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Discussion » Questions » Language » Are there any languages still in use today (living languages) that do not contain ANY loan words from other languages whatsoever?

Are there any languages still in use today (living languages) that do not contain ANY loan words from other languages whatsoever?

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Posted - June 27, 2016

Responses


  • 53505
    Thank you, a very concise analysis.

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      June 27, 2016 4:42 PM MDT
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  • 53505
    Yes, a good point, but it's been brought up that the probability exists of those obscure languages having loan words from each other as opposed to from more commonly-encountered languages outside of their proximities.
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      June 27, 2016 4:50 PM MDT
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  • An exmaple would be that the !Xoo word "naa koo" meaning "time" was borrowed from Kgalagadi, a Niger-Congo langauge. !Xoo is a click language of the Khoi-San "family", but here it has borrowed a basic vocabulary word from a neighboring non-click Bantu language. So yes, it does happen.

    Another example would be Sandawe, a click language spoken in Tanzania that has borrowed some terms for machinery and modern concepts from Swahili.  

    While languages of isolated tribes may be the most likely candidates for having no loanwords in their corpus, unless a tribe truly has absolutely no contact with anyone else, it's likely that there are at least some borrowings, even if the borrowings occur within the same family. 

      June 27, 2016 6:36 PM MDT
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  • 17593

    I doubt those two languages add trendy words like google as a verb like American English would.   I'm not sure the English English would.  :)  Let's check and see......................

      June 27, 2016 6:58 PM MDT
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  • 17593

    I went to the video looking for a blue link Languages to click on.  Yeah, go ahead, I laughed at me too.  ;)

      June 27, 2016 7:01 PM MDT
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  • 53505
    You may be correct about modern or trendy words. Over the passage of time, older and/or less trendy words might have been borrowed.
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      July 1, 2016 8:07 AM MDT
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