Nominalizing "-ing" as a case study of affix borrowing: an FDG account

Abstract

In this paper, I explore a particular type of borrowing into the Spanish language, the use of the English suffix -ing with Spanish bases, and provide an account of both its emergence in the language and its use in peninsular Spanish which is compatible with the general architecture of Functional Discourse Grammar and the theory of verbal interaction in which the grammar component is integrated. First, I introduce some relevant notions of contact-induced language change, lexical and affix borrowing and their motivating factors. Next, I describe the widespread use of -ing Anglicisms in the Spanish language with special attention to hybrid forms containing Spanish bases. I address the question whether the use of English -ing suffix with Spanish bases qualifies as a case of direct or indirect affix borrowing and I conclude that the process shows signs of both at the same time. In the second part of the paper, I integrate my findings in the theory of Functional Discourse Grammar. I argue that the Contextual Component is crucial both in accounting for the motivation of this borrowing and the derivational use of the suffix, which is introduced directly from
the context and feeds the Morphosyntactic encoder.