Anglicisation, or anglicization (see -ise vs -ize), is the process of converting verbal or written elements of any other language into a form that is more comprehensible to an English speaker, or, more generally, of altering something such that it becomes English in form or character.

The term most often refers to the process of altering the pronunciation or spelling of a foreign word when it is borrowed into English. Personal names may also be anglicised. This was rather common for names of antiquity or of foreign heads of state, and it was and is also common among immigrants to English-speaking countries (e.g., Battenberg became Mountbatten).

Loan words

Non-English words may be anglicised by changing their form and pronunciation to something more familiar to English speakers. For example, the Latin word ''obscenus'' has been imported into English in the modified form ''obscene'' . Changing endings in this manner is especially common, and can be frequently seen when foreign words are imported into any language. For example, the English word ''damsel'' is an anglicisation of the Old French ''damoisele'' (modern ''demoiselle''), meaning "young lady". Another form of anglicising is the inclusion of a foreign article as part of a noun (such as ''alkali'' from the Arabic ''al-qili'').

Proper names

Place names

Place names are commonly anglicised in English. Examples include the Italian cities of ''Napoli'' and ''Milano'', known in English as Naples and Milan, the German city of ''München'' (Munich), the Danish city of ''København'' (Copenhagen), the Swedish city of ''Göteborg'' (Gothenburg), the Dutch city of ''Den Haag'' (The Hague), the Spanish city of ''Sevilla'' (Seville), a number of Arabic speaking places, like Cairo (القاهرة ''Al-Qāhira''). Such anglicisation was once universal: nearly all cities and people discussed in English literature up to the mid-20th century had their names anglicised. In the late 20th century, however, use of non-English names in English began to become more common. When dealing with languages that use the same Latin alphabet as English, names are now more usually written in English as they exist in their local language, sometimes even with diacritical marks that do not normally exist in English. With languages that use non-Latin alphabets, such as the Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Korean Hangul and other alphabets a direct transliteration is typically used, which is then often pronounced according to English rules. Non-Latin based languages may use standard romanisation systems, such as Japanese Rōmaji or Chinese (Mandarin) Pīnyīn. The Japanese and Chinese names are spelled English following these spellings with some common exceptions, usually without Chinese tone marks and Japanese macrons for long vowels (Chóngqìng to Chongqing (重慶/重庆), Shíjiāzhuāng to Shijiazhuang (石家莊/石家庄), both in China, Kyōto to Kyoto (京都) in Japan).

De-anglicisation has become a matter of national pride in some places and especially in regions that were once under colonial rule, where vestiges of colonial domination are a sensitive subject. Following centuries of English rule in Ireland, an argument for de-anglicisation was delivered before the Irish National Literary Society in Dublin, 25 November 1892; "When we speak of 'The Necessity for De-Anglicising the Irish Nation', we mean it, not as a protest against imitating what is best in the English people, for that would be absurd, but rather to show the folly of neglecting what is Irish, and hastening to adopt, pell-mell, and indiscriminately, everything that is English, simply because it is English." Despite its status as an official language, the Irish language has been reduced to a minority language in Ireland as a result of centuries of English rule, as is the case in North America where their indigenous languages have been replaced by that of the colonists. As a consequence of national pride, anglicised names have been officially discouraged in many places: Ireland's ''Kingstown'', named by King George IV, has reverted to its original Irish name of ''Dún Laoghaire''; India's ''Bombay'' is now Mumbai, even though this is not the oldest local name (see Toponymy of Mumbai) and "''Bombay''" is still commonly used in the city; ''Calcutta'' is ''Kolkata'' and ''Madras'' is ''Chennai''. Bangladesh's ''Dacca'' is ''Dhaka''. Many Chinese endonyms have become de-anglicised: ''Canton'' is now more commonly called Guangzhou (廣州/广州), and Peking is generally referred to as Beijing (北京), although this reflected a name change from Beiping (Peiping) to Beijing (Peking) with the de-anglicisation of the name taking place after the name change to reflect a pronunciation change in Mandarin.

In other cases, established anglicised names have remained in common use where there is no national pride at stake: this is the case with ''Ghent'' (Gent/Gand), ''Munich'' (München), ''Cologne'' (Köln), ''Vienna'' (Wien), ''Naples'' (Napoli), ''Rome'' (Roma), ''Milan'' (Milano), ''Athens'' (Αθήνα/Athina), ''Moscow'' (Москва/Moskva), ''Saint Petersburg'' (Санкт-Петербург/Sankt-Peterburg), ''Warsaw'' (Warszawa), ''Prague'' (Praha), ''Bucharest'' (Bucureşti), ''Belgrade'' (Београд/Beograd), ''Lisbon'' (Lisboa) and other European cities whose names have been familiar in their anglicised forms for centuries. However, the de-anglicised names now often appear as an alternative on maps, in airports, etc.

Often the English name reflects a French origin, sometimes unchanged from French, e.g. Cologne, sometimes changed slightly, e.g. Vienna (Vienne), Venice (Venise). The English city-name for the Czech capital - 'Prague' is taken verbatim from the French name for the city, itself descended from the Latin name for the city (Praga), which had been borrowed from an earlier Czech name (pre-dating the 'g'>'h' shift).

Sometimes a place name can appear anglicised, but is not, such as when the form being used in English is an older name that has now been changed. For example, Turin in the Piedmont province of Italy was named Turin in the original Piedmontese language, but is now officially known as ''Torino'' in Italian. English-language media can sometimes overcompensate for this in the mistaken belief that the anglicised name was imposed by English speakers and is cultural domination. The International Olympic Committee made the choice to officially regard the city as "Torino" throughout the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The English/French name for Florence in Italy is closer to the original name in Latin (''Florentia'') than is the modern Italian name (''Firenze'').

Historical personal names

In the past, the names of people from other language areas were anglicised to a higher extent than today. This was the general rule for names of Latin or (classical) Greek origin. Today, the anglicised name forms are often retained for the more common persons, like Aristotle for ''Aristoteles'', and Adrian or (later) Hadrian for ''Hadrianus''. However, less well-known persons from the antiquity now are often given their full name (in the nominative case).

For royalty, the anglicisation of personal name was a general phenomenon, especially until recently: Charles for ''Carlos'', ''Karoly'', and ''Karl''; Frederic for ''Friedrich'' or ''Fredrik'', etc. Anglicisation is still the rule for popes, including recent ones: Pope John Paul II instead of ''Ioannes Paulus II'', Pope Benedict XVI instead of ''Benedictus XVI''.

Immigrant family and personal names

During the time in which there were large influxes of immigrants from Europe to the United States and United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries, the names of many immigrants were changed.

French immigrants to the United States (both those of Huguenot and French Canadian background) often accommodated those unfamiliar with French pronunciations and spellings by altering their surnames in either of two ways: spellings were changed to fit the traditional pronunciation (Pariseau became Parizo, Boucher became Bushey, Mailloux became Mayhew), or pronunciations were changed to fit the spelling (Benoît, pronounced , became ). In some cases, it could go either way (Gagné, pronounced , become or Gonyea), or something only slightly similar (Bourassa became Bersaw).

Most Irish names have been anglicised. A good example of this can be seen in the surnames of many Irish families – for example, Ó Briain has often become O'Brien, Ó Rothláin became Rowland, Ó Néill became O'Neill and some surnames like Ó Súilleabháin may be shortened to just O'Sullivan or Sullivan. Similarly, native Scottish names were altered such as Somhairle to Sorley, Mac Gill-Eain to MacLean, and Mac Aoidh to MacKay. Many Welsh names have also been altered, such as 'ap Hywell' to Powell, or 'ap Siôn' to Jones.

German names have also been anglicised (von Licht to Light) due to the German immigration waves during times of political instability in the late 19th century and early 20th century. A somewhat different special case was the politically motivated change of dynasty name in 1917 by the royal family of the United Kingdom from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the House of Windsor.

The anglicisation of a personal name now usually depends on the preferences of the bearer. Name changes are less common today for Europeans emigrating to the United States than they are for people originating in East Asian countries (except for Japan, which no longer has large-scale emigration). For instance, ''Xiangyun'' might be anglicised to ''Sean'' as the pronunciation is similar (though Sean - or Seán - is Irish and is a Gaelicisation of the Anglo-Norman ''Jean'', which itself has been anglicised to John).

Ethnonyms

In some cases ethnonyms may be anglicised from a term in another language (either the language of the group described or the language of another people).

Anglicisation of other languages

A more recent linguistic development is anglicisation of other languages, in which words are borrowed ''from'' English; such a word is known as an anglicism. With the rise in Anglophone media and global spread of British and American cultures in the 20th and 21st centuries, many English terms have entered popular usage in other tongues. Technology-related English words like ''internet'' and ''computer'' are particularly common across the globe, as there are no pre-existing words for them. English words are sometimes imported verbatim, and sometimes adapted to the importing language in a process similar to anglicisation. In languages with non-Latin alphabets, these borrowed words can be written in the Latin alphabet anyway, resulting in a text made up of a mixture of scripts; other times they are transliterated. Transliteration of English and other foreign words into Japanese requires the special katakana script.

In some countries such anglicisation is seen as relatively benign, and the use of English words may even take on a ''chic'' aspect. In Japan marketing products for the domestic market often involves using English or pseudo-English brand names and slogans. In other countries, anglicisation is seen much more negatively, and there are efforts by public-interest groups and governments to reverse the trend; for example, the Académie française in France insists on the use of French neologisms to describe technological inventions in place of imported English terms. But also in the province of Quebec, the Office québécois de la langue française is the equivalence of the Académie française.

Anglicisation of minority language groups

The adoption of English as a personal, preferred language is another form of anglicisation. Calvin Veltman, following the methods of analysis developed in Quebec, Canada for establishing rates of language shift, uses the term to refer to the practice of individuals in minority language groups who cease using their mother tongue as their usual, preferred language and adopt English instead. When such individuals continue to speak their mother tongue, they are referred to as "English-dominant bilinguals" and when they cease to do so, they are referred to as "English monolinguals". Rates of anglicisation may be calculated by comparing the number of people who usually speak English to the total number of people in any given minority language group.

References

See also

Anglicism

Anglosphere

Anglish

British Empire

English exonyms of Arabic speaking places

English words with diacritics

Loanword

Romanization

Assimilation (linguistics)

Category:English language Category:Scots language Category:Types of words Category:Word coinage Category:Transliteration Category:Cultural assimilation

cy:Seisnigo fr:Anglicisation he:אינגלוז nl:Verengelsing ro:Anglicizare simple:Anglicisation th:การแผลงเป็นอังกฤษ zh:英語化

Les Cowboys Fringants () are a popular band and cult phenomenon from Quebec, who perform ''Québécois'' néo-trad music (modernized Quebec folk music with a rock flavour), the band also draws on Country music. They have gained an international underground following, especially in France, French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland. There is even a group of French fans called ''Les Cousins Fringants'' (a take on the expression ''cousin'' that the French use to affectionately call French Canadians). They hail from the Montreal suburb of Repentigny and L'Assomption. The entire band collaborates on the lyrics, although guitarist Jean-François Pauzé often contributes more than the others. The fundamental aspect of the band are their explosive live performances, captured on the ''Attache ta tuque'' live album and the ''Centre Bell 30 décembre 2003'' DVD.

Overview

''Les Cowboys'' represent an important part of modern ''Québécois'' music. They are part of the néo-trad movement that appeared in Quebec around the turn of the 21st century, and they embody a resurgence of political songwriting (after the drought of the 1980s and parts of the 1990s, political songwriting had been a victim of Post-Referendum Syndrome). As the néo-trad movement adapts Quebec folklore into contemporary crafts, the political message of the band is a re-occurrence of 1970s chansonnier activist messages of left-wing solidarity and, recently, sovereignism, although in a more distinctly modern way. They also sometimes adopt a minimalist & dadaesque style, a trend of the Quebec music scene of the 2000s - a decade of voluntary simple yet nonetheless quite intelligent and Joual lyrics, therefore subversive and akin to a sort of ''lyrical naïve art''. ''(The 1970s did see the first wave of voluntary Joual art, like the songs of Robert Charlebois and Aut'chose, and the plays of Michel Tremblay, although not as willingly exaggerated. This is present even more so in the music of Les Trois Accords, Les Denis Drolet, Daniel Boucher, or in "Pépé et sa Guitare"'s (Pépé and his Guitar) song ''Carole'').''

The usual subject matter of the group includes: environmentalism, poverty, anguish and family troubles, as well as the denouncing of consumerism, exploitation, state-controlled gambling, cynical government attitude and political apathy. While some of those subjects are serious in appearance, they are often treated in a light manner, sometimes even in a ''fun'', amusing and ironic way. The band also deals with themes of Quebec history, Quebec independence, suburban life, childhood and adolescence, kitsch, relationships and sports. Their songwriting is renowned for having woven an elaborate tapestry of fictional characters with interpersonal relationships, and sometimes a number of these characters appear in more than one song. Much like their writing, the clothes of the male members of the band are quite unique, sometimes purposely ''normal'' or ''kitsch'' and something of a postmodern, second degree artistic statement. Fans have followed the trend by wearing the equally kitsch t-shirts and other ''official'' clothing, with the group logo.

The band themselves are noted fans of ''Passe-Partout'' composer Pierre F. Brault and have performed shows in his honor. They have also been influenced by French singer Renaud, and his songs with political messages and local popular language (for Renaud, the French argot).

Many of the idiosyncrasies of their music stem from Marie-Annick Lépine, a versatile musician, who makes the band line up distinct from the conventional guitar-bass-drums-singer. Her talents contribute to the vivacious sounds of instruments like the violin, mandolin and accordion. She has also worked on the Dumas album ''Le cours des jours''.

The band are currently (summer 2011) on tour visiting cities all over Quebec, France and Switzerland.

Members

Karl Tremblay ''(vocals)''

Jean-François "J-F" Pauzé ''(guitar)''

Marie-Annick Lépine ''(violin, mandolin, accordion, piano, banjo etc.)''

Jérôme Dupras ''(bass guitar, double bass)''

Previous members:

Dominique "Domlebo" Lebeau ''(drums)'' - Left the group on August 22, 2007, citing personal reasons.

Discography

''12 Grandes chansons - (1997)''

''Sur mon canapé - (1998)''

''Motel Capri'' - (April 4, 2000) - (listen)

''Enfin Réunis (12 grandes chansons + Sur Mon Canapé)'' - (November 20, 2001) - (listen)

''Break syndical'' - (March 5, 2002) - (listen)

''Attache ta tuque!'' - (May 13, 2003; live album) - (listen)

''La Grand Messe'' - (November 23, 2004) - (listen)

''Au Grand Théâtre de Québec'' - (2007; live album)

''L'expédition'' - (September 23, 2008)

''Sur un air de déjà vu'' - (October 14, 2008)

''En concert au Zénith de Paris'' - (2010; live album)

Filmography

''Centre Bell 30 décembre 2003'' - (April 13, 2004)

See also

Néo-trad

Quebec sovereignism

Politics of Quebec

List of Quebec musicians

Music of Quebec

Culture of Quebec

External links

Official site (in French)

Official forum (in French)

Category:Canadian folk rock groups Category:People from Repentigny, Quebec Category:Musical groups from Quebec

br:Les cowboys fringants de:Les Cowboys Fringants es:Les Cowboys Fringants fr:Les Cowboys Fringants pl:Les Cowboys Fringants pt:Les Cowboys Fringants