Lost in Translation: Exploring the Semantic Derogation of Borrowed English Words in Pashto and Urdu Languages

Abstract

Semantic Derogation is the process of the devaluation of meaning where words that carry either neutral or positively loaded meaning, get transformed and acquire totally negative associative meanings. This process happens many times with the passage of time in the history of each and every language. As Minju Kim (2008) says that this phenomenon is not limited to English language but is also experienced by a number of languages (p.149). This Paper aims to shed light on the semantic history of the borrowed words from English into Pashto and Urdu languages and have later undergone through the process of Semantic Derogation. This investigation is carried out by mixed methods approach. Structural interviews were conducted as per the demand of the subject matter of this research. The respondents were given questionnaires with close ended quarries. This analysis or research suggests that the female gender is targeted more severely than that of male gender through this phenomenon of semantic derogation. Besides, this process is in a way cyclic and dynamic in nature, which is experienced by each and every language at any particular stage of its history.