pronounced as /notice/A hyperforeignism is a type of hypercorrection where speakers identify an inaccurate pattern in loanwords from a foreign language and then apply that pattern to other loanwords (either from the same language or a different one). This results in a pronunciation of those loanwords which does not reflect the rules of either language. For example, the (n) in habanero is pronounced as pronounced as /link/ in Spanish, but English-speakers often pronounce it as, as if the word were spelled habañero.[1]
Hyperforeignisms can manifest in a number of ways, including the application of the spelling or pronunciation rules of one language to a word borrowed from another.
Intentional hyperforeignisms can be used for comedic effect, such as pronouncing Report with a silent (t) in The Colbert Report or pronouncing Target as, as though it were an upscale boutique.[2] This form of hyperforeignism is a way of poking fun at those who earnestly adopt foreign-sounding pronunciations of pseudo-loanwords.
Examples:
A number of words of French origin feature a final (e) that is pronounced in English but silent in the original language. For example, the noun cache is sometimes pronounced, as though it were spelled either (cachet) (meaning "seal" or "signature") or (caché) (meaning "hidden"). In French, the final (e) is silent and the word is pronounced pronounced as /fr/. The word cadre is sometimes pronounced in English, as though it were of Spanish origin. In French, the final (e) is silent pronounced as /fr/ and a common English pronunciation is .[4]
Legal English is replete with words derived from Norman French, which for a long time was the language of the courts in England and Wales. The correct pronunciation of Norman French is often closer to a natural contemporary English reading than to modern French: the attempt to pronounce these phrases as if they were modern French could therefore be considered to be a hyperforeignism. For example, the clerk's summons "Oyez!" ("Attention!") is commonly pronounced ending in a consonant, or pronounced as /link/.[5]
A common pattern is pronouncing French loanwords without a word-final pronounced as //r//, as with derrière, peignoir, and répertoire - a normal pronunciation in both Canadian and Acadian French vernacular of North America. In Metropolitan French /r/ is optional as a word ending, whereas the vowel just in front of it is always long, contrasting with vowels being almost always short in word-ending positions.[6]
Another common pattern, influenced by French morphophonology, is the omission of word-final consonants. Hyperforeign application of this tendency occurs with omission of these consonants in words with final consonants that are pronounced in French. This occurs notably in the term coup de grâce, in which some speakers omit the final consonant pronounced as /link/, although it is pronounced in French as pronounced as /fr/; omitting this consonant instead sounds like coup de gras, meaning a nonsensical "blow of fat." Other examples of this include Vichyssoise.[4]
Speakers of American English typically pronounce lingerie .
The (j) in the name of the Taj Mahal or raj is often rendered pronounced as //ʒ//, but a closer approximation to the Hindi sound is pronounced as /link/.
The (g) in Adagio may be realized as pronounced as /link/, even though the soft (g) of Italian represents an affricate pronounced as /link/.
Patrizia Giampieri observed that many pseudo-English words can be found in Italian, such as autostop (hitch-hike) and flipper (pinball machine).[7] Perception of English as a prestige language among some Italian speakers may explain the popularity of hyperforeign vocabulary items such as these.[8]
Because the Russian loanword dacha (дача pronounced as /ru/) looks like it could be German, the pronunciation, with a velar fricative, shows an attempt at marking a word as foreign, but with a sound not originally present in the source word.
The digraph (ch) of Spanish generally represents pronounced as /link/, similar to English (ch). Hyperforeign realizations of many Spanish loanwords or proper names may substitute other sounds. Examples include a French-style pronounced as /link/ in the surname Chávez and in Che Guevara, or a German-influenced pronounced as /[x]/ or Ancient Greek-influenced pronounced as /[k]/ in machismo. The (z) in the Spanish word chorizo is sometimes realized as by English speakers, reflecting more closely the pronunciation of (z) and (zz) in Italian and Italian loanwords in English. This is not the pronunciation of present-day Spanish, however. Rather, the (z) in chorizo represents pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/ (depending on dialect) in Spanish.[9]
The Swedish word smorgasbord (smörgåsbord) is often pronounced by English speakers with a pronounced as /link/ at the start instead of pronounced as /link/.
Hyperforeignisms sometimes occur in Polish with English loanwords or names. One example would be the name Roosevelt, which is pronounced pronounced as /pl/, as if it started like ooze, even though a natural Dutch pronunciation would be closer to the English one.
Polish loanwords from Japanese are often subject to hyperforeignism. The names of three of the four main islands of Japan, Honsiu, Kiusiu, and Sikoku, are already Polish transcriptions with close approximations of Japanese sounds—pronounced as /pl/, pronounced as /pl/, and pronounced as /pl/—but are often pronounced with changing native pronounced as //ɕ// into foreign pronounced as //sj//. Other Japanese words use English-based (Hepburn) transcriptions, which causes further problems.
Phenian, a now obsolete Polish name for Pyongyang, which was a transcription of Russian Russian: Пхеньян, is commonly pronounced pronounced as /pl/, as if ⟨ph⟩ represented the voiceless labiodental fricative (/f/) like in words of Greek origin.
In Norwegian, like in Swedish, entrecôte can be pronounced without the final pronounced as /link/. This might also happen in pommes frites (french fries), and the pronounced as /link/ is often removed in the pronunciation of Béarnaise sauce.[10]
Several varieties of Greek, such as that spoken in Tyrnavos, may retain front rounded vowels in Turkish loanwords, e.g., dʒüdʒés 'dwarf,' from Turkish cüce.[11]
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