NATIVIZATION

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NATIVIZATION, also nativisation.
1. The process by which a transplanted language become native to a people or place, either in addition to or in place of any language or languages already in use, as with English in Ireland and both English and French in West Africa. The process is often given a specific name, such as Africanization or Indianization (in the case of English), and takes place at every level of language, local users of that language developing, among other things, distinctive accents, grammatical usages, and items of vocabulary, such developments generally linked with their other or former languages.

2. The process by which a PIDGIN language becomes a creole, as with TOK PISIN in Papua New Guinea.

3. The process by which a foreign word becomes ‘native’ to a language, as in the various pronunciations of French garage in English. Compare ENGLISHIZE.

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