Lexical borrowings from the English language into Bangla short stories

Abstract

Although lexical borrowing from the English language into Bangla has been reported in the literature, not many studies have investigated the nature and the extent to which this borrowing has taken place in relation to Bangla short stories. This study examined five Bangla short stories, which were selected based on purposive sampling. Our analysis of the textual data drew upon thematic analysis. The findings of the study illustrated four types of borrowings, which were classified as ‘with Bangla equivalents’, ‘without Bangla equivalents’, ‘with close Bangla equivalents’, and ‘hybridised’. The borrowed words were then further studied to understand the domains in which lexical borrowing took place. Findings reported in this study indicate that an increasing number of English lexis is gradually getting their place within creative writings published in Bangla. These findings provide the basis for the argument that while lexical borrowings can enrich Bangla, this practice may also contribute to marginalising the language by replacing some of its lexis. The study contributes to our understanding of the nature of lexical borrowings from the English language into the contemporary short stories written in Bangla, notably by illustrating the domains in which the borrowings have taken place.