English Loanwords in Vietnamese Youth Communication: A Case Study in Cần Thơ University

Abstract

"The increasing influence of English as a global lingua franca has led to the widespread presence of English loanwords in contemporary Vietnamese, particularly among young people. This study investigates the use, adaptation, and perception of English loanwords in the daily communication of students at Can Tho University (CTU), a major higher-education institution in the Mekong Delta. Adopting a mixed-methods case study design, the research integrates quantitative survey data (N = 200), qualitative semi-structured interviews (N = 10), and a mini corpus of 300 naturally occurring instances collected from social media, messaging platforms, and survey responses. The findings reveal that English loanword use among CTU students is frequent and context-sensitive, with the highest usage occurring in peer interaction, academic-related communication, and online environments. Loanwords such as “deadline”, “OK”, “trend”, and “chill” are among the most commonly used items, reflecting both academic needs and digital communication practices. Corpus analysis shows a strong dominance of the Academic and Social Media semantic fields, while Lifestyle-related borrowing remains limited. Linguistically, most loanwords are directly borrowed and retain their original English spelling, with integration primarily occurring through code-mixing within Vietnamese syntactic structures rather than extensive phonological adaptation. Regarding motivation, the study demonstrates that communicative efficiency and lexical gaps are the primary drivers of borrowing, whereas identity expression and trend-following play secondary roles. Importantly, students display a high level of pragmatic awareness, selectively avoiding English loanwords in formal or intergenerational contexts. Overall, the findings suggest that English loanword use at CTU is a functional and adaptive linguistic strategy shaped by academic demands, digital media, and local sociocultural norms, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of language contact in regional Vietnam."