Burger: a case of loanword
BURGER: A CASE OF LOANWORD
Montse Raurich Binefa montseraurich.mrb@gmail.com
Neus Pérez Giménez neuspg02@gmail.com
Sara Miranda Cosialls saramircos@gmail.com
Figure 1: Our Linguistic Landscape. Photo taker: Estefania Nerin Navarro
1. INTRODUCTION
During the second part of the semester of the year 2022, a proposed project titled “Localising English in Lleida” has been carried out on the subject of English Language in Context taught by Maria Sabaté-Dalmau. The main aim of this project is to explore, document, exhibit, and critically analyze the uses and meanings of numerous public local and worldwide languages in the city of Lleida using multimodal signage, with a particular focus on Englishization.
During the second part of the semester of the year 2022, a proposed project titled “Localising English in Lleida” has been carried out on the subject of English Language in Context taught by Maria Sabaté-Dalmau. The main aim of this project is to explore, document, exhibit, and critically analyze the uses and meanings of numerous public local and worldwide languages in the city of Lleida using multimodal signage, with a particular focus on Englishization.
In the linguistic token, the word burger, which is a loanword, is used informally since the formal word would be written as a hamburger. In our Linguistic Landscape (LL) there is an instrumentalisation of English, where the language is used in order to sell. By writing it in English, the product increases its competitiveness and profitability. According to Cenoz & Gorter (2009:57), this Englishization is a process that has the finality of being used in markets, production, and consumption.
2. CONTEXTUALISATION
Our Linguistic Landscape is located in the Spanish/Catalan city of Lleida, more specifically in the neighbourhood of Cappont. This banner was found in the university campus of Cappont. It does not have an exact address because we took the picture in the park Plaça de la Torre Abizanda. However, the closest street is Carrer Jaume II, where we find the entrance to the university library and the university buildings.
Figure 3: The location of the LL. https://www.google.es/maps/@41.607448,0.62307,18z/data=!10m2!1e2!2e14
Figure 4: A real image of the place without the LL.
Figure 5: A picture of the name of the park. Photo taker: Neus Pérez Giménez
We found our linguistic landscape by chance at the celebration of the UdL "Festa de l'Estudiantat" or Students' Party on the 28th of April 2022. This party consists of different associations that prepare activities and diverse music bands and DJs to play music. Our token was at a food stand from the restaurant Abat, also located in Lleida on Avenue of Catalunya, 18, but in between two neighbourhoods: Universitat and Centre Històric.
Going back to our Linguistic Landscape, Cappont is a poor/middle-class neighbourhood that entails some family life but mainly college life, where both coexist. It is a relatively old neighbourhood which is currently undergoing several renovations. Therefore, it is becoming a new and modern neighbourhood which is one of the few that is both growing in its expansion, housing and land and therefore in population as well (La Paeria, 2020).
Some of its growth is due to the incorporation of the university campus, which consists of a great extension of land where several university parties take place throughout the year (La Paeria, 2020). One of the said parties is UdL Festa de l'Estudiantat, the one where we encountered our LL, but there are more such as Festa Major de la UdL and Intercampus.
Moreover, Cappont counts with a large leisure area, which entails not only several bars and restaurants (La Paeria, 2020), but also the vicinity of the river Segre, where people of all ages spend their days. Besides, the neighbourhood has access to pre-elementary, elementary and higher education, although they are not all public. There are also medical services, such as a hospital and a primary attention centre; and some of the most well-known commercial firms, such as supermarkets and sports shops (Deplace, n.d.).
The neighbourhood has student housing, which accommodates a large number of university students from UdL, with a total of 8415 degree students (UdL, 2021). It is particularly useful for those who access the faculties in the same street as the dormitory. Adjacent to the park where is the college campus, we find the different buildings which are the university facilities, which are Centre de Cultures or Culture Centre (where we find the library and the auditorium), Facultat d'Educació, Psicologia i Treball Social or the Faculty of Education, Psychology and Social Work; the adjacent building is l'Escola Politècnica Superior or Polytechnic Superior School, Facultat de Dret, Economia i Turisme or Faculty of Law, Economics and Tourism, el Centre de Recerca en Energia Aplicada (CREA) or Applied Energy Research Centre.
3. METHODOLOGY
The first visit to the LL token was on April 28th 2022, and it was totally coincidental. It took place during the annual party of students on the Cappont university campus. The initial task was to photograph several LL tokens across Lleida. This stage was straightforward because we all have a smartphone with a camera nowadays. The material was then combined into an interactive map after an ethnography investigation. The picture taker was walking through the campus area looking for a place to eat and encountered a food stand from the restaurant Abat. The stand was on one side of the campus area between a stage and the portable toilets. On top of the stand, there was a banner with the caption “Avui pilles! Una bona burger segur.”. The literal translation in English would be "You score today! A great burger for sure" making reference to a drinking excess.
From all the other options we gathered, we felt that this LL token was more representative of the youth and we connected more with the message, as well as having a fun twist with a double meaning. As we can observe, it consists of a word game that everyone can be able to understand without having basic notions of English, as its only particle in English it’s a loan word. Furthermore, gastronomy is one of the areas that have been more influenced and affected by the invasion of loan words, for instance, we use words like smoothie or muffin. The vast majority of these terms come from the English language due to anglicization as well as globalization.
English has taken over many fields such as fashion, economy, technology and gastronomy (Lascuraín J, 2017). In the case of the last one, because of the culinary trends coming from the United States such as cupcakes. Although, deep down we also find pretty modern mentioning words in another language other than our mother tongue. Moreover, this type of word usually appears because of trends that give them a wide exposure and a large spread, therefore, if a loan word is repeatedly mentioned in the media, it is pretty probable that will turn into a trend and we will end up hearing it in the streets. (Giménez D, 2017).
Switching the topic, according to Ajuntament of Lleida (2018) and BOP (2014), top-down policies regarding advertising declare that any banner or sign in the public space must be written in Catalan, which is considered the vernacular language of the territory as well as being a co-official language in the country (Castellano, 2016). Nevertheless, our Linguistic Landscape consists of a bottom-up policy, since it is a private entity and can advertise its business as they desire, in this case, they use Catalan, Spanish and English in a single sentence.
In other terms, this data gathering tool enabled us to actively investigate the subject of our research in its natural context. When it comes to the linguistic context in which the token was found while visiting the location; it was evident that the vast majority of the passers-by, who were students from UDL, spoke either Catalan or Spanish. Although one of the words of the banner was written in English, this being “burger”, all the individuals there managed to comprehend the message without any problem, which proves that nowadays English is quite a globalized language and the Catalan/Spanish society has incorporated many English words in our daily vocabulary. The term loanword refers to a process in which one language completely or partially borrows a linguistic element from another language. (Durkin P, 2014). In addition, we consider it a good marketing strategy since many Erasmus students could be there and use English as a lingua Franca to communicate in Catalonia, therefore they would be able to recognize that the stand was selling food without having any notion of Catalan or Spanish. Thanks to the word “burger” which is an adapted loan word written in English.
That being said, we think that the circumstances in which the banner was found show how although the majority of students on the UDL campus were fluent in Catalan and Spanish. Despite this, we also notice that other foreign and immigrant languages were spoken. Moreover, English has also a great presence in our context in the linguistic context of all as well as their daily lives. For instance, as college undergraduates, we are all supposed to have a minimum B2 level of English.
English has a great presence in the linguistic context of all as well as in their daily lives. In conclusion, we can observe how many different languages are in contact and coexisting by just going out in a party environment, proving how Lleida’s streets are a display of multilingualism.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Regarding all the data that we collected while doing our research about Localising Linguistic Landscapes in Lleida, we came across our LL token. Reading the headline of our banner, we can observe that there is a mix of two languages (Catalan and English) in which we highlight the word “burger”; a loanword appropriated from English. Nowadays, this word is more present in our daily life due to the influence of the powerful fast-food chains coming mostly from the USA. However, the headline itself is written in Catalan because the LL token is located in Lleida, Catalunya where, despite the amount of immigration and foreign languages that might be spoken in the streets, Spanish and Catalan are both official languages of the region. However, Catalan is the language spoken by a vast majority of the inhabitants in this area and the aim of using it is to appeal to the local population.
As we previously mentioned, in modern advertising, media has incorporated a polyglot element (Mattelart, 2005), in which English is the most frequently used language. Its status as the dominant language of advertising is not surprising, given its global importance, and associations with modernity as well as positive stereotypes such as innovation, internationality, open-mindness, urbanism, and what is considered new or the latest (Sabaté-Dalmau, 2022).
Furthermore, As Modrić (2016) puts it, generally individuals attribute to English the characteristics of modernity, elegance and reliability, and moreover have more favourable perceptions toward the use of English in international product ads. Therefore, we could consider the token a great marketing strategy since it uses a language associated with modernity to connect with the newer generations. In other words, in our token, English is used as a marketing resource in order to be more trendy and eye-catching to the youth range.
Therefore, most of the momentary or temporal adverts are used with a very specific purpose, which takes place in the time span where the advert is in its localization where potential customers can see it. As we have seen with our advert or commercial information, putting that banner in another context, for example, in their permanent restaurant in Lleida, would be misleading and non-sense.
In addition, it is necessary to remark that English is considered the leading language of commerce (Sabaté-Dalmau, 2022). Hence, when it comes to advertising English, it's a crafted fetish for branding rather than information transmission. Nowadays, businesses strive to create brands with personality, and companies that appeal to consumers' emotions. Besides, customers' actions are heavily influenced by their emotions (Bagozzi et al., 1999). It has been proven that the content of a commercial has less impact on a consumer's desire to buy than emotional responses to advertising. Therefore, in the word game of our banner, customers' emotions are being appealed to when suggesting a double meaning.
Additionally, it is also remarkable the fact that the register in which the banner is written is quite informal which adds to the allure of the reader and manages to connect with the audience with much more ease.
Moreover, loanwords can be used to replace native synonyms to obtain a specific impact, in this case, modernity. Also, the word “burger” has been accommodated in our day-to-day routine. So, for this reason, this English word is understood by everyone without the need of having basic notions of English. Moreover, the accommodation of this word is generally common among various ranges of age.
5. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Starting by considering the facts that we have obtained while doing the project about Localising English in Lleida, we wanted to state our amazement at the massive quantity of English we can currently encounter in the streets of Lleida. An exceptional example of English being present in our society is our Linguistic Landscapes Map, which we weren’t expecting with such a large variety of tokens.
Furthermore, our token goes to prove how the English language, as well as the culture of the English-speaking countries such as the United States or Australia, has a great impact on the city of Lleida, as well as the fact that the city itself is going through an evident process of Englishization. Besides, we also realized that this is a process that affects both citizens who command English and those who don’t know anything about it.
In addition, we also found astonishing the incredible relevance that the English language holds in the world of marketing and advertising. English functions practically as everything that the creator wants it to be, since its extensive amount of uses makes it a great tool for catching the viewer's attention.
Moreover, it was unforeseen from our point of view that the usage of Lingusitic Landscapes would have been that helpful in order to understand the theoretical part of the subject English Language in Context. Therefore, making it a great pedagogic tool and a fantastic resource when it comes to comprehending the impact that the English language has in our social context as well as the presence that it has in our daily lives.
6. REFERENCES
Bagozzi, R. P., Gopinath, M., & Nyer, P. U. (1999). The Role of Emotions in Marketing. Journal of the
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Castellano, P. (2016, August 26). L’Ajuntament de Lleida compleix amb la normativa lingüística del català. Catalunyapress, 2. https://www.catalunyapress.cat/texto-diario/mostrar/487358/
Durkin, P. (2014). Borrowed words: A history of loanwords in English. Oxford University Press.
Giménez, D., & Lascuráin, J. (2017). ¿Por qué dices ‘burger’ y ‘smoothie’ pudiendo decir ‘hamburguesa’ y 'batido' El Comidista EL PAÍS. El País, 11. https://elcomidista.elpais.com/elcomidista/2017/11/23/articulo/1511453939_165565.html
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Sabaté-Dalmau, M. (2022, May). Unit 4: The Market [PowerPoint Slides]. English Department, University of Lleida.
Sabaté-Dalmau, M. (2021). 'Localizing English in town': A Linguistic Landscape for a Critical Linguistics Education on multilingualism. [Unpublished article]
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