Lunguuge Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1, pp. l-21, 1980 03884001/90 $3.00 + .

OO
Printed in Grkat Britain Pergamon Press plc

English Loanwords in Japanese:

Some Cultural Implications

Bates Hoffer

Trinity University

ABSTRACT

The various loanward dictionaries published in Japan over the past two decades have
been growing in size, from some 20,000 entries in the mid-6Os to well over 30,000 by the
80s. The sociolinguistic interest in the growth is focused on the cultural implications of
such a wholesale borrowing, among other features. The categories of loanword use, the
functions of loanwords, their proscriptions in some situations, and so on are of interest,
as is the similarity of the sophistication of their use to the usage of Chinese loans of over
a millenium ago. This presentation will address the following areas: (1) a specification of
the ever more complicated categories of borrowings and their intricate &es in Japanese;
(2) an analysis of the developing functions of the loans; (3) a discussion of the cultural
attitudes which permit much borrowing in some semantic areas, less in others, to the
point of rejection in some; (4) a brief discussion of how the present process of wholesale
borrowing of English words has certain similarities to the wholesale borrowing of
Chinese language and culture some 1400 years ago. The latter point emphasizes how
language borrowing is but part of an overall process of cultural interaction.

INTRODUCTION

The number of English loanwords in Japanese has increased from zero in 1868 to
over 30,000 now listed in the most recent loanword dictionary. Such an influx of
loanwords is of especial interest to the sociolinguist interested in the interrelation
between language use and social values and to the linguist interested in observing a
language in the midst of rapid change. Together with the large number of loans
there are several types of usage of those loans which deserve attention. Among the
types analyzed below there is a creative one in which the loans are used in poetry
and advertising and so on in rather complex ways.
LSClZ:l-A
2 Language Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

The level of sophistication in the word play reminds the historical linguist of the
situation in Japan some one and one-half millenia ago. The Japanese borrowed
from China the language, the writing system, the governing system, architecture,
religions, and so on. Within a relatively short time the first great poetry collection,
the Manyoshu in 760 A.D., contained poetry which included sophisticated word
play based on the possibilities inherent in using both Chinese and Japanese forms.
While the uses of English loans have not reached the high level of literary use of
Chinese loans, the growing complexity of the uses of English over the last decade or
two suggests that the impact of English may eventually be as strong as that of
Chinese.
As is clear from the Chinese example, borrowing on a large scale is never
confined to words alone. There are general cultural implications involved, such as
changing social values, developments with intercultural relations and so on. Some
of the implications of the current borrowing situation are given after the analysis of
the types of uses of English loans and of some of the functions of those uses.

LOANWORDS IN JAPANESE

The influence of Chinese culture on Japan was profound, especially in the fifth to
eighth centuries. Since the Chinese writing system was borrowed, the vocabulary of
Chinese was open to educated Japanese. Eventually two syllabaries were developed
from the Chinese written symbols or kanji. The hiragana syllabary came to be used
for grammatical forms and for many native words; these days it is used in more
ways. The katakana syllabary was primarily used for foreign, non-Chinese items
and is still largely but not exclusively reserved for that function. In Japanese writing
today, only some 1850 kanji are in common use and all Japanese high school
graduates have learned the kanji, both syllabaries and the alphabet which came in
with the first Westerners.
European influence began in 1542 when Portuguese traders arrived, followed
later by their fellow missionaries. Dutch traders arrived soon thereafter. Few
loanwords survive from this early period; the most frequently cited is for “pan”for
“bread.” A Dutch form encountered often is “koppu*.from the Dutch “kop” for a
small glass or cup. After the Tokugawa shogunate early in the 17th century closed
Japan to all foreign contact except for a few Dutch traders far in the West of Japan,
Dutch was the only European language studied for about two and one-half
centuries. Although Russian whalers made contact in north Japan in the 19th
century, no Russian loans are in common use from that period.
Following Commodore Perry’s 1853 mission to open Japan, the country dis-
carded its military form of government and the emperor system was revitalized. The
emperor Meiji assumed the position - the Meiji Restoration - in 1868. During
 English Lmmwords in Japmese 3

these and the next few decades Japan sent many of its bright young people abroad
to study and return with the best ideas of the West. Since English was seen as the
lingua franca, Japan began the process of emphasizing English. Today over 90% of
the students graduating from high school have had six years of English language
classes. The influence of English has been high since the 19th century and has grown
almost geometrically since the 1940s. Over the decades there have been many
denunciations of the English and other borrowings as “corrupting” the language
and culture. Ironically, the denunciations themselves contain many Chinese-
derived words. During the past two decades or so, with the rapidly growing impact
of loanwords, the denunciations have lost their force. The great influx of Chinese
earlier is being matched by the current influx from the European languages,
primarily but by no means exclusively English.
The loanword dictionaries in Japan have been documenting the influx of foreign
words. Some of the dictionaries published over the past twenty-five years are noted
in the bibliography. The 1965 one from Shueisha Publishing contained some 10,000
entries. The Sanseido Publishing Company’s dictionary, first published in 1972,
was in its fourth edition in 1987 and contained over 33,000 entries. The rapid
growth of borrowings attracted a number of scholars who studied the patterns of
phonological and semantic change that occurred during the borrowing process.
Miura’s book (1979) began looking at the patterns of usage of some of the
borrowings. That pattern has become much more complex in the decade since his
book appeared, yet his book should be consulted by anyone pursuing the subject.
The linguist interested in language change and in languages in contact cannot
observe directly the various situations of massive borrowing which have occurred
over the centuries. The results may be studied and analyzed in earlier cases such as
Arabic into Spanish over the centuries of Arabic occupation, French into English
over the centuries following the conquest of 1066, Spanish into Quechua as Spain
extended its influence over South America, and so on. However, the situation in
Japan can be and is being documented as borrowing occurs. The sociolinguist looks
to investigate the various ways in which the loans are being used, the functions of
that use, the segments of society in which the various uses occur, and so on. The
analysis below, which follows a general section on borrowing, gives a broad picture
of these topics.

BORROWING/LOANWORDS

Historically many of the large scale borrowing situations have involved con-
quest, cultural domination, great disparity in one or more aspect of level of social
development, or so on. Here the situation is different since there is no contiguous
border and no large number of English speakers living within Japan. As with so
4 Language Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

many other aspects of the history of English borrowings, there are similarities to the
earlier history of Chinese borrowings.
In the early situation in Japan, China’s level of civilization was among the highest
in the world. There was no conquest and no direct cultural contact in terms of
contiguous boundaries. The impact of the high civilization of China led to a
massive borrowing of essentially all aspects of its culture, including a fundamental
one - a writing system. Eventually the Chinese systems were re-worked into the
Japanese systems. The high prestige of Chinese and the intellectual heritage it
embodied were among the reasons for the national commitment.
In the last century or so, Japanese have seen English as the lingua franca and have
included it in basic schooling. Top universities often require a high level of reading
ability in English for admission. The latest developments in science and high
technology are to a large extent found in English language materials. Given these
and the other evidence of the high level of national commitment to English, it is not
surprising that so many English loans have entered Japanese. It would be more
surprising if they were not entering Japanese language usage.

PATTERNS OF LOAN USAGE

The most frequent use of an English loan is a simple substitution or code-switch

in which an English item is used instead of the native form. Since this use is part of
the definition of borrowing, it is not listed as one of the types of usage below. The
headings under which the uses are analysed are for ease of reference. They do not
represent any set of theoretical categories or the like. The general sequence is from
easy to complex uses.
The growing complexity of the usage of loans has been studied to some extent by
the Japanese language scholars. The various uses of English loans have produced
over the years various responses from them and some of their treatments are given
in the bibliography. The easier uses are well studied and, in fact, there are in the
dictionary almost 100 pages of examples of the first one listed below.
The seven patterns of English loan usage which follow begin with the simplest
and conclude with some sophisticated word play found in Japan in the late 1980s.
Initials and acronyms are in common use, including some not found in the
European languages. Following general reduction rules, many long English loans
are abbreviated to two or three syllables. A popular use of English loans, especially
in areas such as “high tech,” is the shortening of two word compounds. Someloans
are from English but are redone in such a way that English speakers would not
recognize the meaning and perhaps even the form. Yet another use involves a
combination of English plus Japanese elements. Two especially interesting uses
include both English loans given Japanese suffixes and Japanese items with English
 English Loanwords in Japanese 5

morphology. The last type of usage treated below is that of sophisticated language
play, in which elements of two or three languages are used to create special effects.

Initials/Acronyms

There are at least three types of uses under this heading: the use of borrowed
items; the use of borrowed items plus Japanese items; new items created in Japan.
Almost 100 pages of the 1987 loanword dictionary are devoted to those borrowed
initials/acronyms which the Japanese reader may find in, for example, the Japan-
ese press. The few examples given here may suggest the magnitude of this type of
borrowing.

ABC American Broadcasting Company

but also
Australian Broadcasting Company
Asahi Broadcasting Company (see below)
Audit Bureau of Circulations
and a short form for the alphabet
C & W Country and Western (music, etc.)
IPA International Phonetic Alphabet
but also
International Phonetic Association
MIP Monthly Investment Plan
TPO Time, Place, Occasion
TQC Total Quality Control.
Some examples occur of initials standing for an original Japanese word plus
those from English.

NEC Nippon (Japan) Electric Company

ABC Asahi Broadcasting Company (see above).
Some examples were created in Japan from the English elements. One that is
used internationally is JETRO for the Japan External Trade Organization. There
are many other examples in this category than the names of entities. For example,
“BG” was used for a number of years for “Business Girl,” a woman who works in an
office. When it developed that the form could have negative connotations, it was
replaced by “OL” for “Office Lady.” To indicate the complexity, “OL” is also listed
for “overlap” and for the German “Orientierungslauf.” One of the most frequently
occurring ones in the newspapers is “DK” for “dining-kitchen,” a compound which
indicates the Westernized area for food preparation and consumption. The Japan-
ese “daidokoro” indicates the food area of the traditional style house. Here the loan
not only indicates the Westernized features but suggests something about the social
6 Language Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

values of those who rent or buy the living quarters. The Ministry of Education is
releasing an up-date of the accepted terms which may be used in official architec-
tural documents and dining-kitchen (“DK”) is now part of the regular terminology
in Japan.

Abbreviation

The second type of borrowing pattern is one that occurs regularly in languages.
Abbreviation is a dropping of all syllables after the first two or three or, occasion-
ally, four. Some of the frequent examples are:

Papartment” J/apaatomeNto/ = J/ apaato/

[used for “apartment house”]
E”building” J/ birudiNgu/ = J/ biru/
E”connection” J/ konekudoN / = J/ kone/
E”department” J/depaatomeNto/ = J/ depaato/
[used for “department store”]
E”inflation” J / iNfureelion/ = J/Sure/
E“sandwich” J/ saNdoiZi/ = J/ saNdo/
EYelevision” J/ terebijoN/ = J/ terebi/ .

The use of these abbreviations varies in frequency in various fields, types of

newspapers and magazines, and so on. For example, in highly edited Japanese only
high frequency items such as J/terebi/ would be expected. In ordinary conver-
sation of a casual or colloquial style, a high frequency of these forms can be found.
In formal styles, especially in print, their frequency is much lower.

Shortened Compounds

Compounds consisting of shortened English words seem to be proliferating in

the last few years, especially in the computer field and other high technology fields.
This type is listed as a separate category because examples include loans which are
not shortened when used alone. For example, J/ komi/ from “communication” is
not listed as a loanword dictionary entry, but J/ masu komi/ from “mass communi-
cation” is rather frequently encountered in use. The linguistic process used on
English loans is an old one in Japanese, resulting in well known examples such as
“Toodai” from “Too(kyoo) Dai(gaku)” or “Tokyo University.“Examples from the
last several years are:

eN suto en(gine) st(op)

[automobile breakdown]
katu saNdo cut(let) sand(wich)
puro resu pro(fessiona1) wres(tling)
 English Loanwords in Japanese 7

suta haEEi Star(sky) & Hutch [TV series]

hyu tekku hu(man) tech(nology)
ofu koN of(fice) com(puter)
mai koN mi(cr0) com(puter)
waa puro wo(rd) pro(cessor)
paso koN per(sona1) com(puter)
famikoN fami(ly) com(puter).

The last example may become familiar to English speakers since it will be part of
a Nintendo video game title: “Suupaa Famikon” or, in English, “Super Famikon.”

Japanese Innovations

One type of loan usage involves English words and phrases used in a new
combination or a somewhat different meaning. These new formations may or may
not be understandable to the native English speaker. In Miura’s book (1979), he
noted some of the examples included here.
One-word examples include one from baseball:

J/ naitaa/ literally “nighter”

refers to a night baseball game.

Compounds or phrases include such items as:
J/waN maN kaa/ literally “one-man car”
J/waN maN basu/ “one-man bus.”

These refer to a car or bus in which the driver must collect the fares rather than
having a “conductor” or “ticket-taker.”
J 1furu-muuN/ literally “full moon”
is, by analogy to “honeymoon,” a journey by a long-married couple (as if “second
honeymoon”); also, J/ furu/ = “old” so that the form functions in both languages
in a way that is similar to the examples in Section 7 below.
This type of example is becoming much more frequent as the use of English loans
spreads to all areas of society and in all but the more formal types of publications.

Compounds Using English and Japanese

A fifth type of loan usage involves the combination of Japanese elements and
English loans, either shortened or not, and Japanese vocabulary. Combining loans
and native words is becoming one of the most popular practices in the current use of
the Japanese language. Relatively few examples appear in the recent loanword
dictionaries, but the next edition should include many of the recent examples. One
frequently cited example in this category is a set of combinations which was coined
8 Language Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

on the campus of International Christian University in Tokyo, perhaps the most

multiethnic institution of higher education in Japan. The terms distinguish the
types of Japanese students in terms of their cultural and cognitive behavioral
patterns.

J/ hoN japa/ from J/ hoN(to-no)/ = E“rea1” -I- E”Japa(nese)”

J/ haN japa/ from J/ haN(buN)/ = E“half i- E“Japa(nese)”
J/ heN japa/ from J/ heN(na)/ = E“strange” -I- E“Japa(nese).”

Another example is from daily vocabulary and suggests the degree to which these
compounds have become nativized. This one is written in kanji (Chinese symbols)
plus katakana (the syllabary used for foreign words):

J/ haburaG/ = E”toothbrush” (i.e. J/ha/ = E“tooth” plus J/ burdi/ = E“brush”).

Loanwords and Japanese Morphology

The enumeration of the English loanwords and the description of their uses and
functions are interesting in themselves. In linguistic terms, the more interesting
situation occurs when either the loanwords begin to be used with the native
morphology or the source language morphology begins to influence the native
language use. There are indications that both these situations now exist in Japan.
Whether the latter one will have any lasting effects is a matter of conjecture. The
examples of English loanwords which are used with Japanese suffixes have been in
the loanword dictionaries for years and some have been in the regular Japanese
dictionaries as well.

English Loans with Japanese Morphology

When Chinese was borrowed into Japanese, verbs could be formed by suffixing
the generic verb J/ suru/ (“do, ” “make,” or so on) to the Chinese form. Until fairly
recently, English loans used as verbs followed this morphological pattern. This
sixth type of loan usage involves the first steps in the integration of English loans
into the inflectional system of Japanese. Yet the writing system retains an indi-
cation of the sources of the borrowed forms. Chinese remains in the consciousness
of the speaker distinctly since the earlier Chinese loans are still written in Chinese
characters and the English loans are written in katakana, i.e. the syllabary for non-
Chinese foreign words. The situation is becoming more complex as English words
begin to be written with Chinese symbols. For example, “coffee” is now commonly
written in Chinese characters.
The integration of English loanwords into the Japanese grammatical system can
be seen in such examples as J/memoru/ from E“memo(randum)” i- the verbal
ending J/ -ru/ and J/ demoru/ from E“demo(nstration)” + J/ -ru/ . These forms are
already in the 1987 edition of the loanword dictionary. Several years earlier the
 English Loanwords in Jnpmeac 9

regular Japanese language dictionary contained J/ daburu/ , meaning “increase,

double,” or so on, from E “double” i- J/ -u/ (the variant of J/ -r-u/ occurring after
consonant final verb stems). These English loans are themselves inflected, rather
than being treated as nouns with the verbalizer J/suru/ suffixed.
English loans are also entering the adjectival system. For example, the adjective
E”now” as in “the now generation” is used with the Japanese adjectival ending J/-
i/ , as in J/ naui/, and may be used with the past tense (J/ naukatta) or any other
adjectival inflection.

Japanese Words with English Morphology

Three types of examples will be given in this section. The first one is an example
of the type of two-language word formation that often occurs when students study a
foreign language. The form is a combination of Japanese with English affixed to
form a translation equivalent of the common American exclamation “unbeliev-
able.” The form in Japanese is by no means rarely encountered. “Unshinjirable”
consists of the English affixed /un-/ and /-able/ with the Japanese base form
meaning “believe.” While such forms are never or rarely encountered in print, they
do occur in spoken usage and may spread through a segment of society.
The second type of example involves the addition of an English suffix with a
Japanese form. In Japanese, a doubled onomatopoetic form is used in some cases
where English would use an adverb, for example, in [“the rain falls” +] J / zaazaa / ,
which indicates a rather heavy rainfall. Within the last few years, more and more
examples are found in spoken language, especially among the young, of the
addition of E/h/ = E”-ly” to these forms. One example is J/sorosoro/
@“leisurely”) + E / li / = J/ sorosorori/ = E‘Yeisurely-ly.” Another example is
J / Bimijimiri / = E”keenly-ly” or “heartily-ly.” As with “unshinjirable” the use may
or may not spread through more segments of society, but the use of E”-ly” is
reported from multiple sources.
A third type of use is one that is perhaps more important in terms of grammatical
impact. This usage involves only Japanese grammatical items, but the model seems
to be English grammar. The young have begun adding J/ ni/ to “adverbial” forms
which historically do not have them, as in J/ hayaku/ (= E“quickly”) i- J/nil. The
result is a form which has the force of E”quickly-ly.” Another example encountered
on college campuses is J/ hoNtoo/ (= E”assuredly”) i- J/ ni/ = E“assuredly-1y.” It
has been suggested by Japanese linguists that it is probably the anology to English
adverbs with E“-1~” that is causing the change in usage. Whether the use will spread
is not known, but it is a matter to be kept under observation by the sociolinguist.

Creative Word Play

When Chinese was introduced to Japan, the early poets soon learned to make use
of the graphics of the written symbols, the sounds of the Chinese forms, and the
10 Language Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

sound of the native words to produce poetry which could carry two or more
messages at once. At times the messages reinforced each other; at other times they
were distinct; at other times they contrasted with each other. Their creative uses of
the possibilities of the language diversity were quite advanced by the time of the first
collection of Japanese poetry in 760 A.D., the Manyoshu. Those in Japan today,
who seek to explore new and creative ways in which to use language, have an even
greater richness and diversity available to them. English, French, German and
many other languages have contributed vocabulary. The exploration of the creative
ways in which language is used in Japan is interesting as an example of the
advanced state of borrowing. Three types of creative uses are mentioned in this
section and a somewhat different one is given in the section on functions of
loanwords.
The first example illustrates a simple two language word play which has two
interpretations which reinforce each other. It is a slogan used by Japan Railways to
discourage smoking. Their sign reads J/getuyoobi-wasuwanai-dee/. (J/getuyoobi/
= E“Monday”; J/wa/ = topic marker; J/suwanai/ = E“smoke” i- negation). In
this slogan, J/dee/ has two possible interpretations, as the English loan “day” or as
a Japanese particle conveying request in the casual style. In formal style the form
J/de/ has the short post-consonantal vowel followed by J/ kudasai/ = E“please.”
In casual style J/de i- kudasai/ can become J/dee/. In the first interpretation, the
sentence is read as “Monday (is) a day of not smoking.” In the second it is read as
“Please do not smoke on Monday.” The two messages reinforce each other in an
interesting way.
The second example is one t+hat involves three languages and multiple interpre-
tations that reinforce each other. A company in Japan that owns clubs in various
locations uses the name

You and I.
In this example the Chinese character for E“friend” is pronounced J/ yuu/ and is
homophonous with E”You.” The second Chinese character, E”like, love,” is
pronounced J/ai/ and is homophonous with E“1.” The meaning of the whole is a
combination which is mutually reinforcing: you and I, friends who like each other.
For places where friends meet, it is an interesting and catchy name. In this example
Chinese and English loans, together with their graphic representations, are used in
Japanese in a creative way.
The third type of creative use is perhaps more significant in the development of
the borrowing practice. Two examples are given here. The first one is a double,
reinforcing meaning, as above, but the English reading follows the English
 English Loanwords in Japanese 11

grammatical order. In the sign designed to help keep the noise level down, the
Japanese reading is a compound and the English is an imperative phrase. J/hi
saireNto/ can be read as two English words: E”Be silent.“In Japanese such a direct
command would perhaps be offensive in the public situation. The Japanese / bi/ is
also the pronunciation for the Chinese character for“beautiful” and some Japanese
interpret the phrase as “Silence is beautiful,” similar in meaning to the English
saying “Silence is golden.” The example differs from those above since the English
reading depends on a familiarity with English word order in imperatives. The
second example of word play involving grammatical patterning is from an ad used a
few years ago by the Japan National Railways to promote tourism to a beautiful
peninsula southwest of Tokyo.

[This j? $ Map]
E”This” i- J / izu/ -l- E”map.”

In this phrase, J/ i-zu/ (two Chinese characters) is homophonous with the Japanese
pronunciation of E‘W and the whole phrase is to mean “This is a map of Izu.” The
Subject-Object-Verb pattern of Japanese is not evident here; the English gram-
matical pattern is used. The absence of an appropriate article E”a” may seem to
indicate that the grammatical pattern has not been perfectly followed, yet the final
J/ t.ti of “Izu” may be interpreted as the article E“a.”
In these examples and the many more which occur in contemporary Japan, some
of the real interest for the reader lies in looking for such entertaining creative uses of
language and in deciphering them. Examples involve not only Japanese, Chinese
and English, but also French, German and so on. It is important for the language
scholar to recognize that these creative uses of English loans signal one of the major
late stages in the borrowing process. In many ways, as will be noted in the
concluding section, the situation is similar to that of the impact of Chinese
borrowings by the end of the Nara period (794 A.D.).
The seven types of uses of English loans outlined above are not designed to be
exhaustive but suggestive. The two points of especial interest to linguistics have
been emphasized already. First, there have been some grammatical dislocations
based on English in the speech of some Japanese. The situation warrants careful
observation in the future. Second, the proliferation of uses of the loans and their
introduction into almost all areas of Japanese language use is similar to if not
equivalent to the massive influence of the Chinese language in Japan one and one-
half millenia ago. This latter point will be discussed further in the concluding
section after a treatment of the functions being served by loanwords.
12 Language Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

FUNCTIONS OF ENGLISH LOANWORDS

Loanwords serve a number of functions other than ordinary communication of

words and ideas. Some functions have been suggested earlier and are expanded in
this section. Loanwords serve a variety of functions for the speaker and may serve
as suggestions to the listener about the speaker’s background, intentions, and so on.
Similarly, the large amount of borrowing, the multiplications of uses, and the
several functions of the loans suggest the high value placed on some aspects of
American culture in Japan.

New Words
When a new object or activity or idea enters a culture, the word or words which
express it may be borrowed. The most basic function of a loanword is communi-
cating the new object/ action/ idea. A culture may elect to use its own resources (as
in “fire-horse” for a steam locomotive) for the new item. In other cases the
loanword enters the language and becomes part of the regular dictionary.
“Kimono,” “pizza,” “ beret” and all the many thousands of other loans have as their
basic function simple communication of the dictionary meaning of the word or
phrase. These new words may enter and remain for centuries, as indicated for place
names in any country, or they may enter for a time and then fall into disuse. Usually
a word must be in use for 20-25 years before it enters a major dictionary. In terms of
usage, some people like to be among the first to use new items that enter the
vocabulary. For example, writers who try to spot new trends and ideas from abroad
are often in the vanguard of the spread of new words.

Fashion; Up-to-Date

Loanwords may serve the function of labeling the speaker as fashionable, as up-
to-date. As noted earlier, Japanese has borrowed an English word which expresses
this function well. “Now,” as in “the now generation,” has been borrowed as the
adjectival form / naui/ and it refers to being up-to-the-minute in terms of fashion,
ideas, and so on. The use of loanwords which are no longer “now” may mark the
speaker as old-fashioned, of the older generation, or so on. Japan first borrowed
“BG” for “Business Girl,” or a female who worked in an office. In the 1960s this
term was sup&ceded by “OL” for “Office Lady,” although members of the older
generation may still use the outdated loanword. Currently many words in the high
technology field are being borrowed into Japanese. It is a mark of being up-to-date
to be current in recognizing the new words and their reduced forms. Over the past
decade or so computer-related words were being generated with high frequency.
J/fami koN/ from E”fam(ily) com(puter),” J/mini koN/ from E”mini(ature)
com(puter),” J/ hyu tekku/ / from E“hu(man) tech(nology),“and so on are familiar
 English Loanwords in Japanese 13

to any Japanese who keeps up with the modern age. Certain segments of any society
seem to attach more value to being “naui” than others. College students seem to be
constantly aware of changes in the most recent usage in language as well as in
fashions and so on from abroad.

Westernized

In Japan there is a function of loanwords which is related to”Fashionable” but in

some cases it has no meaning of being “recent.” Miura gives the example of the
room or area for preparing food in a Japanese house. The native word
J/daidokoro/ refers to the traditional space, as explained earlier, while the
loanword J/ kiEEiN/ refers to the Westernized version of the same space. J/ kiZN/
functions to identify the style of the room, the probable style of the house and its
occupants. Since there has been a great change in the life-style of Japanese since the
reopening of the country to outsiders in 1868, there has been a growing dichotomy
between traditional Japan and modern Japan. Words such as J/ kiEEiN/ serve to
identify a whole complex of values associated with Westernization. A “Dining-
Kitchen” or “DK” refers to a room which combines the two functions of food
preparation and consumption. The form also indicates that the style of table and so
on is probably the Western one, with chairs and appropriate table and so on. The
secondary function of some loanwords may be that of identifying the speaker’s set
of values in regard to the topic under discussion.

Special Situation

Some loanwords function in particular situations and are not appropriate in

others. Often the special situation in a grammatical or other language-related one.
For example, E”all” is borrowed into Japanese as J/ ooru/ , but is not used in many
of the contexts appropriate in English. E”Al1” as an independent word as in the
meaning of “all the people’* or “all day” is rarely used. J/ ooru/ is basically used as a
compound, as noted in the loanword dictionaries: J/ooru HiizuN/ (“all-season”),
J/ ooru sutaa/ (“all-star”), J/ ooru maitii/ (“all-mighty”), J/ ooru rauNdo/ (“all-
round”). Miura notes that this limitation of J/ooru/ to this special linguistic
situation is almost never given in the loanword dictionaries.

Euphemism

One function of loanwords is that of acting as a euphemism for a native word or

phrase that carries negative connotations. In early English language materials, the
word “die” often had substitutes used instead: fell, left, went over, crossed to the
other side, and so on. Languages can use loans as well for the purpose of
communicating an idea while avoiding an undesirable connotation. An example is
14 Language Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

J/ toire/ or J/ toiretto/ from the E”toilet” to substitute for the various native words
for the room. There are a number of other examples in current use. For example,
J/ meido/ (“maid”) rather than the native J/joEuu/ is the preferred term for those
working for foreign families; J/jo&.m/ is being seen as one that carries negative
connotations. In public transportation and elsewhere, Japan has set aside certain
areas and seats for the use of senior citizens, using a phrase that is in English a
euphemism as well. The phrase is J / CirubaaSiito/ or E“silver seat,” which identifies
perhaps the color of the hair rather than the advanced age of the person who
qualifies to sit in the area. Some euphemisms have a semi-official status. Reports
indicate that the Japanese media should avoid description of someone as
J/ kiEigai/, perhaps at the risk of their jobs. The word to be used on the air or in
print is one of the English words of the same meaning: “crazy” or “mad.”
Another good example is J/rooN/ (“loan”) instead of the native /SakkiN/. In
Japan, things borrowed were traditionally returned by the beginning of the New
Year. Falling into debt was considered disgraceful. A person who wanted to
purchase something was expected to save the money for it and to repress his desire
until he could afford it. The fairly recent influx of consumerism and commercialism
has changed the life-style patterns of many Japanese, but the shame attached to
being in debt is still present. The use of / rooN/ alone for /hkkiN/ is not sufficient
to avoid the negative connotations. /rooN/ is used in the sense of J/rooN wo
kumu/, where / wo/ is the object marker and / kumu/ refers to the formation of
something. “Forming” a loan refers to the structured process which involves a bank
or other economic organization, a legally binding repayment system, and so on. A
/ rooN/ has become a well-planned economic activity and a / rooN/ carries not a
negative connotation but a connotation that the borrower has a healthy and secure
financial future. A / rooN/ has such a good connotation that some Japanese have
taken too much advantage of the system and are going through a / rooN jigoku/ or
“loan hell.” The development of the use of / rooN/ in this positive light paralleled
the development of the Japanese economy, especially in the 196Os, into one of the
top two economies in the world. In this example, / rooN/ began as a euphemism for
/8akkiN/ and developed even more positive connotations and is the frequently
heard term in the last decade of the 20th century. Given the large number of English
loanwords entering Japanese, there are many possibilities for native words with
negative connotations to be replaced with English euphemisms.

Prestige

For many centuries in the West Latin was the language of education and
therefore the mark of the learned man and woman. In earlier centuries, for
example, the educated nun was expected to know Latin and French in addition to
the mother tongue. English still has many examples of the prestige of Latin,
 English Loanwords in Japanese 15

especially in written materials. Ibid., etc., et al., and so on are usual citation forms in
educated usage. A number of Latin or Latin-derived phrases are used in the
conversation of learned people, such as inter alia, ex cathedra, and QED (from
quod erat demonstrandum or ‘that which was to be proved”).
In early Japanese history, Chinese was the mark of the educated person and was
used in the official documents. The situation of English in Japan is different. The
use of English loanwords is used as a mark of education and prestige, but they are
used less frequently in official documents than in almost any other part of written
Japanese. In terms of education, some 95% of Japanese study English from middle
school. The entrance requirements at many of the top universities require a high
level of competence in written English, so that those who are highly educated have a
good command of written English. Especially in the high technology fields, the up-
to-date expert uses many English words and phrases. In this way, English loans
function as prestige markers in terms of education level. The estimate is that by the
year 2000 more than 80% of Japanese will have had six years of schooling in the
English language. That dedication to the study of English both encourages the
borrowing of words and leads to their use as a mark of the educated class.
In official documents, native words (which in this case includes those borrowed
from China centuries ago) are the preferred usage. English words are making in-
roads in some areas such as the public media, with less and less reluctance being
shown by the stations to use loanwords. Over the past few decades, the increase in
English words in daily use has had an impact on the use of English loans in
reporting the stories. The continued high prestige of Chinese words and their
written forms in relation to such areas as that of the Emperor, Shinto (the native
religion), and Buddhism suggests that English loans will not make much of an in-
road into official and ritual usage. English usage will remain the mark of prestige in
terms of education and perhaps international experience.

Poetic/ Literary/ Word Play

Over the centuries Japanese literature included both Japanese and Chinese-
derived vocabulary in its poetry and prose. Authors were able to use double-
meaning forms for a variety of effects, from humor to pathos. The classical novel
“Tale of Genji”- the world’s first novel, written about 1000-1010 A.D. - included
many examples of the intricate and poetic use of wordplay. The ability to produce
poetry including such a literary device was one mark of the educated and refined
court noble. For a simple example, an early poem in the novel seems to concern the
day or occasion (hiru) which is not auspicious for a visit. It is also a message about
garlic (hiru) on the other’s breath that suggests the reason that the day is not aus-
picious. Given this long history, it is not surprising to see English and other language
loans being used in many interesting ways in a variety of forms from advertising to
16 Language Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

poetry. Some examples were given in an earlier section. A few more will help show
the intricate use of the loans.
The first example is similar to the earlier example of J/ dee/ being interpreted as a
Japanese polite request or as the English loan “day.” This example also suggests
two other functions of an English loan, those being prestige and the literary use of
word associations. A few years ago the Japan Railways East wanted to choose a
name for a line which would have good connotations for the viewers/users. They
did a user study which resulted in the choice of “E-deN,” a combination of the
capital English “E” and the Chinese form for the first element in “railroad car.” The
“E” was chosen for several reasons. E is the first letter of the English form of the
word for “Electric Rail Car”and of the word “East.“‘%” also relates to “every day,”
“economy,*’ and “energy,” all of which are related to the riding experience.
“Extern” in Japan refers to work at a distance from home; “enjoy”suggests the type
of ride. Some suggested other related words as “ease,” “elegance,” and even
“exotic.” In addition to those connotations, the sound of “E” is J/ii/ which means
“good.” One final point is that the English pronunciation of the combination is that
of “Eden” which has good connotations in English. This careful attention to all
properties of language, including the connotations of loanwords indicates the
advanced stage of borrowing in current Japan. One unexpected result of the
naming of the line “E-deN” is instructive of the importance of cultural values in
the country. The Japan Rail East eventually had to drop the name because the
people felt that the use of J/ii/ or “good” was presumptuous on the part of the
company and they did not appreciate the lack of appropriate business modesty.
Some of the information received by the company also raises the possibility that the
use of a borrowing to substitute for such a fundamental Japanese word as J/ii/ is
not acceptable as of the present.
The second set of examples begins with an extension of the earlier example of
“You & I.” In terms of creative uses, there are appearing more examples of creative
alterations of basic Chinese characters to create a particular effect. By 1989 the
signs advertising this club included some in which the lower right side of J/yuu/
had a “heart” substituted. In some cases the “heart” had the lower lines extended
through their connection so that the final form resembled to some extent the
original Chinese form. The two examples are:

The second example is one which uses French, English and Japanese for an effect
similar to “You & I.” The name of a club/ bar in Tokyo is J/yuu moi/, which
consists of the English “you” (which also suggests J/yuu/ or “friend”) and the
French “moi” or “I.” The two language “friends/ you and I” idea for a meeting place
 English Loanwords in Jqmmse 17

is extended by the total combination being pronounced like the Japanese for
“humor,” which in this case refers to the meaning relating to good feeling or
ambience: you and I will be in a good, friendly humor if we patronize this club. It is
possible that two aspects of the French are used here: first the prestige associated
with French in general and second the positive associations with romance in the
French culture.
The third example given here is related to the earlier “Be silent.” English is used
for slogans by various businesses and the government to catch people’s attention. A
phrase used to help people concentrate on the monetary difficulties a few years ago
was J/ sutoppu za iNfure/ or “Stop the inflation.” Here the whole phrase is in the
English order and the grammatical form of the English imperative is preserved. The
imperative pattern is one of the few rather frequently occurring borrowed gram-
matical patterns in Japan.
English and other loans in Japanese function in a wide variety of ways and they
illustrate the degree and depth of the impact of English on Japanese. If the history
of Chinese loans in Japanese is a precedent, within a few centuries essentially all the
now frequently used English loans will have been nativized to the point of being in
the regular dictionaries. One of the steps in that direction has already begun. Some
English words are being written in the script which is usually reserved for native
words. A chain of restaurants called the “Skylark” has its title written in hiragana.
Some write the first syllable twice as large and the effect may be seen as that of a
capital English letter beginning the name. Although the example list is short, it is
interesting to recall that the English “coffee” is regularly written in Chinese
characters and is listed in the regular dictionaries in that fashion. As more English
loans become written in hiragana and even in kanji, the process of English
loanwords being nativized will probably move more quickly.

CONCLUSIONS

The sections above have presented evidence of the massive borrowing of English
into Japanese, of the various innovative uses which have been developed, and of the
expanding functions of those uses. Such developments do not occur in a vacuum;
rather, they suggest that both elements within the Japanese language and deeper
cultural factors are involved. Miller has suggested that the Japanese language is
both adapted to the use of foreign items and that the Japanese have always shown a
fondness for innovations in language use (1967: 292).

It is still difficult to refrain from characterizing Japanese as having a remarkable

aptness for many varieties of special or even “notable” utterances involving word play,
sound symbolism, and other varieties of linguistic usage which take extraordinary
advantage of the resources of the language.
Lsc 12:1-E
1% Language Sciences, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

The many loanwords from various languages constitute a part of the resources
available to the Japanese language.
In terms of the cultural values suggested by the presence of the loans, Hasegawa
suggested some five decades ago that there was nothing particularly strange about
the massive influx. He dealt with the situation following the opening of the country
after two and one-half centuries of being closed to outside contract. At the Meiji
Restoration, “the rapid taking-over of foreign culture was a practical necessity and
in no sense a departure from a norm” (1938: 35). He compared the situation in
Japan during the wholesale borrowing of many aspects of Chinese culture earlier in
history. His book appeared before the geometrical increase in loans from the West,
yet his observations border on prophecy.

Although Japan’s acquisition of a high level of culture in ancient times naturally

involved all the changes in cultural forms consequent on the incursion of a continental
civilization, yet even in the age of worship of things continental the nature of the
-indigenous culture enabled it, by the Heian period f794 A.D.], to emerge from the realm
of imitation and create purely Japanese cultural forms, giving birth to a truly Japanese
literature, art, and architecture. Japan since the Meiji Restoration has posed a new
problem here, yet once again the real question is that of how Western civilization will be
Nipponicized; one thing that seems certain is that Japan will not stop at out-and-out
imitation of the West (1938: 35).

As shown in the developments in usage and in the innovations in forms,

Hasegawa’s comments could be applied to the loanword situation today.
The social linguist looks at language usage always in the context of the cultural
values of the users. The types and functions of the usage of loans are clearly of
interest, including such specific areas as the estimates that 5% of the vocabulary
items used in daily Japanese conversation and 11% of the total words produced in
conversation are from English. Such figures indicate a high prestige level for the
English and suggest an even higher number of loanwords in the future and further
developments in both types of usage and expansion into other functional areas. The
changing relations between the two countries in terms of governmental diplomacy
and so on over the past few decades seem to have had little overall effect on the
growth of usage. There are various reasons why this should be so. One is in the
nature of cultural developments themselves.
Such an important development in Japan was the introduction of Chinese
culture. It took several centuries for the broad pattern of the “Nipponicization” of
Chinese elements to become clear. There are still such elements in Japanese culture
today more than a millenium after the high point of that borrowing situation. Zen
Buddhism became an influence near the beginning of the Kamakura period (1185
A.D.), its high point came centuries later, and its heritage exists today. It is a truism
to note that cultural developments are slow to mature. The Meiji Restoration was
 English Loanwords in Japanese 19

only some 120 years ago, which is not an especially long time in these terms.
Elements are introduced, reactions occur, dislocations must be handled and so on.
As noted above, innovations are often treated as corrupting the purity of the native
language. On the other hand, some people encourage change in the strongest of
terms. During the Meiji period, Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835-1901), a famous edu-
cator, expounded his “Escape from Asia* theory, where Japan should become a
European-style empire in the Eastern Sea. Those who would defend the status quo
and opposed any change often identified the Japanese language with the culture.
This argument is an appealing one and one that is raised in one form or another for
every change or innovation in cultural development.
The identification of language and culture can go so far as to conclude that a
culture dies if the language of its speakers changes, whether through gradual
assimilation or through use of another language. Yet there are cultures, such as the
Italian, which maintain stability in a different country as identifiable cultural units
for generations after the members have essentially lost their mother tongue. Other
such examples could be multiplied. Where culture is defined in terms of the
complex of values underlying the behavior of a group, elements such as language
are important but not as one of the defining characteristics. “Nipponicization,” as
Hasegawa used it, indicates the deeper cultural value of absorbing and trans-
forming such items as loanwords into integral parts of the Japanese system.
Language and culture in this usage are not static elements; they adjust to meet new
demands. Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has been adjusting to its changing
roles as it developed into one of the world’s economic giants. Language itself is in
constant flux in what is sometimes described as constant renegotiation between
speakers. Languages change over time as speakers renegotiate to interact with the
changing world.
Such changes in language and culture do not occur at a constant rate. The fact
that English is now used in almost all the functions of language in Japan, be they
original Japanese or nativized Chinese, suggests that a new plateau has been
reached. In the Nipponicization of loanwords, the absorption of English vocabu-
lary has, it would seem, reached the point where the next step will be the further
nativization of the loans so that eventually their uses and functions will be
undistinguishable from all other vocabulary. This process may take 50 or 100 years
or more, but it appears to be happening now. Linguists and others interested in the
language sciences should pay careful attention to the ongoing growth and develop-
ment of Japanese.
The conclusion that a plateau has been reached parallels observations being
made in other areas of Japanese life, such as economics. “Japan has turned the
corner,” writes Taylor. “Its undeniable successes and its increasing wealth could
make the rest of this century a time for renewal.. .“( 1983: 226). Japan is looking at
20 language Sdmca, Volume 12, Number 1 (1990)

its traditions and “renegotiating” the way in which its language is used in light of its
new status on the world stage. Seen as part of its current goal of internationali-
zation, the borrowing of terminology and other vocabulary from other countries is
a natural development. The “nature of the indigenous culture” is once again
showing the strength inherent in the ability to borrow, transform and integrate the
best from other cultures, including their ianguages.

REFERENCES

Arakawa, Sobei
1967 Gairaigo Jiten (Loanword Dictionary), Tokyo: Kadokawa.
Gaikoku Kara Kita Shingo Jiten Henshubu
1965 Gaikoku Aura Kita Shingo Jiten (Dictionary of New Words from
Foreign Countries), Tokyo: Shueisha.
Gairaigo Kenkyukai
198 I Gairaigo Jiten (Loanword Dictionary), Tokyo: Meicho.
Gengo
1987 Language 16. 116.
Greenberg, Joseph
1966 Universals of Language, Joseph Greenberg (ed.), Cambridge: MIT
Press.
Han, Mieko
I962 Japanese Phonology, Tokyo: Kenkyusha.
Hasegawa, Nyozekan
1938 The Japanese Character: A Cubural Profile, Tokyo: Kodansha. ( 1983)
Hattori, Y.
n.d. “Patterns of EngIish Lexical Adoption in Japanese,” Unpublished
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, 1980.
Hoffer, Rates L.
I982 “Cross-cultural Sociolinguistic Profiles: Misreadings and Misunder-
standings,” in Proc. XII&h fnt. Gong. Linguists, Shiro Hattori and
Kazuko fnoue (eds.), Tokyo.
Miller, Roy Andrew
1967 The Japanese Language, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Miura, Akira
1979 English Loanwords in Japanese, Rutland, Vt.: Tuttle and Co.
Miyagawa, Shigeru and Chisato Kitagawa
1984 Studies in Japanese Language Use, Shigeru Miyagawa and Chisato
Kitagawa (eds.), Carbondale: Linguistic Research.
 English Loanwords in Japanese 21

Sanseido Henshubu
1972 Konsaisu Gairaigo Jiten (Concise Loanword Dictionary), Tokyo:
Sanseido. (Fourth edn, 1987).
Taylor, Jared
1983 Shadows of the Rising Sun, Tokyo: Tuttle Co.