ABSTRACT
Lexical borrowing is typically where items of vocabulary are imported by speakers of one language from the lexical stock of another. Lexical borrowing by speakers of colloquial and in-group language varieties has formed the focus of a number of studies, both academic and popular. As these considerations suggest, analysis of borrowing can require some deep digging to understand not only why such borrowing occurs, but also how a word may or may not be modified for use as it enters the receiving lexicon. Although there are some varieties that are reported not to rely on borrowing from other languages to any great extent lexical borrowing tends to constitute an important process for supplementing youth and criminal lexicons. It is possible that the speaker of the borrowing language may be guided by analogy.
