Tracking Cultural Exchanges Online through Loanword Use

Info about the Project

People adopt ideas and customs from other cultures as a result of widespread online communication. One result of intercultural exchange is the adoption of loanwords: for example, the Spanish word "tuitear" comes from the English word "tweet", used as a verb on Twitter. Loanwords are not merely adopted but often integrated into the target language, as when the English word "tweet" gained Spanish morphology when it became the verb "tuitear". This project examines the relationship between loanword integration and social attitudes to gain insight into the process of cultural exchange online.
Faculty: 
Jacob Eisenstein
Students: 
Ian Stewart