The Influence of Loanwords on the Sentence Structure of Modern German: Grammatical Changes, Syntactic Integration, and Morphological Adaptations
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69760/egjlle.2500190Keywords:
Loanwords, morphological adaptation, syntactic integration, language change, Anglicisms in GermanAbstract
The integration of loanwords, particularly from English, is a defining characteristic of modern German. While borrowings primarily enrich the vocabulary, their morphological and syntactic adaptation to the German language system raises fundamental linguistic questions. This study examines the grammatical changes, syntactic integration, and morphological adaptations of loanwords in German.
Based on recent linguistic research, it is demonstrated that loanwords systematically adapt to the German morphological system: nouns acquire grammatical gender, plural forms either follow German patterns or retain foreign structures, and verbs integrate into the German conjugation system through regular endings. Adjectives and adverbs are used flexibly, with predicate and attributive forms sometimes developing differently. Syntactic analysis reveals that loanwords do not fundamentally alter sentence structure but seamlessly integrate into existing constructions.
The findings confirm that despite a high number of loanwords, German grammar remains stable. Grammatical innovations through borrowings occur primarily at the lexical level, while the overarching syntactic principles of German persist. This study contributes to the ongoing discussion on language change and language contact by providing a comprehensive analysis of the adaptation mechanisms of loanwords in German.
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