On the Integration of Anglicisms Into Present-Day Georgian

Abstract

The paper aims to consider the flow of English loan words into present-day Georgian for the last twenty-five years after the country gained its independence as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Georgia (Sakartvelo − in the Georgian language) is a small picturesque country with ancient culture located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The change of the country’s political orientation, as well as the democratisation of the society and its aspiration towards NATO and EU integration, have replaced the use of the Russian language by English due to the growth of American influence as well as the prestigious role of English as a lingua franca in almost every aspect of life at a global level. Therefore, in the present paper the term anglicism is used in its wide sense referring to English loans originating both from England and the USA.

The research has shown that, like many European languages, present-day Georgian distinguishes three main groups of anglicisms that are differentiated from each other on the basis of the linguistic strategies of their borrowing: lexical, transliterated and semantic borrowings. The increasing flow of English words into Georgian confirms that the country and its people respond to the changing needs of communication, following changes in the world and ways of living in general.