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Japanese Loanwords in Hiragana

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Japanese Loanwords in Hiragana From loaning to owning: Japanese loanwords in hiragana Hannah Kunert ORCID 0000-0003-2250-6697 Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2017 School of Languages and Linguistics, and the Asia Institute The University of Melbourne Abstract Loanwords1 (外来語・カタカナ語), which are words ‘borrowed’ from other languages, are an integral part of the Japanese language, and are estimated to account for around 10% of the modern Japanese lexicon. While loanwords are conventionally written with the katakana script, recently some examples have been appearing in the hiragana script, which is usually reserved for words of Japanese origin. This research investigates what kinds of loanwords appear in hiragana, in which genres of text they are typically found, and why hiragana is being used in these cases. A mixed methods research design provided a broad base from which to approach this phenomenon, and consequently four different data sets were utilized: a corpus of hiragana loanwords, a survey, a series of interviews with native Japanese speakers, and four case studies of individual texts. The case studies, in particular, drew on the multimodal nature of these texts, and utilized the ‘visual grammar’ of Kress and van Leeuwen (2006), and the semiotics of typography described by Stöckl (2005) in order to understand how hiragana was being used within a text. The findings from this research illustrate the wide range of semiotic functions this marked use of script can perform, for example connoting traditional Japanese culture or cuteness; being ‘easier to read’ for perceived audiences; providing a sense of balance with the other scripts used in the text; or highlighting an instance of wordplay. While loanwords in hiragana can be described as a ‘marked’ use of language, another important finding was native Japanese speakers' general level of acceptance of these words within authentic texts, with script having the effect of blurring the line between loanword and ‘Japanese word’. The results of this study therefore extend prior research on Japanese loanwords (Loveday, 1996; Rebuck, 2002; Stanlaw, 2014); typography and graphic design (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006; Spitzmüller, 2012, 2015); and language play (Gottlieb, 2010; Knospe, 2015). These findings reinforce the often-cited flexibility and adaptability of the Japanese writing system, as well as providing new perspectives on script as a semiotic resource within the Japanese language. 1 It is noted that ‘漢語/kango’ (words borrowed from Chinese), were originally also ‘loanwords’, however they are not part of the current research project. Declaration This serves to declare that: (i) the thesis comprises only my original work; (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used; and (iii) the thesis is fewer than the maximum word limit in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Signed: Hannah Kunert Acknowledgements I would firstly like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Dr. Celia Thompson, and Dr. Ikuko Nakane; and the chair of my committee, Associate Professor Dr. Paul Gruba, for their advice and support during the course of my candidature. I am also extremely grateful for all those who gave their time to participate in my research and share their opinions with me. I also acknowledge the support of the Faye Marles Scholarship which has assisted me financially over the last three years. I would also like to thank my husband, friends, and family for all their extra support during my candidature. A big thank-you is also due to my friends and colleagues in the School of Languages and Linguistics and the Asia Institute for sharing the highs and lows of my research journey with me; especially my fellow travellers, the PhD candidates in room 308. Table of contents Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .......................................................................................................................... 2 1.1.1 The Japanese writing system ........................................................................................ 2 1.1.2 Loanwords in Japanese ................................................................................................. 8 1.2 Rationale for the current study ............................................................................................. 9 1.3 Aim and research questions ............................................................................................... 11 1.4 Definition of ‘loanword’ ................................................................................................... 12 1.5 The use of Japanese in the thesis ....................................................................................... 14 1.6 Overview ............................................................................................................................ 15 Chapter 2 Literature Review .................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Social semiotics ................................................................................................................. 16 2.2 Multimodality .................................................................................................................... 20 2.3 Systemic functional linguistics .......................................................................................... 22 2.4 Socio-historical connotations of the Japanese scripts ........................................................ 25 2.5 Loanwords in Japanese ..................................................................................................... 29 2.5.1 A brief history of foreign language contact in Japan ................................................. 29 2.5.2 Adapting foreign words into Japanese ....................................................................... 34 2.5.3 Functions of loanwords .............................................................................................. 38 2.5.4 Perceptions of loanwords ........................................................................................... 40 2.6 ‘Non-standard’ orthography............................................................................................... 44 2.7 Language play .................................................................................................................... 51 2.8 Typography ........................................................................................................................ 55 2.9 Translingualism.................................................................................................................. 60 2.10 Conclusions from the literature review ............................................................................ 63 Chapter 3: Research design and methodology ......................................................................... 66 3.1 Terminology ....................................................................................................................... 66 3.2 Epistemological background .............................................................................................. 67 3.3 Design of the current research project ............................................................................... 69 3.4 Data collection and analysis............................................................................................... 73 3.4.1 Layer 1: Descriptive statistical analysis of loanwords in hiragana ............................. 73 Layer 1: Data Collection .................................................................................................. 74 Layer 1: Data Analysis..................................................................................................... 80 Layer 1: Summary of research design ............................................................................. 87 3.4.2 Layer 2: Case studies of selected texts ....................................................................... 87 Layer 2: Data Collection .................................................................................................. 89 Layer 2: Data Analysis..................................................................................................... 91 Layer 2: Summary of the research design........................................................................ 95 3.4.3 Layer 3: Survey investigating opinions of loanwords in hiragana ............................ 96 Layer 3: Data Collection .................................................................................................. 97 Layer 3: Data Analysis................................................................................................... 102 Layer 3: Summary of the research design...................................................................... 107 3.4.4 Layer 4: Interviews and focus groups ...................................................................... 108 Layer 4: Data Collection ................................................................................................ 109 Layer 4: Data Analysis................................................................................................... 118 Layer 4: Summary of the research design...................................................................... 119 Chapter 4 Findings from the corpus analysis
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