ABSTRACT
In the core-periphery structure, a set of vocabulary can be stratified according to the distance from the core of the lexical space of a language. The lexical borrowings in the Han dynasty can be classified into two: a set of vocabulary from the Huns and a set of vocabulary from central Asia. Chinese loanwords can be classified into four types: Phonetic loans, semantic loans, graphic loans, and hybrids. The functions of both perception and phonology are significantly important in Mandarin loanword adaptation. The tendency for the preservation of English coda /s/ and the tendency for the deletion of English coda /t/ show that the borrower’s perception plays a role in Mandarin loanword adaptation. An English vowel is mapped into various Mandarin vowels. However in this process, vowel quality is often disregarded in Mandarin loanword adaptation while consonant adaptation is usually faithfully mapped.
