HYPERFORĀNIST
OF CULTURE AND CONTEXT
In linguistics, a hyperforeignism is the result of a failed attempt to apply the rules of a foreign language to a loan word, or one misperceived as a loan word.
The English word ‘foreign’ is derived from the Latin word ‘forān’, which has it's routes in the language of ancient Greece. By borrowing the spelling of the Latin predecessor, ‘Hyperforānist’ is therefore a play on, not only the word, itself, but the idea of hyperforeignism as a whole.
Language and food are equally recognisable aspects of culture. So, what happens to food when it crosses borders – does it develop a new ‘accent’, in the same way that we do? When someone moves to a foreign country, or continent, they learn to adapt to the culture that exists in the place they have relocated to; they learn to speak the language if it is different to what they already know. Sure, that individual may have an influence on the community to which it is a new found part of, but the influence which he/she will experience is bound to be far greater.
The aim of Hyperforānist is to explore, not only, the influence that food has on cultures and people groups, but the extent to which food is influenced and defined by culture and context.
