INTRALINGUAL INTERNATIONALISM English in Japan and 'English Made in Japan' Master's Thesis Annika Oksanen University of Jyväskylä Department of Languages English November 2010 JYVÄSKYLÄN YLIOPISTO Tiedekunta – Faculty Laitos – Department Humanistinen tiedekunta Kielten laitos Tekijä – Author Annika Oksanen Työn nimi – Title INTRACULTURAL INTERNATIONALISM English in Japan and ”English Made in Japan” Oppiaine – Subject Työn laji – Level Englannin kieli Pro gradu -tutkielma Aika – Month and year Sivumäärä – Number of pages Marraskuu 2010 97 sivua + 3 liitettä Tiivistelmä – Abstract Tämä tutkielma käsittelee englanninkielisiä lainasanoja japanin kielessä. Japanissa on havaittavissa huomattava englanninkielisten lainasanojen läsnäolo, jonka lisäksi japanin kielen sisällä luodaan uusia sanoja englanninkielisen sanaston pohjalta. Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan, uhkaavatko lainasanat japanin kieltä ja sen sanastoa, vai onko kummallakin kielellä oma alueensa japanissa. Lisäksi, koska Japanissa luodaan pseudo- englantia, joka ymmärretään vain japaninkielisessä kontekstissa, on tärkeää tutkia, mikä on näiden sanojen asema normaaleihin lainasanoihin verrattuna. Etenkin kielenoppimisen kannalta on tärkeää, että sanan alkuperä tiedetään. Tutkimusta varten kerättiin aineisto kyselyllä, johon vastasi 37 japanilaista opiskelijaa. Kysely käsitti kolme osaa, joista ensimmäisessä kysyttiin vastaajilta, osaavatko he sanoa ovatko sanat oikeita lainasanoja vai Japanissa luotua ”pseudo-englantia”. Toisessa osassa vastaajilta tiedusteltiin, käyttävätkö he annetusta sanaparista japaninkielistä versiota vai englanninkielistä lainasanaa. Kyselyn kolmas osa koostui avoimista kysymyksistä, joiden avulla pyrin saamaan kuuluviin vastaajien mielipiteitä lainasanoja ja ”pseudo-englantia” kohtaan. Tulokset viittaavat siihen, että sanojen alkuperästä ei ole riittävästi tietoa. Monenlaiset englantilaisperäiset sanat hämmentävät japanilaisia, mutta etenkin Japanissa luotu ”pseudo- englanti” lasketaan lähemmäksi japanin kieltä kuin englantia. Englannin kielellä on selkeä funktio japaninkielisen sanaston laajentajana ja uusien asioiden kielenä, eikä se sinänsä ole uhka paikalliselle sanastolle. Asiasanat – Keywords asenteet, englannin kieli, japanin kieli, lainasanat Säilytyspaikka – Depository Kielten laitos Muita tietoja – Additional information TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 7 2 ENGLISH IN EAST ASIA ................................................................................................................ 10 2.1 English in China and Taiwan ............................................................................................. 11 2.2 English in Korea...................................................................................................................... 12 3 JAPANESE LANGUAGE................................................................................................................... 15 4 ENGLISH IN JAPAN.......................................................................................................................... 18 4.1 Historical context .................................................................................................................. 18 4.2 English within the Japanese language ..........................................................................21 4.3 Intracultural English ............................................................................................................ 23 4.4 Western popular culture in Japan...................................................................................24 5 CREATION OF LOANWORDS IN JAPANESE...........................................................................26 5.1 Loan translation...................................................................................................................... 27 5.2 Compounding with native Japanese words or elements........................................28 5.3 English made in Japan ......................................................................................................... 29 5.3.1 Compounding, clipping and initialisms...............................................................30 5.3.2 Semantic change and metaphoric meaning ......................................................32 6 USES OF LOANWORDS IN JAPAN..............................................................................................34 6.1 Creators and users of loanwords.....................................................................................34 6.2 Motivation for use of loanwords .....................................................................................35 6.2.1 Filling a lexical gap ...................................................................................................... 36 6.2.2 Telling the East from the West ................................................................................36 6.2.3 Additional shades of meaning ................................................................................37 6.2.4 Euphemisms and social change..............................................................................38 7 PROBLEMS REGARDING LOANWORDS IN JAPANESE......................................................40 8 RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND DATA ........................................................................................44 8.1 Research questions and the questionnaire ................................................................44 8.2 The participants...................................................................................................................... 46 9 RESULTS ............................................................................................................................................. 48 9.1 The participants' English skills ........................................................................................48 9.2 Origins of English loans....................................................................................................... 49 9.3 Preference in use of similar terms .................................................................................53 9.3.1 Nouns................................................................................................................................. 54 9.3.2 Adjectives ........................................................................................................................ 57 9.3.3 Colours ............................................................................................................................. 59 9.3.4 Verbs.................................................................................................................................. 60 9.4 Opinions about loanwords.................................................................................................63 9.4.1. Contexts for loanwords.............................................................................................63 9.4.2. Loanwords and other Japanese words................................................................65 9.4.3 Opinions about wasei eigo.........................................................................................67 9.4.4 Distinguishing loanwords from wasei eigo .......................................................70 9.4.5 The appearance of loanwords.................................................................................72 9.4.6 Understanding loanwords.........................................................................................74 9.4.7 Effect of loanwords on Japanese.............................................................................76 9.4.8 The use of loanwords in studying English..........................................................81 9.4.9 Favourite loanwords ..................................................................................................83 10 DISCUSSION.................................................................................................................................... 85 10.1 Issues surrounding wasei eigo ......................................................................................85 10.2 Word preference ................................................................................................................ 88 10.3 Other opinions and language learning........................................................................89 11 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 93 12 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................ 94 APPENDIX 1: Hiragana and katakana syllables. ...................................................................98 APPENDIX 2: The questionnaire .................................................................................................. 99 APPENDIX 3: Translation of the questionnaire....................................................................107 7 1 INTRODUCTION Different languages employ different means of adjusting loanwords into the local vocabulary. With many languages it is common only to match the pronunciation to the target language. In Western languages (written in Latin alphabet), it is customary to adjust the pronunciation to match the target language (e.g. 'printer' becomes printteri in Finnish).