Funding: This study is a phase achievement of the Youth Project ‘A Study on the Representation of Chinese Elements in Chinese Loanwords Based on the OED’ (Grant No. WYZL2023LN00), which is part of the ‘World Language and Culture Research’ initiative by the China Center for Language Planning and Policy Studies—the Scientific Research Base of National Language Commission (NLC) and the National Language Think Tank.
Abstract
This paper conducts a systematic study of Chinese loanwords recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) from the perspective of contact linguistics. Through sorting and statistical analysis, this study divides the historical contact process of Chinese loanwords into four main stages and summarizes their characteristics in different periods. It focuses on analyzing the borrowing methods, phonetic and morphological evolution, semantic changes, and the underlying cultural motivations of these loanwords. The research indicates that Chinese loanwords in the OED are not only products of language contact but also a mirror of Sino–Western cultural exchange and shifting power dynamics. Their evolutionary trajectory, starting from the unilateral import of early material culture, has gradually expanded to bidirectional and even multidirectional interactions involving modern culture, technology, and lifestyle, reflecting the enhancement of China’s cultural influence and the trend towards diversification in the global language ecology against the backdrop of globalization.
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How to cite this paper
A Study of Chinese Loanwords in the Oxford English Dictionary: A Contact Linguistics Perspective
How to cite this paper: Mingchang Gao. (2025) A Study of Chinese Loanwords in the Oxford English Dictionary: A Contact Linguistics Perspective. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 9(8), 1681-1685.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2025.08.031