University of Belgrade

Faculty of Philology
Department of English Language and Literature

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Analysing the word
R

Professor:
Jelisaveta Milojevic, M.A., Ph.D.

Belgrade
April 16th

Student:
Milica Petrovic 2011/0823

The word that is to be analyzed is R, taken from a pamphlet

with the topic dedicated to one of the arts, dance. Thinking about the proper and
adequate way in attempt to analyze it, few strategies can be used.
The first strategy would be to use one information from Jelisaveta
Milojevics book Word and Words of English (Belgrade, Papirus, 2000, p. 7):
Anglicisms can be analyzed on three levels: phonological, morphological and
semantic.
The question that is self-imposing when it comes to completing this task
is whether the word R can be regarded as an anglicism? Since
anglicisms are words that are borrowed from the English language in its original
or modified form, the answer could be affirmative. However, this word actually
does exist neither in English nor in Serbian language, which makes the analysis
very difficult. The word does not exist as a legitimate entry in any respectable
dictionary of Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Collins and
Cobuild Dictionary and in any other dictionary as well. It is not offered as an
entry in any dictionary of Serbian language as well, so the conclusion would be
that we could not regard it as a valid anglicism, so to speak. It perhaps can be
considered to be a pseudoanglicism, if we take into account what defines such
words: they have not been borrowed from English because they do not exist
there but they have been formed in the receiving language on the basis of
English elements and pseudo-English pattern (J.Milojevic: Word and Words of
English, Belgrade, Papirus, 2000, p. 7). Again, this does not seem to be a proper
pseudoanglicism neither, because the word as such does not exist even in
Serbian language, like the word dzezer , which does exist as a Serbian word
for jazzman and is considered to be a pseudoanglicism. Some would think of
this word as a sort of a neologism, a newly invented word that may, or may
not occupy its position in language and in dictionaries, as an entry, with a new
meaning. What processes shaped the word then, one may wonder.
The answer to this question can be the second strategy of solving this kind
of intrigue. It is to be found in the entry assimilation from the same source
which is mentioned above, this time on page 14: Assimilation of loan words
denotes partial or total conformation to the phonetic, graphic, morphological and
semantic standards to the receiving language. Therefore, we can assume that
some sort of assimilation happened and formed the word given. There is a
graphic obstacle to a complete assimilation in this example. Why? As one can
see, the first part of this unusual coinage is written in Serbian Cyrillic, which
means that this word is an example of a partly assimilated loan word, actually,

since it does not exist as a word itself, its first part is a partly assimilated loan
word, to be precise. What does it mean partly assimilated? We will rely on the
same source again to explain it: There are five types of partially assimilated
loan words: loan words not assimilated semantically, loan words not assimilated
morphologically, loan words not assimilated phonetically, loan words not
assimilated graphically, and loan words which show incomplete assimilation in
several respects simultaneously. (J.Milojevic: Word and Words of English,
Belgrade, Papirus, 2000, p. 15). Next task would be to determine what kind of
partially assimilated word this one is. Since its meaning is remained (step
belongs to the register of terms used to describe movements in dance), the word
is semantically assimilated. The pronunciation of the word is completely the
same as in English, so it is phonetically completely assimilated. However, since
the first and the last letter are from Serbian Cyrillic, we could say that the word
is partially graphically assimilated.
The other part of the word is completely borrowed from English, since it
does not exist as an entry in any dictionary as well. It is only a part of some
words (artizam, artist, artistcki, M. Vujaklija, Leskikon stranih reci i izraza, 3.
dopunjeno izdanje 75/76.strana).
Here we can come back to the information about anglicisms on the
beginning of this assignment. Only if we consider the whole word to be some
sort of Anglicism, we can say it is the anglicism with the writing based on
Serbian orthography following English spelling and on the writing based on
the sound-form of the word, regardless of the alphabet we use to write it. If we
were to decide which morphological process happened in forming this word, we
could perhaps say that it was composition, having in mind that both and
art are free morphemes.
There is another aspect or strategy in terms of analyzing this word. It is
the semantic analysis of anglicism, if, needless to repeat, it can be considered as
one. We cannot provide the semantic analysis for the whole word, since it is a
non-existent one, but we can analyses its first part. Therefore, we can say that on
basis of three levels of semantic adaptation of the word, this one is the case of
zero level, which means that the loan word keeps its original meaning in the
receiving language (J.Milojevic, Word and Words of English, Belgrade, Papirus,
2000, p. 8,9).
The last aspect to be analyzed is actually a very logical, one may dare say,
open question. What is the meaning of the word in its entirety and what is the
purpose of shaping it in that way? Since the pamphlet where the word is

mentioned has to do with the artistic field of dance and, as we already have
mentioned, step is a legitimate term used in this field to denote a movement, it is
obvious that both words should represent a kind of self-explanatory association
to the audience. What remains a secret is the reason why the one who coined the
word opted for such an unusual solution. The only possible answer could lie in
the artistic freedom and incredible, fabulous possibilities that a kingdom of
words, a real treasure - language, can offer to people.

REFERENCES
Leksikon stranih reci i izraza, 3. dopunjeno izdanje (1980), Vujaklija,
Milan; Beograd, Prosveta
Word and Words of English (2000), Milojevic, Jelisaveta; Belgrade,
Papirus