The Role of Popular Culture in Language Borrowing: A Comparative Linguistic Study of French and English

This work proposes that popular culture often derives from the privileged upper classes and that popular culture established by the elite has played an important role in linguistic exchange throughout history between French and English. Focusing on the time periods 1066 AD to 1500 AD and the twentieth and twenty first centuries, it describes the manner of exchange and development of French and English lexicons and analyzes in detail the histories of one French word and one English word. Additionally, the examples given in this thesis illustrate the flow of popular culture from the high-ranking and powerful members of society to the common people.This work provides a good starting point for historians and linguists wishing to better understand the importance of culture in language development and the origins of linguistic trends.

Marianne Broadwater, M.Hum.: Studied Historical Comparative Linguistics at Wright State University.