LWT :: Verbal Borrowings

Context

In the broader context of the loanword typology project at MPI EVA, and under the supervision of Martin Haspelmath, I worked on a typology of verbal borrowings.

Brief introduction

The question as to why most languages have more trouble borrowing verbs than nouns, and as to the possible mechanisms and paths by which verbs can be borrowed, were addressed by Edith Moravcsik in her 1975 paper "Borrowed verbs" (WLG 8, pp 3-30) on the basis of a small sample of languages. George Huttar gave a brief summary of the state of the art on LinguistList in March 2002; and in mid-2004 Soeren Wichmann collected further data on mechanisms of verbal borrowing through the LinguistList. As far as I know, however, no truly substantial typological research had been undertaken in this field thus far. 

I started working on this subject in March 2004. My dissertation topic (working title) was "Towards a typology of verbal borrowing", and the first step towards such a typology was the collection and classification of data and examples of loan verbs and their accommodation patterns from a large number of languages. From time to time, I reported on my progess at workshops and conferences. 

Please, if you have examples of verbal borrowings in whatever pair of languages, share them with me!
You can use this online form to send me your example(s).

My working definition of "borrowed verb" is: A loanverb is any occurrence of a loanword which can count as a verb (or is predomonantly verby) in the recipient (borrowing) language.
For the time being, I do not want to limit the input to a selected sample of languages, so any pair of languages is welcome.

Updates:

• Data collection has been closed in July 2007.
• The thesis has been submitted to Leipzig University in January 2008 and was graded magna cum laude.
• The publication version is published as "A Typology of Verbal Borrowings" in the "TiLSM" Series with Mouton de Gruyter in July 2009.
• The maps are available online.

Publications:

• 2009: A Typology of Verbal Borrowings. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2009. (= TiLSM 211).
• 2008: together with Søren Wichmann: Loan verbs in a typological perspective. In: Thomas Stolz, Rosa Salas Palomo & Dik Bakker (eds.): Aspects of Language Contact. New Theoretical, Methodological and Empirical Findings with Special Focus on Romancisation Processes. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2008. (= EALT 35).  pp. 89-121.
• 2006: Creating a Database on Verb Borrowing Patterns. In: Kennedy, Marianna / Schnurr, Stephanie / Terraschke, Agnes (eds.): Proceedings of the 2nd International Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics and Literary Studies, August 13th-14th 2005. Wellington: School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington.  pp 1-12.

Downloads:

• Publication announcement / book order form
• Vortrag in Bamberg (3.XII.2008) - Handout (PDF) / Slides (PPT)
• Database handout, October 2005
  
• Handout Wellington, 13 Aug 2005
• PowerPoint Slides Houston, 15 Sep 2005
• Loan Verbs in a Typological Perspective Conference proceeding together with Søren Wichmann
  
• Creating a Database on Verb Borrowing Patterns (Proceeding Wellington)

[LWT] [Jan Wohlgemuth]