).

There are also thematic glossaries on the websites of government agencies of francophone countries. The Quebec French Language Authority (Canada), leading the "Grand dictionnaire terminologique", has posted a number of glossaries on its website, one of which – the Vocabulary de l'?lectrification des transports – is dedicated to the electrification of transport ^{[17, p. 64]}. It contains definitions of the main terms of electric transport and their English equivalent. For example, the dictionary suggests using the term un bloc-batterie for the English battery pack / accumulator battery to name several batteries combined into one battery pack, instead of the Anglicized term of electric vehicles un pack de batteries.

Terms appear in the lexical composition of the language in different ways: by using common words of the language as a term, or by borrowing the vocabulary of other languages ^{[21, p. 72]}. The current language policy of France prescribes replacing borrowed terms with words with a similar meaning from the French language, or formed using its morphemes ^{[12, p. 54]}. Term systems are created from the units available in the language, or by borrowing terms from other languages. However, borrowing vocabulary remains an important way of introducing new terms into the French language.

The main reasons for borrowing terminological units of electric vehicle construction in French can be called the absence in French of a unit with a meaning that exactly corresponds to the meaning of the unit borrowed into French (un spot / light bulb, spot interior lighting); the novelty of the subject, concept or phenomenon for native speakers of the recipient language with the existence and use of this term in the source language (un streaming / streaming, un radar de recul / parking assistance system).

A researcher in the field of terminology K. Loubier (Christiane Loubier) ^{[18, p. 20]} identifies three categories of borrowings: lexical borrowings (l'emprunt lexical), syntactic borrowings (l'emprunt syntaxique) and phonetic borrowings (l'emprunt phon?tique). Lexical borrowings are divided into full borrowing (l'emprunt int?gral), which implies borrowing the form or meaning of a word in the absence or minimal adaptation by the recipient language: un kit / kit, un parking / parking, un airbag / airbag; hybrid borrowing (l'emprunt hybrid) in which the meaning of a lexical unit is borrowed together with partial borrowing its forms are: un moteur / engine, un r ? servoir / tank; false borrowing (le faux emprunt), implying the creation of new units from morphemes of the English language, despite the fact that there are no such units in the English language ^{[16, p. 15]}: un klaxon, although the English horn translates as fr. un avertisseur sonore / sound signal; un warning, although the English hazard warning lights translates as fr. les feux de d?tresse / emergency lights. The same category includes tracing papers (le calque): morphological (le calque morphologique; introduction of a new meaning by translating its form: French mains-libres – English hands-free / microphone with loudspeaker), semantic (le calque s?mantique; transfer of a new meaning to a unit already existing in the language: le t?moin in meaning un indicateur / indicator, pointer), phraseological (le calque phras?ologique; introduction of the meaning of a stable expression through translation available in the source language: fr. contre la montre – English against the watch / counterclockwise). Syntactic borrowings (l'emprunt syntaxique) affect the structure of the sentence: the calculation of the use of prepositions in the source language or the order of words: fr. un t ?moin v?hicule pr?t ? rouler – Eng. v ehicle ready for driving warning light / light indicator of the readiness of an electric vehicle to start driving. Phonetic borrowings (l'emprunt phon?tique) are associated with borrowing the pronunciation of a lexical unit (including the original unit) from the source language: un kit / kit, the set will be pronounced as [kit].

The classification of K. Lubier partly repeats the classification of the terminologist S.V. Grinev-Grinevich ^{[4, p. 154]}, applicable to borrowed special units. He considers three types of borrowings: material, mixed and costing. With material borrowing from the recipient language, the material form of the word is transferred (graphic or sound: fr. un k it mains-libres - English h ands-free kit / headset). It can be lexical (borrowing form and meaning: fr. un r h?ostat d'?clairage / rheostat-light regulator), formal (borrowing form without meaning: fr. un pistolet de recharge – it. Pistole / charging plug) and morphological (borrowing of individual elements of a lexical unit – prefixes, suffixes, roots, etc.: formed from Ital. parare / avoid, resist morpheme pare- in the words un pare-brise / windshield, un p are-soleil / sun visor). Calcification is "the formation of new words or the introduction of new ways of syntactic construction into the language by borrowing lexico-semantic and lexico-syntactic models of another language or languages and filling them with morphemes of this language" ^{[4, p. 182; 5, p. 24]}. There are word-formative (imitation of the form: fr. un contre le de sous–virage – Eng. u nder steer control / steering system, fr.une ?conduite - Eng. eco–driving / environmentally sound driving), phraseological (word-by-word translation of the unit: fr. un a ppel d'assistance - Eng. assistance call / roadside assistance call) and semantic tracing (the appearance of a new meaning for the word: un hayon / trunk door, although one of the meanings in the dictionary of Le Tr?sor de la Langue Fran?aise informatis? (hereinafter – "TLFi") related to transport is panneau amovible ? l'avant ou ? l'arri?re d'une charrette / movable wall in the front or back of the cart). Mixed borrowing is the borrowing of one part of the lexeme in the presence of the second part in the language: fr. un ioniseur – Eng. ionizer / ionizer.

Based on the above classifications of borrowed words, and on the classification according to the principle of the origin of borrowings by T.V. Zherebilo ^{[6, p. 203]}, three groups of borrowed special units of electric vehicles can be distinguished:

1. Foreign words brought into compliance with the laws of the host language. Hybrid, syntactic, phonetic borrowings and tracing paper can be attributed to this group. Assimilation of these units by the French language was carried out in accordance with the orthographic, phonetic, morphological features of the language.

2. Artificially created words representing a combination of morphemes of both languages. This group includes false borrowings. Their assimilation in French was partial.

3. Foreign words that have retained their original form. These include barbarisms, internationalisms, complete and material borrowings. These lexical units are not assimilated by the French language.

According to the points of the above classification, the French terms of electric vehicle construction considered in the study can be classified according to the degree of assimilation:

1. Fully assimilated terms (285 units): un bac de porte / door cell, un limiteur / limiter, un r ?glage / adjustment;

2. Partially assimilated terms (17 units): une prise USB / USB connector, le spot / light bulb, spot interior lighting, un kit / kit, un streaming / streaming).

3. Non-assimilated terms (20 units): un bluetooth/ bluetooth, un airbag/ airbag, un warning / sound and visual signals).

Speaking about the development of borrowed vocabulary, L.P. Krysin identifies five stages of the development of borrowed vocabulary, leading to complete assimilation of the lexical unit ^{[8, p. 148]}. At the very beginning, the unit is used in the original grammatical and spelling form (parking). Then the unit adapts to the language system, and the unit is used in speech with clarifications or comments un parking (de stationnement)). Next, the unit is used in speech without explanation (un parking). After that, the unit loses stylistic, social or other features that distinguish the borrowed and native vocabulary. Finally, the lexical unit is fixed in the dictionary and is offered for use, since it corresponds to the lexico-semantic system of the language: un parking, un parc, une parking).

Fully assimilated borrowings include lexical units that correspond to the morphological, graphic and spelling rules of the French language. Lexical borrowings attracted to the French language over time and under the influence of the language system change phonetically, grammatically and semantically so that native speakers recognize them as native. These units are motivated and have an obvious morphological structure for native speakers. Often these units are of Latin or Greek origin, and were also borrowed several centuries ago, which together has a positive effect on their assimilation in French. Examples of fully assimilated borrowed units are: un bloc outil / set of tools, un convertisseur / converter, une ? clairage int ? rieur / interior lighting. These units participate in word formation according to existing language models ^{[11, p. 225]}: une ? clairage / lighting – un ? claireur / illumination lamp, un convertisseur / converter – convertir / transform.The assimilation of electric vehicle terms in the French language takes place at several levels of the language: at the phonological, morphological, semantic levels, and at the level of derivative formation ^{[19, p. 149]}.

However, not always borrowed special units can be completely brought to the established language norm. Partially assimilated borrowings are divided into the following groups, according to the part of the word that has remained unchanged:

• Borrowings that have not been partially assimilated phonetically: un kit, Bluetooth.• Borrowings that have not been partially assimilated graphically: un a irbag.

• Borrowings that have not been partially assimilated grammatically: un streaming, un radar.

• Borrowings that have not been partially assimilated semantically: un spot (French – "spot" in the meaning of an optical or light device; English – "blot, speck" in the general meaning).

Phonetic assimilation consists in adapting the borrowed unit to the phonetic system of the language ^{[11, p. 225; 20, p. 94]}. Typical ways of bringing a new unit to the phonetic norm can be called the transmission of sounds of the original form of the word by means of the French language while preserving the spelling of the borrowed word, the transfer of stress to the final syllable and the reduction of the final vowel. In the case of Anglicisms, whose original form may contain Africans and diphthongs, they are replaced by phonemes of the phonetic system of the receptor language: the replacement of English pronunciation [.b] French version of [.ba?] for the word un airbag; replacement of the diphthong [ai] with the sound [i] for the word un ioniseur; diphthong [?u] with the sound [o] for the word un micro. The sound of individual sounds also changes: the sound [?] turns into [a] for the word un klaxon. Long vowel sounds of English lose their longitude in French: un parking is read as [pa?.ki?] instead of the British pronunciation [?p.k]. Double sounds in English pronunciation are reduced to one. Abbreviations are pronounced according to the rules of the recipient language: ABS [a-be-es], RDS [?-de-es]. Sounds missing in French are not restored: for example, the sound [h] does not appear under the influence of Anglicism: un rh ? ostat [?e?sta]. As a result, a borrowed term can be transformed phonetically so that it will be difficult for a native speaker to distinguish it by ear, but it will sound natural to a French-speaking audience.

In addition to phonetic assimilation, the borrowed unit undergoes graphic assimilation. For a long time, the opinion of linguists about its necessity and its degree differed. At the present stage of language development, the original form of the borrowed word is preserved and, in most cases, does not undergo changes. In 1950, E. Haugen established criteria according to which borrowings change graphically: a word model in the source language and an imitation of the model in the recipient language ^{[14, p. 57]}. He identifies 2 ways of borrowing: borrowing with elements of the source language (the form of the word does not change) and borrowing adapted to the system of the recipient language (the form of the word is replaced according to the rules of the language). The second method of borrowing contributes to the assimilation of the word at the morphological level. For example, the French grapheme replaces the grapheme of English (English electric – French lectrique / electric, English control – French un contre le / control) or German (German Kriec – French un cric / jack) the morpheme of the French language –eur replaces –er in English (English ionizer – fr. un ioniseur/ ionizer) and in Latin (Latin carcator – Eng. charger – Fr. le chargeur / charger); but it can also replace a morpheme similar in spelling from English (Eng. programming – French une programming / programming); word derivatives in English can be replaced by the French equivalent, but, as a rule, the new word will be written with a hyphen (English cowrite – French co-?crire / write together with someone).

The introduction of a borrowed word at the morphological level is associated with morphemic and grammatical assimilation ^{[15, p. 88]}. Morphemic assimilation implies that morphemes (suffixes and affixes) in borrowed words must be adapted in accordance with the norms of the French language. This type of assimilation takes into account the morphological features of the borrowed unit and its word-formation capabilities. For example, if a word is not assimilated at this level, then it may represent a separate root morpheme (for example, un radar, un hayon). In another case, suffixes and prefixes can be added to the root morpheme to form single-root words with different meanings, or related to different parts of speech. For example, nouns denoting a process or action are formed by adding the suffix –tion to the verb base (r ? cup ? rer / restore – une r ? cup ? ration / recuperation); nouns denoting a doer are formed by adding the suffix –eur to the verb base or to a noun (calculer / count – un calculateur / control unit); adding verb endings to the base forms verbs of certain groups (un appel / call – appeler / call, un balai / brush – balayer / clean, delete, un contr – le / control - contr - ler / manage).

Grammatical assimilation indicates that a borrowed noun changes or does not change its gender, and also receives a plural form in accordance with the grammar of the language. In some cases, and in particular for Romance languages, the gender category remains unchanged when borrowing: Ital. console (f.) – French console (f.), ital. friso (m.) – fr. frise (m.), Spanish cigarro (m.) – fr. cigare (m.). Borrowings from languages in which there is no gender category of nouns (for example, English) acquire a gender indicator in French. Anglicisms ending in –ing or a consonant turn out to be masculine: un airbag / airbag, un contrail / control, un CD / CD, un klaxon / sound signal, un radar de recul / parking sensors, un spot / light bulb, spot interior lighting. The feminine gender is obtained by Anglicisms under the influence of their corresponding hyperonyms in French. The plural is formed by adding the ending –s: un kit – des kits; une carrosserie – des carrosseries; un capot – des capots.

Semantic assimilation is an adaptation of the semantic structure of a borrowed lexical unit to the system of the recipient language ^{[13, p. 284]}. Semantic assimilation, as a rule, occurs last of all when a lexical unit has already undergone assimilation at other levels in whole or in part. New words in the recipient language usually retain their original meaning. A foreign-language word can be borrowed in one or more of its meanings, or acquire new meanings in the recipient language.

In the course of the study, units of special vocabulary of electric vehicle construction with the following types of semantic assimilation were established: narrowing of meaning, expansion of meaning, development of new lexico-semantic variants.

In most cases, the recipient language borrows and assimilates only some meanings of words. For example, the word le streaming in the Merriam-Webster electronic dictionary corresponds to the following definition: "1.1. a collection of articles usually for personal use; 1.2. a set of tools or implements; 1.3. a set of parts to be assembled or worked up; 1.4. a packaged collection of related material". However, according to the Larousse electronic dictionary, only the meaning 1.2 is borrowed in French: "Ensemble des pi?ces d?tach?es constitutives d'un objet, vendues avec un plan de montage, et que l'on assemble soi-m?me".

Another way of semantic assimilation is to obtain a borrowed word of a new or related meaning after entering the French language. An example is the French word la carrosserie, borrowed from the Italian language (car(r)ozza), which means "carriage; carriage; carriage; carriage". Later, the word received a new meaning: "manufacture of bodies; sale of bodies; body (car); body of equipment." Such a selection of the meaning of a borrowed word often leads to the loss of polysemy, being isolated from the source language, becoming a way for the speaker to nominate one single concept in a narrower sense.

An example of the development of new lexico-semantic variants is the expression fr. un pistole de recharge / charging plug, which was from him. Pistole. According to the lexicographic section of the TLFi dictionary, the word un pistolet in French in 1835 had the meaning "a rme ? feu portative, ? canon court, qui se tient d'une seule main", which by 1923 was developed to "i nstrument ou jouet de forme similaire". In the described case, the meaning of the word was correlated with the shape of the charging plug, which resembles a pistol.

The third group of borrowed special vocabulary according to the degree of assimilation includes unassimilated borrowings or "barbarisms". These are foreign words from other languages that have kept their graph-phonetic appearance unchanged. They are used in oral and written speech, often accompanied by an explanation or comment: un warning (un avertissement) / sound and visual signals, un klaxon (un avertissement sonore) / sound signal, un t ? moin "Ready" (un t ? moin "Pr ? t") / electric vehicle readiness indicator light to the beginning of the movement. In the future, these words, being used as a unit of special vocabulary or along with terms, can be assimilated by the language partially or completely, or be replaced by the appropriate term selected and fixed in French.

The study made it possible to establish the features of assimilation of foreign-language special units of electric vehicle construction in French. The process of assimilation of electric vehicle terms is influenced by linguistic (the need to name innovations in accordance with the language norm, lexicographic activity) and extralinguistic (technological progress, French language policy) factors. These factors also influence the functional features of the term and its characteristics. Comparison of the existing classifications of borrowings with the classification based on the principle of their origin made it possible to identify groups of borrowed units that have a certain degree of assimilation (full, partial or without assimilation). Despite the predominance of fully assimilated borrowings, given in accordance with the linguistic norm at the phonological, morphological, semantic levels and at the level of derivative formation, terms with partial assimilation were identified among the terms of electric vehicle construction. According to the language norm, these terms have undergone the following transformations at the allocated levels: phonetic (change in sound form, compliance with the pronunciation norm), graphic (use of graphemes of the recipient language), grammatical (change in the morphological form of the word, use of the methods of word formation accepted in the language), semantic (narrowing or expansion of the meaning of the term). The presence of non-assimilated borrowings may indicate the initial stage of the assimilation process, or the temporary use of a unit before its replacement with an approved term.

The continuation of the research work consists in a more detailed study of the features of graphic, phonetic, semantic and other types of assimilation of terms borrowed into the French language from emerging term systems.

You can simply select and copy link from below text field.