An Analysis of French Borrowings at the Hypernymic and Hyponymic Levels of Middle English

Abstract

This paper analyses a large dataset of Middle English vocabulary from nine domains which has been arranged into a semantic hierarchy. It focuses on the distribution of French-origin borrowings at various levels of technicality and at various levels of co-hyponymic density (i.e. the number of words per sense). Overall, results show that French loanwords are concentrated in higher proportions at the hypernymic (or more general) level rather than at the hyponymic (or more technical) level. These findings run counter to the orthodox view that borrowings are used to fill lexical gaps for new technical terms in a semantic field.

Keywords

• Middle English
• French
• lexical borrowing
• semantic hierarchy
• technical language
• language contact