The Influence of English on the Spanish Register of Photography: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Spanish is one of the languages where the presence of English borrowing is remarkable. Many studies have dealt with Anglicisms in Spanish, not only in the general lexicon (Rodríguez González & Lillo Buades, 1997; Pratt, 1980), but also in specialized areas (Balteiro, 2014; Laviosa, 2006; López Zurita, 2005). However, despite the growing number of English loanwords incorporated on a daily basis into the Spanish register of photography, no attention has, to our knowledge, been paid to this jargon so far. Thus, the present study analyzes the semantic changes and phonetic and morphological adaptations of Anglicisms in the Spanish register of photography. For these purposes, a sample of blogs on photography in Spanish, counting around 50,000 words, was compiled. The results show a great number and variety in English borrowings, which sometimes keep their English-looking form (selfie, catchlight, flash), or appear disguised through adaptations and calques (cámara réflex, megapíxeles, clave alta, doble exposición, fotoperiodismo), or as semantic loans (disparar, ruido, quemar).