Chapter I Introduction
1.1 Background of the Research
With the popularity of English throughout the world, English loanwords alsocount the largest proportion in all the loanwords of Modern and ContemporaryJapanese. According to statistics, the largest number of constituting Japaneseloanwords is English. Loanwords from English account for 80.8% of the total. Thesecond is French, accounting for 5.6% of the total Japanese loanwords. Followed byGerman, accounting for 33%; Italian 1.5%; Dutch 1.3%; Russian 0.8%; Portuguese0.7%; Spanish 0.7%; Chinese 0.7%; Latin 0.5%. It is not difficult to see that Japaneseabsorbs many languages of developed countries, mainly language of the United Statesand Britain.
They are related to many aspects and areas of the social life. Considering thewide range of etymologies of loanwords, it’ll be difficult to study them individually.Besides, English loanwords are more representative. As a result, this paper only studies this area.
The study of English Loanwords in Japanese has basically entered a mature stage.Moreover, related studies at home and abroad mainly focus on the translation methods,culture, norms and dictionary compilation of English Loanwords in Japanese. In theseanalyses, word formation and translation are more systematic and in-depth.Throughout the literature at home and abroad, the study of Japanese loanwords fromthe perspective of linguistic Memetics is not very rich, and the explanations ofJapanese loanwords from the perspective of linguistic Memetics are only scattered inacademic journals and a few papers.
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1.2 Aims and Significance
In view of the above two problems, the purpose of this paper is to analyze theJapanization process of English loanwords by means of linguistic Memetics, and toexplore the Memetic phenomena reflected in the process of introduction, developmentand change, and standardization of their use, so as to provide a new explanation andbasis for some special pragmatic phenomena in the teaching and daily use of Japaneseloanwords, provide a new perspective for the study of Memetics, and make theoreticalsupport for it by combining with other general linguistic theories.
This study is to address the following two questions:
1. What Memetic phenomena exist in the dissemination of Loanwords ?
2.What particular effectiveness of Memetic approach is to be validated inJapanese loanword learning via the case study and data analysis?
The research significance of this paper is as follows:
Firstly, from the perspective of linguistic Memetics, this paper rethinks theEnglish loanwords in Japanese, reasonably interprets and analyzes the Memeticphenomena of phonetics, word formation and semantics of English loanwords afterJapanization
Secondly, the concept of information replication in linguistic Memetics is firstintroduced into the study of the evolution of loanwords in Japanese. Englishloanwords are duplicated by memes, and words with variants are duplicated by thedynamic changes of language. The study of the value-added and default meanings ofJapanese loanwords reflects the cultural duality of linguistic memes. Moreover, it ishelpful to explain the symbolism of loanwords and to explore the social and culturalvalue of loanwords in Japanese.
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Chapter II Literature Review
2.1 Background: Memetics
2.1.1 Definition of Memetics
Although there are several different views of what Memetics is, the most oftencited is Richard Dawkins.
As a new theory to explain the law of cultural evolution based on Darwin'stheory of evolution, Memetics attempts to interpret the universal relationship betweenthings and the evolutionary law of cultural inheritance from a diachronic andsynchronic perspective. Memetic is a science that studies the replication, developmentand evolution of meme.
2.1.2 Previous studies on Memetics
It is a long history for people to study on Memetics. Memetics is a theory withDarwinian evolution as its basis to explain the law of cultural evolution. the fact isthat it is first appeared in Gabriel Tarde's work The Laws of Imitation in 1890.According to him all of the similarities about the origin of social communication areresults of various imitations and the whole society involves all forms of imitations.
Memetics theory spreads widely around the world and draws a lot attention fromlinguist expert. After Richard Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene (1976) was published,Memetic theory has attracted a lot of advocates from different fields.
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2.2 Review of English Loanwords in Japanese
2.2.1 Definition of English Loanwords in Japanese
The definition of Japanese loanwords in Japanese Mandarin Dictionary1 iscomprehensive that loanword refers to words borrowed from foreign language but hasfew differences in use. Japanese loanwords are often borrowed from the transliterationof foreign words and labeled with katakana. In a narrow sense, Japanese loanworddoes not include words in pre-modern times absorbed from the Chinese which aremainly referred to as words imported from European and American countries in theMuromachi period. Loanwords have two most important characteristics, namely, theyare foreign languages, and they are assimilated into the Japanese vocabulary andplaying their role as Japanese words.
English Loanwords in Japanese refers to the English vocabulary in Japanese,mostly adopting literal translation or transliteration converted from English tokatakana. 80% of Japanese loanwords are from English. English syllable changesregularly, but intonation and tone keep steady, with obvious ending and regularrhythm. All enrich Japanese vocabulary and expressions, bringing new ideas andconcepts into Japanese and promoting the communication between Japan andinternational community.
2.2.2 Previous studies on English Loanwords in Japanese
The Japanese began to study on Japanese loan words in the 1930s. ArakawaZong Samurai, who is the father of research on Japanese loan words in Japan, and isthe representative. At the beginning, he was an English teacher, and later devoted his fe to study loan words. He has become a famous linguist of Japanese and English.The book of English Having been Changed into Japanese2 is his first book and waspublished in 1930 by him. The book contains a total of about five thousand Japaneseloan words in English. It is the beginning of Japanese scholars to study foreignlanguage. Afterwards, he proposed the new discipline of “Loan Words Study” in hisbook of Loan Words Study Introduction published in 1932. On the basis of thesestudies, he published in 1941 the Dictionary of Loan Words which is the first Japaneseloan words dictionary. It has recorded about 10,000 loan words. Later in 1955, heagain republished another Dictionary of Loan Words by Hong Wentang, which hasfully reflected that the Japanese was borrowing foreign language at an alarming rate.In 1967, Kadokawa Dictionary of Loan Words published by Arakawa Book Store wasthe masterpiece of Arakawa’s work collection. Ueno Gyeongbokgung (1980)emphasized in Study of English Vocabulary the history of etymology from Englishand the association between loan words and the original English. Tian Zhongjian Yan(2002) defined loan words and discussed carefully their characteristics in the book ofWhat’s the Loan Word.
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Chapter III Research Methodology……………………….15
3.1 Research questions……………………….15
3.2 Subjects………………………….15
3.3Instruments…………………….16
Chapter IV Data Analysis and Discussion………………………20
4.1 Meme phenomenon of English loanwords in Japanese………………………….20
4.2 Results of Questionnaires……………………...30
4.3 Results from Pretest and Post-test………………………33
Chapter V Conclusion……………..50
5.1 Major Findings of the Study……………………….50
5.2 Limitations of the Study………………………………51
5.3 Prospects for Further Study…………………………...52
Chapter IV Data Analysis and Discussion
4.1 Meme phenomenon of English loanwords in Japanese
Found from Appendix C and Appendix E, Meme phenomenon exists Englishloanwords in Japanese .
4.1.1 Phonetic variation
English as loanwords, are a transliteration of borrowed words. Pronunciation andwriting have some similar genes in the process of transforming English into Japaneseand when English changes into Japanese loanwords, the pronunciation tone isassimilated by Japanese, being vocabulary of Japanese style and a part of Japanese.For example: (original meme ) hotel =ホテル(imitation meme)
milk =ミルク#p#分页标题#e#
At the same time, due to the few syllable and phoneme in Japanese, manypronunciation of foreign languages can not find the corresponding in Japanese. Forthe needs of transliteration, the Japanese imitates the pronunciation of foreignlanguage to create many new syllables, winning recognition gradually as a modernJapanese speech sound. Foreign Languages Record promulgated by the Japanesecabinet in 1991 provides a total of 136 for loanwords syllables, adding 33 new on thebasis of 103 standard syllables.
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Chapter V Conclusion
5.1 Major Findings of the Study
The major findings are as follows:
reference(omitted)
