Non-assimilated French Borrowings in English

In A.J. Bliss's Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases lo Current English (L., 1977) there are about 2239 gallicisms (unassimilated French borrowings). They function in the Eng­lish language under the influence of 2 contradictory tenden­cies: the systematic character of the vocabulary which causes phonetic, graphical and grammatic changes and the tendency to preserve their original character. Their French pronuncia­tion is either preserved or is rendered by means of the Eng­lish phonological system.

Gallicisms may retain their final and initial [Z] (bocage, cortege, jabot) as well as final [j] (basse-taille). A combination of “bw” (boite), “pw” (embonpoint), combina­tions with the first sonorant -"lw", "mw", "nw" (armoire, ennui, peignoir) are not altogether typical of the English language. As for the accentual assimilation, the greater part of galli­cisms retain the initial stress (adieu, ballade, conge, coi­ffure). At the same time the functioning of gallicisms in the system of the English language is accompanied by regular changes of their phonetical shape which adjust them to the English norms of pronunciation. Thus French sounds which are rendered in writing through "e" are presented in English through the diphthong [eI] - cortege, crepe, decolletes; closed or rendered in writing through “-eau” or “o” turns into the diphthong [oV] - rôle, bureau, table d ' h ^ ote and so on. The majority of gallicisms have different variants of pronun­ciation testifying to the tendency of retaining the initial form and at the same time adjusting it to the phonetic laws of English.

Graphical peculiarities of gallicisms are characterized mainly by diacritical marks which do not exist in English. We easily distinguish unassimilated French borrowings as they have no English homographs. They may be singled out graphi­cally also through italics.

As far as their grammatical assimilation is concerned gallicisms are partially assimilated. On the one hand, they lose the French category of gender, acquire new forms of singular and plural (thus, “ hors d’oeuvre ” is used in the plural and a “ char-à-bano ” in the singular) and form the Posses­sive Case in accordance with the norms of the English lan­guage. At the same time some peculiarities of the original language may be retained (some articles and indicators of feminine gender in French - “distrait – distraite”, “premier danseur” – “première danseuse”, the plural ending "x" and other morphological formants like in " bons vivants " where both elements have the ending "s" which is not pronounced in English as in French).

The semantic structure of Gallicisms is considerably modified under the influence of the English language system. Discrimination of meaning of a borrowed word and its native synonym takes place. Thus gallicism “chauffeur”, f. “ chauffeuse ” (which mean "driver" in French) functions in English in the meaning of "servant driver". "Beside it, holding the rear door, stood a chauffeuse dressed in a uni­form of lime green” (A. Maclean). “Au revoir” presupposes not as long parting as in case of English "good-bye". "I don't think I'll come to the pier", he said. I'll say good-bye now. No - not good-bye. Au revoir. We'll come to England next summer". (M. MacDonald). The sentimental attachment denoted by affair de coeur and jeune amour is stronger than English love affair and calf love.

Emotive connotations of unassimilated prestige (repu­tation, influence, status) and deuceur (tip, bribe) are somewhat milder.

As for their sphere of usage unassimilated French borrowings are subdivided into II groups where social and political relations, arts, the articles of clothing and cu­linary terms are presented most fully. It is worthy to note that Gallicisms do not form any new thematic groups, thus “art autre”, "art brut" “art engagé", "art moderne", "art nouveau" are referred to the fully assimilated art.

Now that gallicisms in English are mostly of terminological character and their etymology is not transparent we may use them euphemistically. The fact that their refe­rence to French realia is undoubtful contributes to the retainment of their French form.

Gallicisms are widely used in modern English: in the language of press and fiction, everyday speech, in advertis­ing. French is studied at schools end universities and this fact accounts for their recogizability by average English speakers.

Today the debt to France for borrowed words is as great as ever, and English influence on French is even greater. Cultural and linguistic interchange has operated continuous­ly for the greater part of millenium. Since 1002 the French influence has continued without intermission throughout the centuries, though operating with greatly varying degrees of intensity. It was exceptionally potent immediately after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and it remained strong throughout the Age of the Crusades (1095-1270) when French was the first language of Christendom. It is now most evident in technical terms relating to dress and fashion, cuisine and viniculture, politics and diplomacy, drama and literature, art and ballet. Not everybody is fully aware of the precise nuances conveyed by all the French expressions. For example the word aplomb (from the builder's term a plomb) signifies according to the plummet or plumb-line). aplomb is a human quality meaning "self-possession". A coup is extensively used in modern Eng­lish in coup d’état or "violent change of government", although other sorts of coup may enliven our conversation: coup de arâce - "finishing stroke", coup d’oeil - "rapid glance", coup de theater - "dramatic turn of events".

In spite of efforts to revive “questionary” as an acceptable Anglicization of “questionnaire” the latter persists stubbornly in use to indicate “a series of formal questions usually printed with spaces left for the answers, devised to obtain statistics opinions and information generally on some specific subject”. The older word interrogatory is now quite obsolete in this sense.

French stress is persistently preserved in the pronunciation of scores of words like ama’teur, ba’nal, connoi’sseur, cri’tique, fa’cade, pres’tige, tech’nique.

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