Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Are Loanwords Trendier? : A Qualitative Corpus Analysis on Adjective Collocations of English Loanword Nouns and their Native or Sino Japanese Pairs in the Japanese Language

Larsson, Erik LU (2020) JAPK11 20201
Japanese Studies
Abstract
To analyse the behaviour of English loanwords in the Japanese language using corpus analysis is a relatively new field of research. The aim of this thesis is to add to this emergent field by attempting to discover if there are any differences in how English loanword nouns and their native Japanese/Sino-Japanese near synonym pairs are used in contemporary written Japanese. The thesis also tries to explain why the differences that were discovered in the process of the analysis can be observed.

For the purpose of this thesis, an evaluation model was utilised to analyse adjective collocations that modify ten frequently used noun pairs in contemporary written Japanese. The model concerns itself with two main factors: The politeness level of... (More)
To analyse the behaviour of English loanwords in the Japanese language using corpus analysis is a relatively new field of research. The aim of this thesis is to add to this emergent field by attempting to discover if there are any differences in how English loanword nouns and their native Japanese/Sino-Japanese near synonym pairs are used in contemporary written Japanese. The thesis also tries to explain why the differences that were discovered in the process of the analysis can be observed.

For the purpose of this thesis, an evaluation model was utilised to analyse adjective collocations that modify ten frequently used noun pairs in contemporary written Japanese. The model concerns itself with two main factors: The politeness level of the surrounding context and if a difference can be found in the emotive aspects of the modifying adjectives.
The analysis revealed that English loanword nouns are relatively more likely to appear in collocations where the modifying adjective is projecting a positive image onto the noun compared to the native Japanese/Sino-Japanese noun pairs. The opposite was also revealed to be true, with native Japanese/Sino-Japanese nouns being more likely to be modified by adjectives that project a negative light onto the noun. To conclude this thesis a discussion on the results derived from the analysis is conducted. In this discussion a theory that English loanword nouns are utilised when the writer wants to project a trendy or modern image is presented. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Larsson, Erik LU
supervisor
organization
course
JAPK11 20201
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Japanese, loanwords, loanword pairs, gairaigo, kango, wago, emotive adjectives, collocation analysis, corpus
language
English
id
9024059
date added to LUP
2020-08-07 08:23:59
date last changed
2020-08-07 08:23:59
@misc{9024059,
  abstract     = {{To analyse the behaviour of English loanwords in the Japanese language using corpus analysis is a relatively new field of research. The aim of this thesis is to add to this emergent field by attempting to discover if there are any differences in how English loanword nouns and their native Japanese/Sino-Japanese near synonym pairs are used in contemporary written Japanese. The thesis also tries to explain why the differences that were discovered in the process of the analysis can be observed.

For the purpose of this thesis, an evaluation model was utilised to analyse adjective collocations that modify ten frequently used noun pairs in contemporary written Japanese. The model concerns itself with two main factors: The politeness level of the surrounding context and if a difference can be found in the emotive aspects of the modifying adjectives.
The analysis revealed that English loanword nouns are relatively more likely to appear in collocations where the modifying adjective is projecting a positive image onto the noun compared to the native Japanese/Sino-Japanese noun pairs. The opposite was also revealed to be true, with native Japanese/Sino-Japanese nouns being more likely to be modified by adjectives that project a negative light onto the noun. To conclude this thesis a discussion on the results derived from the analysis is conducted. In this discussion a theory that English loanword nouns are utilised when the writer wants to project a trendy or modern image is presented.}},
  author       = {{Larsson, Erik}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Are Loanwords Trendier? : A Qualitative Corpus Analysis on Adjective Collocations of English Loanword Nouns and their Native or Sino Japanese Pairs in the Japanese Language}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}