The Intentions behind a Proposal to Paraphrase Western Loanwords in Japan and a Comparison of its Effects on Two Newspapers

Between 2003 and 2006, the Gairaigo Committee, part of the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL), released the Proposal for paraphrasing loanwords, which advocates the usage of Japanese paraphrases for 176 poorly understood loanwords. In the creation of this proposal, the committee prioritized an emphasis on the function of language (i.e., communication problems caused by loanwords) rather than an emphasis on tradition (i.e., ideological issues caused by loanwords). While this is true on an official level, an interview with a key member of the former committee suggests the conceivability that some of its members personally feared the corruption of the Japanese language and culture by loanwords. This outcome has led to an analysis of how Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun, two ideologically distinct newspaper companies represented in the committee, have dealt with the loanwords in NINJAL’s proposal. The research mainly involved a diachronic study of the...Show moreBetween 2003 and 2006, the Gairaigo Committee, part of the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL), released the Proposal for paraphrasing loanwords, which advocates the usage of Japanese paraphrases for 176 poorly understood loanwords. In the creation of this proposal, the committee prioritized an emphasis on the function of language (i.e., communication problems caused by loanwords) rather than an emphasis on tradition (i.e., ideological issues caused by loanwords). While this is true on an official level, an interview with a key member of the former committee suggests the conceivability that some of its members personally feared the corruption of the Japanese language and culture by loanwords. This outcome has led to an analysis of how Yomiuri Shimbun and Asahi Shimbun, two ideologically distinct newspaper companies represented in the committee, have dealt with the loanwords in NINJAL’s proposal. The research mainly involved a diachronic study of the words between 1995 and 2019 and a comparison of the two newspapers in this regard. The target words show significant differences according to newspaper, as there is an overall tendency of increasing usage in (the more progressive) Asahi Shimbun, while (the more conservative) Yomiuri Shimbun shows a decrease. However, in many cases, it is difficult to associate these changes with NINJAL’s proposal directly. The analysis concludes that there is no clear indication for a relation between the implementation of loanword policy and political ideology.Show less

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The Intentions behind a Proposal to Paraphrase Western Loanwords in Japan and a Comparison of its Effects on Two Newspapers