A Study on Direct Borrowing Process: Focusing on the Suffix -age

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study investigates the process of affix borrowing in the English language, focusing on the nominal suffix -age. Previous research, such as Seifart (2015), has identified two hypothetical scenarios for affix borrowing: direct borrowing, where affixes are extracted based on knowledge of the source language, and indirect borrowing, where complex loanwords are initially borrowed and later analyzed within the recipient language. This paper explores the borrowing process of the suffix -age to determine whether it occurred directly or indirectly. Through diachronic and corpus-based empirical analyses, using data from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA), the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), this study aims to determine whether -age was incorporated into English directly or indirectly. The analysis includes a periodical study from Middle English to Present-Day English, examining the type frequency of the suffix, the number of borrowed words containing the suffix, and their attachment to native words. The investigation revealed that, contrary to the general method of indirect borrowing for English suffixes, -age was used by attaching it to native base words immediately after borrowing. This indicates that -age is a case of direct borrowing, highlighting its immediate integration and usage within the English language.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Affix Borrowing
• 3. Borrowing Mechanism of the Suffix -age
• 4. Conclusion
• References