Word formation by external motivation in Spanish and French
[Formacion de palabras por motivacion externa en espanol y en frances]
Diana Patricia Varela Cano
DOI: 10.18355/XL.2020.13.01.17
Abstract
To define the area of word formation, it is necessary to take into account that lexicon is included in morphology. Lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, region, activity, or branch of knowledge. While morphology deals with the internal structure of the word, etymology studies the origin, evolution and growing process of the lexical fund of a language. This process of lexical enrichment may be the result of internal and external causes or motivation. External motivation refers to foreign words being borrowed or taken over by a linguistic system that does not have a word to designate that specific concept. Spanish takes over such expressions in two different ways, sometimes keeping their original structure and some others assimilating it.
Key words: lexicon, external motivation, borrowings, foreign words, neologisms, phraseological expressions