| SUMMARY: |
A popular name for the linguistic variety resulting from the use of
English words in contemporary Romanian is ‘romgleză’. This term
was coined by Eugen Simion and subsequently used by language
purists and not only, to decry the mixing of English and Romanian
words into a seemingly hybrid and debased discourse form. The
term in itself suggests a process which is gratuitous, haphazard and
not governed by any rules, and as such has fuelled an attitude of
criticism and rejection towards this area of linguistic innovation in
present-day Romanian. Most often, the discourse about Anglicisms
is based on several negative metaphors, the occurrence of English
elements in Romanian discourse being described as an invasion and
a menace to the language, but also as an indecency, something low
and degrading that should trigger reactions of repulsion and
rejection. In this context, the main purpose of this book is to study
the English influence on present-day Romanian in several of its
linguistic aspects, thus answering a call for the objective
investigation of this phenomenon by effective means, not by
“prejudice and intolerance, by purism and discrimination” (our
translation) (Avram, 1997: 29). |
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