The Phenomenon of “Faux Amis” in the Context of Linguistic Research: the State of Play after 2000 and Possible Challenges against the Background of Globalisation
The Phenomenon of “Faux Amis” in the Context of Linguistic Research: the State of Play after 2000 and Possible Challenges against the Background of Globalisation

Summary/Abstract: Compared to other lexical phenomena, “faux amis” have been less taken into consideration by the linguistic research of the past years. The fact that the category of false friends is still difficult to define is probably a reason for linguists to avoid this topic. At the same time, it is interesting to follow the never-ending debate regarding the inclusion or exclusion of certain words and word combinations in the category of “faux amis” and the present paper aims, among others, at analysing the way in which linguists define and develop glossaries of false friends. A further difficulty is – under certain circumstances – to draw the almost invisible line between the class “faux amis” and internationalisms; seen in the context of globalisation, internationalisms play an important role in linguistic research, while false friends tend to be disregarded. However, this article shows the close links as well as the relevant distinctions between the two classes and the arguments for developing research on the topic of false friends for didactic and scientific purposes.

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