Phono-semantic matching
Phono-semantic matching is the incorporation of a word into one language from another, often creating a neologism, where the word's non-native quality is hidden by replacing it with phonetically and semantically similar words or roots from the adopting language. Thus the approximate sound and meaning of the original expression in the source language are preserved, though the new expression in the target language may sound native.
Phono-semantic matching is distinct from calquing, which includes translation but does not include phonetic matching.
Phono-semantic matching is also distinct from homophonic translation, which retains the sound of a word but not the meaning.
History
The term "phono-semantic matching" was introduced by linguist and revivalist Ghil'ad Zuckermann. It challenged Einar Haugen's classic typology of lexical borrowing. While Haugen categorized borrowing into either substitution or importation, camouflaged borrowing in the form of PSM is a case of "simultaneous substitution and importation." Zuckermann proposed a new classification of multisourced neologisms, words deriving from two or more sources at the same time. Examples of such mechanisms are phonetic matching, semanticized phonetic matching and phono-semantic matching.Zuckermann concludes that language planners, for example members of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, employ the very same techniques used in folk etymology by laymen, as well as by religious leaders. He urges lexicographers and etymologists to recognize the widespread phenomena of camouflaged borrowing and multisourced neologization and not to force one source on multi-parental lexical items.
Examples
Arabic
Zuckermann analyses the evolution of the word artichoke. Beginning in Arabic الخرشوف as أرضي شوكيDutch
A number of PSMs exist in Dutch as well. One notable example is hangmat, which is a modification of Spanish hamaca, also the source of the English word. Natively, the word is transparently analysed as a "hang-mat", which aptly describes the object. Similarly:- In ansjovis, the second part was modified to resemble vis, although the word originates in Spanish anchova;
- In scheurbuik, the word parts were modified to resemble scheur- and buik, although the word originates in Middle Low German schorbuck;
- In sprokkelmaand, the first part was modified to resemble sprokkelen, although the word originates in Latin spurcalia;
- In zijdenhemdje, the word parts were modified to resemble zijden and hemdje, although the word actually denotes the place Sydenham where the apple originates.
- Dutch dictionary Van Dale describes balkenbrij as a particularly notable example.
- Other examples are angstvallig, dukdalf, geeuwhonger, hagedis, hondsdraf, penthouse, rederijker, rendier and zondvloed.
English
The second part of the word muskrat was altered to match rat, replacing the original form , which derives from the Abenaki or Massachusett native word moskwas.
The use of runagates in Psalm 68 of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer derives from phono-semantic matching between Latin renegatus and English .
Finnish
The Finnish compound word for "jealous," mustasukkainen, literally means "black-socked". However, the word is a case of a misunderstood loan translation from Swedish svartsjuk "black-sick". The Finnish word sukka fit with a close phonological equivalent to the Swedish sjuk. Similar cases are työmyyrä "hardworking person", literally "work mole", from arbetsmyra "work ant", matching myra "ant" to myyrä "mole"; and liikavarvas "clavus", literally "extra toe", from liktå < liktorn "dead thorn", matching liika "extra" to lik "dead " and varvas "toe" to tå < torn "thorn".German
"applies the concepts of multisourced neologisation and, more generally, camouflaged borrowing, as established by to Modern German, pursuing a twofold aim, namely to underline the significance of multisourced neologisation for language contact theory and secondly to demonstrate that together with other forms of camouflaged borrowing it remains an important borrowing mechanism in contemporary German."Icelandic
demonstrate how Icelandic camouflages many English words by means of phono-semantic matching. For example, the Icelandic-looking word eyðni, meaning "AIDS", is a PSM of the English acronym AIDS, using the pre-existent Icelandic verb eyða, meaning "to destroy", and the Icelandic nominal suffix -ni. Similarly, the Icelandic word tækni, meaning "technology, technique", derives from tæki, meaning "tool", combined with the nominal suffix -ni, but is, in fact, a PSM of the Danish teknik, meaning "technology, technique". Tækni was coined in 1912 by Dr Björn Bjarnarson from Viðfjörður in the East of Iceland. It had been in little use until the 1940s, but has since become common, as a lexeme and as an element in new formations, such as raftækni, lit. "electrical technics", i.e. "electronics", tæknilegur "technical" and tæknir "technician". Other PSMs discussed in the article are beygla, bifra ''bifrari, brokkál, dapur dapurleiki - depurð, fjárfesta - fjárfesting, heila, guðspjall, ímynd, júgurð, korréttur, Létt og laggott, musl, pallborð pallborðsumræður, páfagaukur, ratsjá, setur, staða, staðall staðla stöðlun, toga togari, uppi and veira''.Japanese
In modern Japanese, loanwords are generally represented phonetically via katakana. However, in earlier times loanwords were often represented by kanji, a process called when used for phonetic matching, or when used for semantic matching. Some of these continue to be used; the characters chosen may correspond to the sound, the meaning, or both.In most cases the characters used were chosen only for their matching sound or only for their matching meaning. For example, in the word 寿司, the two characters are respectively read as and, but the character 寿 means "one's natural life span" and 司 means "to administer", neither of which has anything to do with the food this is. Conversely, in the word 煙草 for "tobacco", the individual kanji respectively mean "smoke" and "herb", which corresponds to the meaning, while none of their possible readings have a phonetic relationship to the word this is.
In some cases, however, the kanji were chosen for both their semantic and phonetic values, a form of phono-semantic matching. A stock example is 倶楽部 for "club", where the characters can be interpreted loosely in sequence as "together-fun-place". Another example is 合羽 for the Portuguese capa, a kind of raincoat. The characters can mean "wings coming together", as the pointed capa resembles a bird with wings folded together.
Mandarin Chinese
PSM is frequently used in Mandarin borrowings. An example is the Taiwanese Mandarin word 威而剛, which literally means "powerful and hard" and refers to Viagra, the drug for treating erectile dysfunction in men, manufactured by Pfizer.Another example is the Mandarin form of World Wide Web, which is , which satisfies "www" and literally means "myriad dimensional net". The English word hacker has been borrowed into Mandarin as .
Modern Standard Chinese 声纳/聲納 "sonar" uses the characters 声/聲 "sound" and 纳/納 "receive, accept". The pronunciations and are phonetically somewhat similar to the two syllables of the English word. Chinese has a large number of homo/heterotonal homophonous morphemes, which would have been a better phonetic fit than, but not nearly as good semantically consider the syllable song, sou or shou.
According to Zuckermann, PSM in Mandarin is common in:
- brand names, e.g., 可口可乐/可口可樂, "Coca-Cola" translates to "tasty entertaining", 可乐/可樂 itself genericised to refer to any cola.
- computer jargon, e.g., the aforementioned word for "World Wide Web".
- technological terms, e.g., the aforementioned word for "sonar".
- toponyms, e.g., the name 白俄罗斯/白俄羅斯, "Belarus" combines the word 白, "White" with the name 俄罗斯/俄羅斯, "Russia", therefore meaning "White Russia" just like the endonym "Белару́сь".
A related practice is the translation of Western names into Chinese characters.