Anglicisms in the Bosnian Language of

Computer Science

AMEL SADIKOVI
Demal Bijedi University of Mostar
Faculty of Humanities
English Language Department

Abstract- Introducing Information technology in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not only brought new
technology, but also led to an emergence of new words and terms. Since this branch is largely
developed in English speaking countries, it is natural that the original words were of English origin. The
aim of this paper was to display how and why these anglicisms have entered the Bosnian language,
and to give an overview of the most commonly used anglicisms in the field of computer science. For
this paper textbooks in Bosnian in the field of computer science were consulted, and the most
representative terms and expressions were analyzed and dealt with based on two levels of adaptation:
phonological and morphological. The results were discussed showing that Bosnian language displays a
natural disposition towards adopting foreign words in the field of computer science.

Keywords: Computer Science, Anglicisms, Adaptation, Results

1. Introduction

An Anglicism is a word or phrase borrowed from English into a foreign language, from Latin Anglicus,
which means English. i Along with Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian, and Montenegrin, Bosnian belongs to
the western group of the South Slavic Languages. This is a language rich in loan words from not only
other European languages but also from Turkish, Arabic, and Persian. ii

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It may seem simple at first, but the reasons why and the very process of borrowing words is complex
and involves many usage events. Some speakers of the borrowing language know the source language
too, and use them to exactly express the idea.

If the speaker is bilingual, it is most likely that the pronunciation of the borrowed word will stay the as
it was, for example Bosnian language adopted the words tank, check, film etc. with a pronunciation
very close to the original one in English. At the beginning the users of the new, borrowed word can
use it only with other speakers of the source language, while for others it is considered to be only a
foreign word.

Once a word comes to the point where it becomes familiar to people who know little or nothing of the
source language, it can be called a borrowing or a loanword.

This whole process is a part of a linguistic phenomenon called neology. iii

2. Reasons for borrowing

"One language may possess words for which there are no equivalents in the other language. There
may be words for objects, social, political, and cultural institutions and events or abstract concepts
which are not found in the culture of the other language. We can take some examples from the English
language throughout the ages. English has borrowed words for types of houses (e.g. castle, mansion,
teepee, wigwam, igloo, bungalow). It has borrowed words for cultural institutions (e.g. opera, ballet).
It has borrowed words for political concepts (e.g. perestroika, glasnost, apartheid). It often happens
that one culture borrows from the language of another culture words or phrases to express
technological, social or cultural innovations."iv

Informatics and computer science are relatively new concepts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, so it is
natural that there are no equivalents for terms belonging to the branches of study mentioned above.
The English language is sometimes described as the lingua franca of computing. In comparison to other
sciences, where Latin and Greek are the principal sources of vocabulary, computer science borrows
more extensively from English.v Bosnian authors and professors in the field of computer science do
not have or cannot find terms in Bosnian so they have to use the English ones, but this is not always
the case. However sometimes authors use the English term even though the same term does exist in
Bosnian language, but its not used, either because its unknown to the author or to the majority of
the readers, or it is just easier to use a foreign word instead the equivalent in Bosnian.

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 3. Computer-related anglicisms in the Bosnian language

Taking into consideration all mentioned above, and after consulting Bosnian literature in the field of
computer science, three categories of cases were obvious.

Cases in which no equivalent could be found to the English terms (for example Router- Ruter,
Processor- Procesor).

In other cases the English term has been completely replaced with its Bosnian equivalent (for example
Motherboard- Matina ploa, Keyboard- Tastatura).

Sometimes the English term and its Bosnian equivalent are equally used (for example Cursor- Kursor,
Pokaziva, Password- Pasvord, Lozinka).

A list of the most representative terms and expressions encountered in textbooks is given below.

English term Bosnian equivalent

Android Android
Audio Audio
Back-up Bekap, Rezervna kopija
Buffer Bafer, Pufer
Computer Kompjuter, Raunar
Chip ip
Code Kod
Control Panel Kontrol panel, Upravljaka ploa(tabla)
Download Skinuti
Hardware Hardver
Software Softver
Print- Print out Printati-Isprintati
Processor Procesor
RAM abbr. random-access memory Ram memorija, memorija sa direktnim pristupom

Restart Restart, Ponovno pokretanje

Site Sajt, Stranica (web)
Plotter Ploter

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 4. Classification of anglicisms in terms of adaptation

Assimilation or adaptation processes are used to classify anglicisms. Filipovi (1996) structures
anglicisms according to their patterns of assimilation.

In terms of the phonological representation of anglicisms, Filipovi (1996: 42) first mentions zero
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transphonemisation. Meaning that the equivalent in Bosnian is pronounced the same as in the
source language. Examples can be found in words: Click- Klik, Floppy disc- Flopi disk.

Besides zero transphonemisation Filipovi mentions partial or compromise transphonemisation.

The pronunciation of the anglicism differs partly from the term in English, for example: The capacity is
200 gigabytes- Kapacitet je 200 gigabajta.

The last one is free transphonemisation, for unrestricted sound substitutions, meaning that in cases
when the English term doesnt use the same sound system as Bosnian, the sounds are replaced with
its representative equivalent the Bosnian. For example: Code- Kod, Interface- Interfejs.

On the level of morphological adaptation, Filipovi mentions similar categoriesvii, zero

transmorphemisation, anglicisms having the same form as the terms in English, for example: Laptop-
Laptop, Link- Link.

Compromise transmorphemistion are anglicisms that retain suffixes of the English term which are
not usual to the Bosnian morphological system. Example: Computer- Kompjuter.

In the end, complete transmorphemisation, the suffix of the English term can be replaced with the
acceptable suffix in Bosnian. For example: Application- Aplikacija.

5. Conclusion

Bosnian language has been influenced by other languages throughout its history and it is natural that
some foreign words stayed, and become a part of the language. By introducing computer science as a
new field of study in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a whole new set of words was introduced as well.

Being an international language, and used by countries where scientific and technological
development is at a high rate, English is the one that influenced the Bosnian language the most in this

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field. Anglicisms are mostly used because of the lack of equivalents in Bosnian language, or because
they are more common amongst users, than the terms Bosnian language can offer.

In most cases they were subject to some form of assimilation. The two levels of adaptation that were
dealt with above, being Phonological and Morphological, suggest that anglicisms are not always used
in the same way. Most of them had to undergo phonetic and grammatical rules of the Bosnian
language.

With all aspects taken into account that were discussed in this paper, it is visible that the Bosnian
language successfully manages to integrate foreign words, such as anglicisms in the field of computer
science. Nevertheless, the process of borrowing and using foreign words should not go without some
degree of limitations in order to keep the authenticity of the Bosnian language.

References:

i
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicism
ii
https://www.vanderbilt.edu/csls/lctlangs/bosnian.php
iii
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neologism
iv
Colin Baker and Sylvia Prys Jones, Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. Multilingual Matters,
1998
v
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_in_computing
vi
Anglicisms in German: Borrowing, Lexical Productivity, and Written Codeswitching
By Alexander Onysko
vii
R. Filipovi, Anglicizmi u hrvatskom ili srpskom jeziku: porijeklo, razvoj, znaenje, Zagreb: JAZU, kolska knjiga,
1990.
-Textbooks in Bosnian in the field of Computer science consulted:
- Poslovno - praktina informatika, Multicom, Edin Osmanbegovi, Mehmed Latifagi 2007
- Informatika 6, za esti razred devetogodinje osnovne kole, Suada Numi 2011