There is, however, one form of adaptation that does not enrich the lexicon, namely adaptation through loan shift. By definition, loan shifts simply redefine the meanings of existing lexical items, without adding new words. Moreover, the result of loan shifting is an increase in polysemy, which potentially can lead to ambiguities. Consider the case of Germ. Papier discussed in § 4 above. The increase in the semantic range of this word from ‘(sheet of) paper’ to ‘(sheet of) paper; journal article, presentation at a professional meeting’ increases the possibility of misunderstanding such sentences as Ich kann mein Papier nicht finden ‘I can’t find my paper’ (is it a sheet of paper or a journal article?), which can be avoided by the old-fashioned distinction between Papier ‘(sheet of) paper’ and Aufsatz ‘article’. The situation is even worse for the plural use, Ich kann meine Papiere nicht finden, since Papiere (plur.) has the additional, specialized meaning ‘documents’.

As an alternative to loan shifts, therefore, borrowing by adoption can be justifiably argued to enrich the language, by conveying the new meaning without any ambiguity. In English, for instance, the German borrowing angst manages to more clearly indicate the intended psychoanalytical connotations than anxiety or fear.