Loanword typology: Steps toward a systematic cross-linguistic study of lexical borrowability

This paper gives an overview of some of the general issues arising when one studies lexical borrowing across languages. It discusses the motivations and goals (Section 2), kinds of loanwords (Section 3), factors influencing borrowability (Section 4), and factors determining the borrowing behavior of different languages (Section 5). The context is a collaborative cross- linguistic project on loanwords and lexical borrowability coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (2003–2007)