English loanwords in Japanese magazine advertisements

Includes bibliographical references (pages 59-63)The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of\ud Western loanwords, nearly all English, in Japanese\ud advertising, which is the principal source of the current\ud massive increase of foreign words in the Japanese\ud language. The basic data for the study consists of about\ud one thousand English loanwords and loan=phrases collected\ud from two major Japanese magazines published in June 1983.\ud At the beginning of the study, criticisms of Japanese\ud scholars of the influx of loanwords from English into\ud Japanese are stated. Second, an investigation is conducted\ud into the areas and activities of Japanese life where the\ud loanwords are popularly used. Third, various Japanese\ud derivations of these loanwords are examined in order to\ud attest to the capability of loanwords to create new words\ud in the Japanese lexicon. Fourth, grammatical forms of\ud English loanwords are studied to point out how the Japanese \ud syntactic system is influenced by English. Fifth, the\ud meanings of loanwords are investigated with a view to\ud showing how the semantic modification of loanwords affects\ud the Japanese vocabulary system.\ud The problem of Japanized English loanwords being\ud transferred back into English by Japanese speakers is\ud discussed as a pedagogical issue. The problem is whether\ud or not native English speakers understand phonologically\ud Japanized English words (e.g., KOOHII [coffee], BIIRU\ud [beer]). Also, do they comprehend the meaning of Japanese\ud quasi-English loanwords, that is Japanese-made terms formed\ud from English loanwords (e.g., AISU-KYANDEE [lit. ice-candy,\ud i.e., "popsicle"], GASORIN-SUTANDO [lit. gasoline-stand,\ud i.e., "service station"])?\ud Finally, the limitations of this study are stated and\ud suggestions are made for further study in the area of\ud English loanwords in Japanese