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Revisiting Phonetic Integration in Bilingual Borrowing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2026

Shana Poplack ,
Suzanne Robillard ,
Nathalie Dion  and
John C. Paolillo
Shana Poplack*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Suzanne Robillard*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Nathalie Dion*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
John C. Paolillo*
Affiliation:
Indiana University Bloomington
*
Department of Linguistics, University of Ottawa, 401-70 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada, [spoplack@uottawa.ca]
[suzanne.robillard@uottawa.ca]
[nathalie.dion@uottawa.ca]
[paolillo@indiana.edu]
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Abstract

This article investigates whether speakers marshal phonetic integration as a strategy to distinguish language-contact phenomena. Systematic comparison of the behavior of individuals, diagnostics, and language-mixing types (code-switches, established loanwords, and nonce borrowings) reveals variability at every level of the adaptation process, providing strong evidence that bilinguals do not phonetically distinguish other-language words, nonce or dictionary-attested, in a uniform way. This is in striking contrast to the community-wide morphosyntactic treatment they afford this same material when borrowing it: immediate, quasi-categorical, and consistent. This confirms that phonetic and morphosyntactic integration are independent. Only the latter is a reliable metric for distinguishing language-mixing types.

Keywords

metrics for distinguishing language-contact phenomenaphonetic integrationlexical borrowingloanword adaptationnonce borrowingscode-switchesloanword phonology

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Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 96 , Issue 1 , March 2020 , pp. 126 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 Linguistic Society of America

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