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

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.Cette contribution analyse un important ensemble de données comprenant du vocabulaire moyen anglais de neuf domaines, organisé en hiérarchie sémantique. Notre recherche se concentre sur la distribution des emprunts d’origine française parmi les niveaux de technicité et les niveaux de richesse lexicale (à savoir le nombre de cohyponymes par sens). Globalement, nos résultats montrent que les emprunts français se trouvent en plus grande proportion au niveau hyperonymique (ou plus général) plutôt qu’hyponymique (ou plus technique). Ces observations vont à l’encontre du point de vue orthodoxe que les emprunts comblent les lacunes lexicales en fournissant de nouveaux termes techniques dans un champ sémantique

An analysis of French borrowings at the hypernymic and hyponymic levels of Middle English

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