Attitudes toward the influx of anglicisms in the Georgian language

Abstract

The article explores the use of English lexemes in Georgian informational-analytical electronic journals and discusses different approaches to the influx of Anglicisms. The paper highlights the fact that attention-drawing strands through intensive use of English vocabulary in journalists’ speech leads to an encounter with a number of English terms that do not fit the current standard of normative speech in Georgian. Nevertheless, the paper asserts that the influx of English lexemes in the Georgian language is predominantly caused by speakers’ desire for economy of form. Instead of providing a partial semantic or explanatory equivalent in their native language, speakers attempt to cover a complex or abstract notion by a straightforward, laconic English lexeme. The study maintains the idea that such non-native units appear to be more cognitively secure and semantically valid. They operate from the solid foundation of the source language and contribute mainly to the formation of syntagmatic units with strong predictability of a new flow of loanword integration into Georgian.