A
hyperforeignism is a type of qualitative
hypercorrection that involves speakers misidentifying the distribution of a pattern found in
loanwords
and extending it to other environments, including words and phrases not
borrowed from the language that the pattern derives from. The result of this process does not reflect the rules of either language. For example,
habanero is sometimes pronounced as though it were spelled with an
⟨ñ⟩ (
habañero), which is not the
Spanish form from which the English word was borrowed.
Hyperforeignization reflects speakers' attitudes about linguistic and
cultural stereotypes, particularly those provided by popular media.
Hyperforeignisms can manifest in a number of ways, including the
application of the spelling or pronunciation rules of one language to a
word borrowed from another, an incorrect application of a language's
pronunciation, and pronouncing
anglicized
words as though they were borrowed more recently. Hyperforeignisms may
similarly occur when a word is thought to be a loanword from a
particular language when it is not.
Although similar, words that exhibit deliberate language-play (such as pronouncing
Report with a silent
⟨t
⟩ in
The Colbert Report or ironically pronouncing
Target as
tar-ZHAY,
as though it were an upscale boutique)
are not, strictly speaking, hyperforeignisms. These are, instead, a way
of poking fun at those who earnestly adopt foreign-sounding
pronunciations of pseudo-loanwords.
Similarly, speakers who echo hyperforeign pronunciations without the
intention of approximating a foreign-language pattern are also not
practicing hyperforeignization; thus, pronouncing
habanero as if it were spelled
habañero is not a hyperforeignism if one is not aware that the word has been borrowed from Spanish.
A number of
words of French origin feature a final
⟨e
⟩ that is pronounced in English but silent in the original language. For example,
forte (used to mean "strength" in English as in "not my
forte") is often pronounced
or
, by confusion with the Italian musical term of the same spelling (but meaning "loud"), which is pronounced
[]. In French, the term is pronounced
[fɔʁt], with silent final
⟨e
⟩. Similarly, the noun
cache is sometimes pronounced
, as though it were spelled either
⟨cachet
⟩(meaning "signature") or
⟨caché
⟩(meaning "hidden"). In French, the final
⟨e
⟩ is silent and the word is pronounced
[kaʃ]. The word
cadre is sometimes pronounced
in English, as though it were of Spanish origin. In French, the final
⟨e
⟩ is silent
[kadʁ] and a common English pronunciation is
.
The
⟨j
⟩ in the name of the
Taj Mahal or
raj is often rendered
/ʒ/, but a closer approximation to the
Hindi sound is
/dʒ/. The
⟨j
⟩ in most words associated with languages of
India is more accurately approximated as
/dʒ/.
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