The influence of English on the contemporary language of Italian politics

Šamija, Blanka. (2018). The influence of English on the contemporary language of Italian politics. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Josipović Smojver, Višnja].

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Abstract

English as a global language has undoubtedly made an impact on European languages. In this paper, its influence on the contemporary language of Italian politics will be examined, starting from first cultural and linguistic contacts between English and Italian, and concentrating on the pivotal role of English in the Italian political jargon. Italian has borrowed many English words, predominantly from the semantic fields of technology, politics, economy, and science. However, numerous borrowings denote unique objects and concepts, brought into the language in the absence of equivalent terms. Nonetheless, contemporary Italian continues to import English loanwords, thus ignoring the already existing Italian equivalents. Overall, this paper will focus on such superfluous loanwords used by Italian politicians, who insist on using English items, even though they often use them in a way unrecognizable to native speakers of English. In order to provide such an analysis, this thesis will focus on Anglicisms published in journalistic texts related to politics, issued in La Repubblica (daily general-interest newspaper). Following an examination of the empirical data, this thesis contrasts the use of English by native and non-native speakers.

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