Hyperforeignism

{{Short description|Type of linguistic hypercorrection}}{{IPA notice}} A '''hyperforeignism''' is a type of hypercorrection where speakers identify an inaccurate pattern in loanwords from a foreign language and then apply that pattern to other loanwords (either from the same language or a different one).{{sfnp|Janda|Joseph|Jacobs|1994|p=74}} This results in a pronunciation of those loanwords which does not reflect the rules of either language.{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=108}} For example, the {{angbr|n}} in ''habanero'' is pronounced as {{IPAblink|n}} in Spanish, but English-speakers often pronounce it as {{IPAc-en|n|j}}, as if the word were spelled ''habañero''.<ref name="dictionary">{{cite web |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/habanero |title=Habanero |website=Merriam-Webster |at=under "Variants of Habanero" |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035502/http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/habanero |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Hyperforeignisms can manifest in a number of ways, including the application of the spelling or pronunciation rules of one language to a word borrowed from another.{{sfnp|Janda|Joseph|Jacobs|1994|p=72}}

Intentional hyperforeignisms can be used for comedic effect, such as pronouncing ''Report'' with a silent {{angbr|t}} in ''The Colbert Report'' or pronouncing Target as {{IPAc-en|t|ɑr|ˈ|ʒ|eɪ}} {{respell|tar|ZHAY}}, as though it were an upscale boutique.<ref>{{cite news |title = Where Target Is Always 'Tar-zhay' |first = Ylan Q. |last = Muy |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/20/AR2006062001271.html |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = 21 June 2006 |access-date = 27 September 2011}}</ref> This form of hyperforeignism is a way of poking fun at those who earnestly adopt foreign-sounding pronunciations of pseudo-loanwords.{{sfnp|Janda|Joseph|Jacobs|1994|p=73}}

==English== Examples: *''parmesan'' (from French {{IPA|fr|paʁməzɑ̃|}}), sometimes as {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɑː|r|m|ə|ʒ|ɑː|n}} in US English.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Oxford University Press|title=Parmesan, adj. & n. |website=Oxford English dictionary |date=2023 |doi=10.1093/OED/4470914647 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/4470914647|access-date=2025-05-14}}</ref> *Mandarin Chinese names like ''Beijing'' (with {{IPAblink|tɕ}}, which sounds like {{IPAblink|dʒ}} to English speakers) with {{IPAslink|ʒ}}: {{IPAc-en|b|eɪ|ˈ|ʒ|ɪ|ŋ}}.{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=108}}{{sfnp|Janda|Joseph|Jacobs|1994|p=80}}

===French words=== A number of words of French origin feature a final {{angbr|e}} that is pronounced in English but silent in the original language. For example, the noun ''cache'' is sometimes pronounced {{IPAc-en|k|æ|ʃ|eɪ}}, as though it were spelled either {{angbr|cachet}} (meaning "seal" or "signature") or {{angbr|caché}} (meaning "hidden"). In French, the final {{angbr|e}} is silent and the word is pronounced {{IPA|fr|kaʃ|}}. The word ''cadre'' is sometimes pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɑː|d|r|eɪ}} in English, as though it were of Spanish origin. In French, the final {{angbr|e}} is silent {{IPA|fr|kadʁ|}} and a common English pronunciation is {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɑː|d|r|ə}}.<ref name="mw">{{cite book |title=Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage |publisher=Merriam-Webster |year=1994 |isbn=0-87779-132-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersd00merr/page/516 516] |url=https://archive.org/details/merriamwebstersd00merr |url-access=registration |edition=revised}}</ref>

Legal English is replete with words derived from Norman French, which for a long time was the language of the courts in England and Wales. The correct pronunciation of Norman French is often closer to a natural contemporary English reading than to modern French:{{citation needed|date=November 2025}} the attempt to pronounce these phrases as if they were modern French could therefore be considered to be a hyperforeignism. For example, the clerk's summons "Oyez!" ("Attention!") is commonly pronounced ending in a consonant, {{IPAc-en|s}} or {{IPAslink|z}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/oyez |title=Definition of oyez in English |website=Oxford Dictionaries |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304210223/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/oyez |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

A common pattern is pronouncing French loanwords without a word-final {{IPA|/r/}}, as with ''derrière'', ''peignoir'', and ''répertoire.''{{sfnp|Janda|Joseph|Jacobs|1994|p=75}} This is actually permissible (especially in informal contexts) in French for words like ''quatre'' and ''fenêtre'', where the /r/ follows a consonant, but not for words such as ''derrière'', ''peignoir'', and ''répertoire'', where the /r/ follows a vowel and must be pronounced. For infinitives ending in /er/, such as ''aimer'' and ''parler'', the /r/ is never pronounced. In Metropolitan French /r/ is optional as a word ending, whereas the vowel just in front of it is always long, contrasting with vowels being almost always short in word-ending positions.<ref>With the notable exception of pronouns/possessives on/mon/ton/son but not nouns ton/son; as there are no words ending in -onr(e), those 4 cases cannot cause ambiguity.</ref>

Another common pattern, influenced by French morphophonology, is the omission of word-final consonants. Hyperforeign application of this tendency occurs with omission of these consonants in words with final consonants that are pronounced in French. This occurs notably in the term ''coup de grâce'', in which some speakers omit the final consonant {{IPAslink|s}}, although it is pronounced in French as {{IPA|fr|ku də ɡʁɑs|}}; omitting this consonant instead sounds like ''coup de gras'', meaning a nonsensical "blow of fat."<ref name="mw" />{{sfnp|Janda|Joseph|Jacobs|1994|p=76}} Other examples of this include ''Vichyssoise.''<ref name="mw"/>

Speakers of American English typically pronounce ''lingerie'' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|l|ɒ|n|dʒ|ə|ˈ|r|eɪ}}.<ref name="mw" />

===Hindi words=== The {{angbr|j}} in the name of the Taj Mahal or ''raj'' is often rendered {{IPA|/ʒ/}}, but a closer approximation to the Hindi sound is {{IPAslink|dʒ}}.{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=108}}

===Italian words=== The {{angbr|g}} in ''Adagio'' may be realized as {{IPAslink|ʒ}}, even though the soft {{angbr|g}} of Italian represents an affricate {{IPAblink|dʒ}}.{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=108}}

Patrizia Giampieri observed that many pseudo-English words can be found in Italian, such as ''autostop'' (hitch-hike) and ''flipper'' (pinball machine).<ref>Giampieri, Patrizia (2013), "A taxonomy of English hyperforeignisms and borrowings in the Italian language: when communication breakdown occurs." pp. 7–8</ref> Perception of English as a prestige language among some Italian speakers may explain the popularity of hyperforeign vocabulary items such as these.<ref>Giampieri, Patrizia (2013), "A taxonomy of English hyperforeignisms and borrowings in the Italian language: when communication breakdown occurs." p. 7</ref>

===Russian words=== Because the Russian loanword ''dacha'' (дача {{IPA|ru|ˈdatɕə|}}) looks like it could be German, the pronunciation {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɑː|x|ə}}, with a velar fricative, shows an attempt at marking a word as foreign, but with a sound not originally present in the source word.{{sfnp|Janda|Joseph|Jacobs|1994|pp=72, 75}}

===Spanish words=== The digraph {{angbr|ch}} of Spanish generally represents {{IPAblink|tʃ}}, similar to English {{angbr|ch}}. Hyperforeign realizations of many Spanish loanwords or proper names may substitute other sounds. Examples include a French-style {{IPAblink|ʃ}} in the surname ''Chávez'' and in ''Che Guevara'', or a German-influenced {{IPA|[x]}} or Ancient Greek-influenced {{IPA|[k]}} in ''machismo''.{{sfnp|Wells|1982|p=108}} The {{angbr|z}} in the Spanish word ''chorizo'' is sometimes realized as {{IPAc-en|t|s}} by English speakers, reflecting more closely the pronunciation of {{angbr|z}} and {{angbr|zz}} in Italian and Italian loanwords in English. This is not the pronunciation of present-day Spanish, however. Rather, the {{angbr|z}} in ''chorizo'' represents {{IPAblink|θ}} or {{IPAblink|s}} (depending on dialect) in Spanish.<ref>{{cite web |last=Quinn |first=Sue |title=Mispronounced food words: can you say chorizo? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/feb/13/mispronounced-food-words-chorizo-restaurateur-cardamom |work=The Guardian |date=13 February 2014 |publisher=Guardian News and Media |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514043431/http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/feb/13/mispronounced-food-words-chorizo-restaurateur-cardamom |archive-date=14 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> Also, the ''-{{zwj}}es'' suffix in many other loanwords such as ''Angeles'' ({{lang|es|Ángeles}}) is less usually pronounced in the United Kingdom and often Australia like ''ease'' (i.e., {{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|n|dʒ|ɪ|l|iː|z}} {{respell|AN|jil|eez}}),<ref>{{Cite EPD|18}}</ref> hence ''Los Angeles'' ({{lang|es|Los Ángeles}}) is also {{IPAc-en|l|ɒ|s|_|ˈ|æ|n|dʒ|ɪ|l|iː|z|audio=En-uk-Los Angeles.ogg}}. Phonetician Jack Windsor Lewis described the most common one, with {{respell|eez}}, as a spelling pronunciation based on analogy with Greek words ending in ''-{{zwj}}es'', "reflecting a time when the classics were familiar if Spanish was not".<ref>{{cite book|last=Windsor Lewis|first=Jack|year=1990|chapter=''Happ''Y land reconnoitred: the unstressed word-final -{{zwj}}y vowel in General British pronunciation|editor-last=Ramsaran|editor-first=Susan|title=Studies in the Pronunciation of English: A Commemorative Volume in Honour of A.C. Gimson|publisher=Routledge|pages=159–167|isbn=978-1-138-92111-5|chapter-url=http://www.yek.me.uk/happyland.html|archive-date=May 18, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518022340/http://www.yek.me.uk/happyland.html|url-status=dead}} Pages 166–167.</ref>

===Swedish words=== The Swedish word ''smorgasbord'' (smörgåsbord) is often pronounced by English speakers with a {{IPAblink|ʃ}} at the start instead of {{IPAblink|s}}.

==Other languages== ===Malay and Indonesian=== In Malay and Indonesian, some words of non-Arabic origin are mistakenly reanalysed as coming from Arabic and then respelt more similarly to Arabic loans, with some of these respelling forms sometimes even becoming standard. Some respellings of such kind include:<ref>{{cite book|year=2024|author=Tom Hoogervorst|title=The Oxford guide to the Malayo-Polynesian languages of Southeast Asia|chapter=Non-areal contact|url=https://www.academia.edu/128007592/_2024_Non_areal_contact_In_Alexander_Adelaar_and_Antoinette_Schapper_eds_The_Oxford_Guide_to_the_Malayo_Polynesian_Languages_of_Southeast_Asia_303_321_Oxford_Oxford_University_Press|page=312}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |+ Hyperforeignisms in Malay and Indonesian !Malay/Indonesian word !Hyperforeign spelling !Etymology |- |{{lang|ms|beda}} 'difference' |{{lang|zsm|beza}} (standard in Malay) |From Sanskrit {{lang|sa|bhēda}} |- |{{lang|ms|surga}} 'heaven' |{{lang|ms|syurga}} (standard in Malay) |From Sanskrit {{lang|sa|svarga}} |- |pihak 'side' |fihaq |Of Malayo-Polynesian origin (cognate with Iban {{lang|iba|piak}} 'side' and Hiligaynon {{lang|hil|pihak}} 'to cut in half')<ref>ACD – Austronesian Comparative Dictionary Online – Cognateset *pihak. (2026). Clld.org. https://acd.clld.org/cognatesets/30822#5/1.846/112.679‌</ref> |}

===Modern Greek=== Several varieties of Greek, such as that spoken in Tyrnavos, may retain front rounded vowels in Turkish loanwords, e.g., ''dʒüdʒés'' 'dwarf,' from Turkish ''cüce.''<ref>Joseph, Brian D. (2019), "The Greek of Ottoman-era Adrianoupolis." In book ''The Morphology of Asia Minor Greek.'' p. 321</ref>

===Norwegian=== In Norwegian, like in Swedish, entrecôte can be pronounced without the final {{IPAblink|t}}. This might also happen in ''pommes frites'' (french fries), and the {{IPAblink|z}} is often removed in the pronunciation of Béarnaise sauce.<ref>[http://k7bulletin.no/entreka-med-pamm-fri-og-baerne-takk/ Entrekå med påmm fri og bærné, takk] – K7 Bulletin (Norwegian)</ref>

===Polish=== {{Unsourced section|date=January 2026}} Hyperforeignisms sometimes occur in Polish with English loanwords or names. One example would be the name Roosevelt, which is pronounced {{IPA|pl|ˈruzvɛlt|}}, as if it started like ''ooze'', even though a natural Dutch pronunciation would be closer to the English one.

Polish loanwords from Japanese are often subject to hyperforeignism. The names of three of the four main islands of Japan, ''Honsiu'', ''Kiusiu'', and ''Sikoku'', are already Polish transcriptions with close approximations of Japanese sounds—{{IPA|pl|ˈxɔɲɕu|}}, {{IPA|pl|ˈkʲuɕu|}}, and {{IPA|pl|ɕiˈkɔku|}}—but are often pronounced with changing native {{IPA|/ɕ/}} into foreign {{IPA|/sj/}}. Other Japanese words use English-based (Hepburn) transcriptions, which causes further problems.

''Phenian'', a now obsolete Polish name for Pyongyang, which was a transcription of Russian {{lang|ru|Пхеньян}}, is commonly pronounced {{IPA|pl|ˈfɛɲan|}}, as if ⟨ph⟩ represented the voiceless labiodental fricative (/f/) like in words of Greek origin.

The letter ''c'' in the surname ''Arctowski'' makes the sound {{IPA|pl|t͡s}}, but many people mispronounce it with {{IPA|pl|k}} because of the mistaken assumption the word is of English/Latin origin and derived from the term ''Arctic'', while it actually comes from the German ''Artzt''. When the n ame was transliterated into other languages that use different scripts, some languages follow the correct pronunciation (Russian ''Арцтовский'', Ukrainian ''Арцтовський'', Azeri ''Artstovski'' (this one uses Latin but nonetheless transliterated), Armenian ''Արցտովսկի'', Chinese ''阿茨托夫斯基'' or ''阿爾茨托夫斯基''), others use the faux-English pronunciation (Egyptian Arabic ''اركتوسكى'', Standard Arabic ''أركتوسكي'', Tamil ''ஆர்க்டோவ்சுகி''), while some use a yet another mispronunciation (Japanese ''アルツトウスキー'', which contains the correct {{IPA|pl|t͡s}} sound but includes the incorrectly anglicized ending with ''ow'' pronounced as {{IPAc-en|oʊ}} in place of {{IPA|pl|ɔf}} and the very English-style lengthened {{IPAc-en|iː}}.) An important note is that the /k/ mistransliteration is not caused by the lack of the phoneme {{IPA|pl|t͡s}} in certain languages – in other loanwords with {{IPA|pl|t͡s}}, either a combination of {{IPA|pl|t}} and {{IPA|pl|s}} letters or a "flattening" to a plain {{IPA|pl|s}} would be expected, not the {{IPA|pl|k}} sound which is relatively far off and completely unjustified.

==See also== *Metal umlaut

==References== '''Notes''' {{reflist}}

'''Bibliography''' *Giampieri, Patrizia (2013), "A taxonomy of English hyperforeignisms and borrowings in the Italian language: when communication breakdown occurs." *{{citation |last1=Janda |first1=Richard D. |last2=Joseph |first2=Brian D. |last3=Jacobs |first3=Neil G. |year=1994 |chapter=Systematic hyperforeignisms as maximally external evidence for linguistic rules |editor1-last=Lima |editor1-first=Susan |editor2-last=Corrigan |editor2-first=Roberta |editor3-last=Iverson |editor3-first=Gregory |title=The Reality of Linguistic Rules |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |series=Studies in Language Companion Series |volume=26 |isbn=902728203X |pages=67–91 }} *Joseph, Brian D. (2008), ‘On some hyperadaptations in Greek and in Greece’, in ''MGDLT 3: Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory''. Ed. Mark Janse, Brian D. Joseph, & Angela Ralli. Lefkosia: University of Cyprus. *Joseph, Brian D. (2019), ‘The Greek of Ottoman-era Adrianoupolis’, in ''The Morphology of Asia Minor Greek: Selected Topics''. Ed. Angela Ralli. Leiden: Brill, 2019, pp. 315–32. *{{citation |first=John Christopher |last=Wells |author-link =John C. Wells |year=1982 |title=Accents of English: An Introduction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-29719-2 }}

Category:Language varieties and styles Category:Linguistic error Category:Phonology