Problems of grammatical gender in German, with particular reference to English loan-words

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of English loanwords in German, my interest in them and the various linguistic problems which they raise was slow in awakening. The path to the present investigation led by a very circuitous route, via the observation of the linguistic fate of the many Turkish loanwords in the Balkan languages. My interest was aroused not by the semantic shifts which take place, since this happens with all sections of the lexicon, but by the fact that t hese nouns, having neither distinctive declensions nor gr. gender in Turkish, had to be fitted into the gr. systems of the host languages.