Factors of language change

Abstract EN

The present paper aims at investigating the forces of language change that are continually at work.

It proceeds into tackling the causes that bring about that change.

These are both external and internal processes.

An attempt is also made to highlight the change that affects language at all its levels : morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic.

All that is the job for Part One of this study.

On the other hand, a great deal of change detected in Arabic can be attributed to extensive translation from European languages such as English and French.

This can be conspicuously seen in the surge of loan translations in the field of Arabic mass media, particularly newspapers.

Such loan translations (coinages) do not only involve vocabulary but some grammatical and stylistic options as well.

This issue will be taken up by the second part of the present paper.

While the literal translation of English coinages into Arabic may have a positive aspect on its semantic stock, translators should be on the alert to safeguard their native language against any negative foreign influence.

An alternative to translating English or French coinages directly into Arabic can be through working out the appropriate Arabic equivalents.