Hyperforeignism

Origin

1982, hyperforeign + -ism.

Full definition of hyperforeignism

Noun

1. (linguistics, uncountable) The misapplication of foreign pronunciation or usage.
2. (linguistics, countable) An instance or example of hyperforeignism.
• 1982, John C. Wells, Accents of English 1: An Introduction, p 108:Educated people are thus aware that words in or from foreign languages are subject to somewhat different reading rules from those applying to English. But they are often vague about them, and about the different rules applicable to different foreign languages. Many resulting pronunciations are absurd in that they reflect neither the reading rules of English nor those of the language from which the word in question comes. For example, there is an awareness based on French that /dÊ’/ is an English-type consonant, for which /Ê’/ is the ‘foreign’ equivalent. But when this leads to raj, Taj Mahal, mah-jongg, or adagio with /Ê’/ instead of /dÊ’/ (although the languages of origin have affricates in these words), we have what might well be called a hyperforeignism. in source

Synonyms

• spelling pronunciation