Barbarism

DefinitionA barbarism is a non-standard word, expression or pronunciation in a language, particularly one regarded as an error in morphology, while a solecism is an error in syntax.

• refers to an incorrect use of language. More specifically, a barbarism is a word considered "improper" because it combines elements from different languages.

• A non-technical term for a WORD considered to offend against good taste by combining elements from different languages, especially classical with vernacular, or being used in an unsatisfactory way.

Origin

Etymology

From the Greek, "foreign speech, babble"

The following words were widely considered to be barbarisms when first used: • escalate, back-formed from escalator;

finalize, GREEK -ize added to LATIN final;• television a HYBRID of Greek tele- and

Latin vision. • Sociology – from the Latin socius,

"comrade", and the Greek λόγος (lógos) meaning "word", "reason", "discourse"

• Automobile – a wheeled passenger vehicle, from Greek αὐτός (autos) "self" and Latin mobilis "moveable"

• Monoculture – from the Greek μόνος (monos) meaning "one, single" and the Latin cultura

• Monolingual – from the Greek μόνος (monos) meaning "only" and the Latin lingua meaning "tongue"; the non-hybrid word is unilingual

• Bigram – from Latin bis meaning "twice" and Greek γράμμα (gramma); the non-hybrid word is digram

• Divalent – from Greek δύο (duo) meaning "two" and Latin valens meaning "strong"; the non-hybrid word is bivalent

Catachresis Wrong grammatical case "This is just between you and I" for "This is just between you and me" "Whom shall I say is calling?" for "Who shall I say is calling?"

Catachresis Wrong copula "The reason being..." for "The reason is..."

Grammatical error Improper empty complementizer

"The issue is his attitude is poor." for "The issue is that his attitude is poor."

Catachresis Double subject "The woman, she is here" for "The woman is here" or "She is here"

Catachresis Double negative "She can't hardly sleep" for "She can hardly sleep"

Catachresis Double copula "The issue is, is his attitude is poor." for "The issue is his attitude is poor."