Metaphern im Sprachkontakt

anhand von Beispielen aus dem französischen und spanischen Internetwortschatz

Abstract

In language contact, speakers in principal have various possibilities to deal with foreign word material. Today, most linguists agree that there is no general explanation for the fact that speakers borrow a loan word in some cases while they prefer a loan translation or an indigenous creation in others. However, the analysis of French and Spanish Internet terms shows that in general metaphors are rendered by loan translations because of their cognitive, mnemonic and aesthetical advantages. Only in those cases in which a literal translation is impossible for semantic or formal reasons, speakers use loan words.