Lexical convergence and divergence in Portuguese 691950s there are many more loanwords and non-adapted forms in BP than in
EP, and, as we can see in Table 12, many more loans are consistently
adapted through time and translated in BP than in EP. The consequence of
these changes in BP, stronger between the 1950s and the 1970s, is the way
BP draws closer to EP, reflected in the evolution of loanwords rather than
in the conformation of one variety in relation to the other.
Table 12. Adaptations/translations of English borrowings in the football corpus
A’Engl.adapt (P50) 6,0% 2,8% A’Engl.adapt (B50)
A’Engl.adapt (P70) 7,9% 16,9% A’Engl.adapt (B70)
A’Engl.adapt (P00) 8,9% 16,0% A’Engl.adapt (B00)Table 13. Evolution of some English loans in the football corpus
BP EP
goal-keeper goleiro (gol + -eiro) guarda-redes
goal gol baliza
corner córner pontapé de canto
penalty pênalti grande penalidade
back beque defesa
shoot chute pontapé na bola
offside impedimento fora-de-jogoAs for the corpus of clothing, we observe a decrease in French borrowings
(stronger in BP) and an increase in English loans in the two varieties, due
to well-known sociocultural reasons. The use of foreign loanwords in gen-
eral is rising in the case of EP and remains quite stable in BP. The influence
of foreign loans remains stronger in the Brazilian variety, but the difference
between the varieties is weaker in the clothing vocabulary than in the foot-
ball vocabulary. The relative symmetry of the changes observed in the pro-
portion of loanwords with regard to clothing in the two varieties is overall
consistent with the aforementioned global divergent tendency.
As far as both lexical fields are concerned, evidence shows a growing
influence of English, particularly in the Brazilian variety (even though a
slight weakening of this influence is perceived in the field of football in
BP). Evidence also confirms the decreasing influence of French (though the
degree of French influence on the vocabulary of football is hardly signifi-