Western loanwords on the covers of Japanese fashion magazines

Gairaigo have become indispensable in Japan’s daily life due to their various functions. Some of these functions are employed in the industry of fashion. Here, gairaigo are used for example to refer to new concepts or trends that cannot be described using native Japanese terms. These gairaigo lack a so-called equivalent in the Japanese language and are called cultural borrowings. Gairaigo that do have an equivalent in the Japanese language are called core borrowings, and are often used for their modern image. My thesis focuses on this use of gairaigo in the industry of fashion. In particular I do research into the ratio of core and cultural borrowings on covers of Japanese fashion magazines. The aim of this research is to find an answer to the following research question: “What is the relation between the age of the target group of Japanese fashion magazines and the ratio of cultural and core borrowings on the covers of these magazines?” This is done by gathering all candidate...Show moreGairaigo have become indispensable in Japan’s daily life due to their various functions. Some of these functions are employed in the industry of fashion. Here, gairaigo are used for example to refer to new concepts or trends that cannot be described using native Japanese terms. These gairaigo lack a so-called equivalent in the Japanese language and are called cultural borrowings. Gairaigo that do have an equivalent in the Japanese language are called core borrowings, and are often used for their modern image. My thesis focuses on this use of gairaigo in the industry of fashion. In particular I do research into the ratio of core and cultural borrowings on covers of Japanese fashion magazines. The aim of this research is to find an answer to the following research question: “What is the relation between the age of the target group of Japanese fashion magazines and the ratio of cultural and core borrowings on the covers of these magazines?” This is done by gathering all candidate-gairaigo from covers of both magazines aimed at women aged 50+ and magazines aimed at women in their late 10s and 20s. All the found gairaigo are thereafter classified as either core or cultural borrowings. Finally a comparison is made between the ratio of core and cultural borrowings on magazine covers aimed at elderly women and the ratio of core and cultural borrowings on magazine covers aimed at younger women.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Western loanwords on the covers of Japanese fashion magazines