JAPANESE LOAN WORDS IN MODERN CHINESE
現代漢語的口語外來語
Jian Zhao 趙堅
Abstract 摘要
This article explores the historical origins of the introduction of Japanese loanwords in China, tracing their routes of entry into the language and analyzing their impact on the formation of modern Chinese. Since the mid-4th century, when Japan had begun systematically to borrow Chinese characters to form their own writing system, the Japanese language was under strong Chinese influence. During the late Edo and early Meiji periods, however, Japanese scholars rendered a huge quantity of western publications into Japanese, hastening the modernization of the language. Indeed, the success of modernization in Japan after the Meiji Restoration reversed the cultural flow between China and Japan. Shocked and awakened by its half-century-long failure in foreign and domestic affairs, China began to modernize at the end of 19th century, dispatching students to Japan to learn western science and technology, as well as subjects in the western humanities. Their learning reached a Chinese readership through the medium of translation. For these Chinese translators, modem Japanese was an indispensable vehicle of western knowledge and linguistic transformation. Many Japanese-redefined and Japanese-created words were introduced in their translations with little modification, and these Japanese loanwords gained cun-ency in Chinese. More significantly, the Japanese practice of creating new words to accommodate new knowledge influenced native linguistic practice, hastening the formation of modern Chinese. The introduction of Japanese loanwords into China also marked the beginning of a new period of Sino-Japanese relations, initiating a two-way cultural exchange between the two nations.
Subject Keywords 關鍵詞
Chinese language 漢語 Modern Chinese 現代漢語 Japanese language 日語 Loanword 外來語 Study abroad 留洋 Sino-Japanese relation 中日關係 Cultural exchange 文化交流 Western learning 西學 Publication 出版物
Journal of Chinese Linguistics volume 34 (ISSN 0091-3723)
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