Borrowing: the synchrony of integration

The notion of loanword assimilation is operationalized in a number of ways, focusing on both linguistic and social aspects. The indices of thus constructed are applied to a set of lexical data elicited from Rican children and adults from East Harlem, New York. The results this survey are analyzed statistically using the method of principal . We interpret the output in terms of the social and linguistic of words during the borrowing and integration process. Of importance are the relatively close relationship between increase usage frequencies and the processes of phonological integration, the nature of inconsistencies in gender assignment, and the fates of lexical items for a single referent.