Abstract Previous studies on loanwords have tended to be langue-based, focusing on lexicographical documentation and on establishing formal criteria for integration of loanwords into the recipient language in terms of experiential meaning. The recent pragmatic turn in loanword studies signals a parole-oriented approach which shifts attention to the use and functions of loanwords in the recipient language beyond denotative meanings alone. However, there has not been a consistent systematic linguistic framework that could characterize loanwords in the recipient language and that could explore the interaction of langue and parole concerning loanwords. This paper intends to fill this gap by proposing a corpus-informed systemic functional linguistic (SFL) model to account for the characterology of loanwords. Based on the proposed multi-stratal model, kowtow, a Chinese loanword into the English language, is examined for its behaviours at the strata of phonology, lexicogrammar, and discourse semantics as well as how it is embedded in context. Attention at these various levels shows that kowtow demonstrates rich lexicogrammatical productivity in the recipient language and displays strikingly different lexicogrammatical patterns from its Chinese counterpart, indicating that its meaning potentials are activated and extended in the cross-cultural contexts. In fact, by crossing cultures, it actually inverts its connotative meaning.

中文翻译：

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汉语外来词表征的系统功能模型研究：以磕头为例

摘要 以往对借词的研究倾向于以语言为基础，侧重于词典编纂和建立将借词融入接受者语言的经验意义的正式标准。最近外来词研究的务实转向标志着一种以假释为导向的方法，该方法将注意力转移到接受语中外来词的使用和功能上，而不仅仅是外延意义。然而，还没有一个一致的系统语言框架可以表征接受者语言中的外来词，并且可以探索语言和假释在外来词方面的相互作用。本文旨在通过提出一种基于语料库的系统功能语言 (SFL) 模型来解释外来词的特征，从而填补这一空白。基于提出的多层次模型，kowtow 是英语中的一个汉语外来词，研究了它在音系、词汇语法和话语语义层面的行为以及它如何嵌入上下文中。这些不同层次的关注表明，磕头在接受语中表现出丰富的词汇语法生产力，并显示出与汉语截然不同的词汇语法模式，表明其意义潜力在跨文化语境中被激活和扩展。事实上，通过跨文化，它实际上颠倒了它的内涵。这些不同层次的关注表明，磕头在接受语中表现出丰富的词汇语法生产力，并显示出与汉语截然不同的词汇语法模式，表明其意义潜力在跨文化语境中被激活和扩展。事实上，通过跨文化，它实际上颠倒了它的内涵。这些不同层次的关注表明，磕头在接受语中表现出丰富的词汇语法生产力，并显示出与汉语截然不同的词汇语法模式，表明其意义潜力在跨文化语境中被激活和扩展。事实上，通过跨文化，它实际上颠倒了它的内涵。