Loan words in Japanese language

Abstract

Loan words are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different language (The source Language). A loan word can also be called a ‘borrowing’. The abstract noun borrowing refers to the process of speakers adopting words from a source language into their native language. As in many languages, Japanese language also uses loan words. Japanese language has borrowed many words from foreign countries, mainly from China since the early Nara Period (710-794). Garago(外来語) is the Japanese word for "loan word" or "borrowed word". Although many Chinese words have been mixed into Japanese most of them are no longer considered as "loan words". Most Chinese loan words are written in kanji and carry the Chinese reading. Around the 17th century, the Japanese language began to borrow from many western languages. Loan words are generally written in katakana, except the ones of Chinese origin. They are pronounced using Japanese pronunciation rules and Japanese syllablesn. Loan words of Japanese are very important and difficult area to Japanese language learners. The investigation on both form and function of loan words in foreign language learners’ perspectives is very much worthy in the field of foreign language learning. One must master the loan words of Japanese to even engage in day today conversation. According to Daulton (2008), there is an exclusive use of loan words in Japanese language due to the advancement of technology. New loan words are adopted by Media and underground of utilitarian loanwords (scientific terminology). Therefore, Japanese people are living in the generation of “gairaigo”. The purpose of this research is to identify basic categories of loan words and their main characteristics. Further this paper aims to compare Japanese loanwords with Sinhala loan words and find the uniqueness of Japanese loan words.