Linguistic borrowing from English to Jordanian Arabic at the lexical level is described, focusing on phonology and the extent to which Jordanian Arabic has affected the phonetic structure of English loans assimilated partially or completely into it. Conspicuous distinctive sound features in the two languages that may affect non-native speakers' pronunciation of loan words are examined, and common patterns of phonemic interference and substitution are analyzed. Aspects of the phonology of the assimilation of loan words discussed include devoicing, voicing, emphasis (or velarization), gemination, consonant cluster simplification, flapping, and vowel lengthening. Three sociolinguistic trends in English loan word assimilation are noted: (1) one group of speakers attributes considerable prestige to lexical innovation and borrowing and strives to show adequate knowledge and near-native English speech; (2) a second group, the majority, uses loan words unknowingly and exerts a great influence on their morphology, with a near-complete morpho-phonemic adaptation of some words; and (3) classicists or purists tend to resist all traces of foreign linguistic encroachment on Arabic and search for genuine Arabic terms or coinages for foreign concepts. (MSE)