Dictionary

allogenism en · NOUN

Etymology

allo- + gen- + -ism

Meanings

1. (rare) A pseudo-loan, or sometimes specifically a lexical construction (term or phrase) made using elements from another language, but which does not exist in that language.
   • Notable is the fact that soft has become the base for an allogenism, the verb a resofta ('to reinstall', 'to jailbreak'). 2019, Marinela Burada, “Localization in Technospeak”, in Marinela Burada et al., Languages in Action: Exploring Communication Strategies and Mechanisms:
   • Allogenisms can be defined as lexical constructions made in one language using material from another language, and as such may be considered as a subclass of false loans. […] However, it turns out they are more extensively dealt with in unconventional sources, such as Wiktionary, and that they appear to occur more frequently in more marginal lexical fields such as brand names, film titles and slogans. [2015, John Humbley, “Allogenisms: The major category of "true" false loans”, in Cristiano Furiassi, Henrik Gottlieb, Pseudo-English: Studies on False Anglicisms in Europe:
   • We also document, as a key feature of SMS communication, hybrid forms of language use that blur the boundaries between what we commonly call languages (e.g. homographs, mixed spellings or allogenisms), and we suggest that these possibly indicate that SMS communication has become one site where the tension between localized and globalized social practices is played out. 2012 January, Étienne Morel et al., “SMS communication as plurilingual communication: Hybrid language use as a challenge for classical code-switching categories”, in Lingvisticæ Investigationes, volume 35, number 2, →DOI, pages 260–288:

Forms

Relateds

alienism

Translations (1)

fr allogénisme (lexical construction using elements from a language but which does not exist in that language)