Having collected a large number of
loan words in Hongkong Cantonese, this paper makes a three dimensioned
comparative study of them. Specifically, it compares it 1)with foreign language (mainly English) in order to trace the origin of the loan words and how they blend into Chinese. Secondly, 2)with Shanghai dialect aiming at showing the different ways of word borrowing, and 3)with Putonghua to observe the characteristics and tendency of development of the loan words. Based on the above comparative study, it makes further analysis of the problems in the loan words in Hongkong Cantonese and advances two fundamental concepts of ‘broad loan words′ and ‘narrow loan words′. The paper generalizes eight categories of loan words, namely:
transliterated borrowings, semi transliterated and semi
translated borrowings, transliterated borrowings with a Chinese morpheme, transliterated and
free translated borrowings, loan blend words, form borrowings, free translated borrowings and finally, literally translated borrowings.
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