When Value Words Cross Cultural Borders: English Tolerant Versus Russian Tolerantnyj

Abstract

This chapter investigates the situation of language change in contemporary Russian with a particular focus on value words. Using data from the Russian National Corpus, it analyses the meaning of the word tolerantnyj which has been borrowed from English. It compares its meaning with the English tolerant as a source of borrowing and the traditional Russian term terpimyj. The chapter demonstrates a shift in meaning in the borrowed term, which allows it to accommodate to the Russian value system. The meanings of the terms in question are formulated using universal meanings employed in Minimal English, which makes the comparison transparent and explicit. Show more