Translingual creativities: a sociolinguistic case study of English lexical borrowings in Mandarin from perspectives of language contact
Abstract English lexical borrowing in Mandarin is a long established academic area of research that has attracted considerable scholarly attention. This article is focused on further emerging linguistic mechanisms whereby English lexical borrowings are adapted into Mandarin, especially in the current age of the Internet and ever intensified globalization in which Mandarin comes into more intense contact with English. The article adopts a translingual orientation to examine these emerging linguistic mechanisms whereby English lexical borrowings are adapted and manipulated by the participants of the Taisha Super Forum, a Chinese Internet forum which serves as a platform for Chinese students aiming to study abroad to exchange information about higher education in overseas universities. The current study identifies and looks into the origin and meanings to create hybrid loans and Pinyin alphabetism. Globalization in effect profoundly changes the perspectives about languages in contact, whilst sociolinguistics with translingual perspectives deepens to look into English Mandarin in contact in the spread and globalization of language, especially languages deemed 'global languages' and where contact comes not from more isolated encounters to a situation where contact is on a much more translingual integrated and seamless basis to reflect the new cultural meaning and identity of the sampled young people.