PHONOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF BORROWED WORDS AND NEOLOGISMS IN ENGLISH ORAL SPEECH

Abstract

The present study investigates the phonological characteristics of borrowed words and neologisms in contemporary English oral speech. As English continues to expand globally, it integrates lexical items from a wide range of languages while simultaneously generating new words driven by technological advancement, digital communication, and sociocultural change. These lexical innovations enter spoken English with varying degrees of phonological adaptation. Through a descriptive and analytical approach, this research examines key phonological processes—segmental substitution, stress shift, syllabic reduction, cluster simplification, prosodic assimilation, and pronunciation variability—observed in the oral use of loanwords and neologisms. The study demonstrates that borrowed words undergo gradual nativization influenced by English phonotactic constraints, while neologisms exhibit high variation due to their origin in written digital contexts and their rapid spread across speech communities. The findings highlight the dynamic nature of modern English phonology and its continuous evolution under global and technological influences.