English Loanwords in Icibemba. Their Semantic Adaption

Essay from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, , course: English Language, language: English, abstract: This study examines the various semantic changes that take place in English words borrowed into Icibemba. Icibemba is a language spoken by the majority of the Zambian population. English and Icibemba are two languages from two different language families. The main objective of this study was to examine the various semantic processes involved in the process of borrowing words from English into Icibemba. Data was collected from primary and secondary sources. The data was then analyzed for semantic changes.

The discussion concludes that certain words have meanings which correspond with that of the source language and that certain words extend their meaning range whereas others narrow it. Some words extend their meaning range figuratively. Some loanwords also change their emotive value when they are taken over into Icibemba language.