Anglicisms in the tourism domain of the Albanian language

Abstract

Abstract: This study was carried out to examine the effects of English language on written Albanian. More specifically, it looked at Tourism Laws (and their accompanying documentation) of Kosovo and Albania to determine whether there were tourism-related loanwords from English in the language used in those documents and if so, to what extent. Furthermore, the study sought to investigate the loanwords semantically in order to establish whether they are employed in the absence of Albanian equivalents or are borrowed unnecessarily. The quantitative data collected from the aforementioned documents revealed that tourism-related loanwords are used when there are no Albanian counterparts. The results showed that out of 98 loanwords, 55 (or 56%) are employed to convey specific meanings because no Albanian equivalents exist, whereas 43 words (44%) were borrowed unnecessarily. Additionally, the analysis of the borrowings revealed that, beside words whose meaning has remained the same, there are loanwords whose meaning is restricted to only specific contexts in Albanian, and borrowings that have expanded their meaning. The study shows that English has had an impact on Albanian, particularly in the sphere of tourism, as a result of Modern Mass Tourism in general, and its function as a lingua franca in particular.