hyperforeignism
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
29
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
4
Syllables
12
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The use of a sound or form that is perceived as foreign in a context where a native sound or form would be more correct based on the original language of a given loanword.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
The misapplication of foreign pronunciation or usage more broadly; approximation that is misapprehensive or pedantic; use of a foreign form that is not in common use.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "When he wrote that he was going to “Hämbürg”, it was considered a hyperforeignism because the German form is “Hamburg”."
- "Although most hyperforeignisms are accidental, there are some intentional ones, such as Target being humorously called "Tarjay.""
- "For example, there is an awareness based on French that /dʒ/ is an English-type consonant, for which /ʒ/ is the ‘foreign’ equivalent. But when this leads to raj, Taj Mahal, mah-jongg, or adagio with /ʒ/ instead of /dʒ/ (although the languages of origin have affricates in these words), we have what might well be called a hyperforeignism. [boldfaced in source]"
- "When she talked about the beautiful “freschi”, this was considered a hyperforeignism because in English the plural form “frescoes” is used."
Etymology
Word Breakdown
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Linguistics.