Japanese loanwords in Chinese

Japanese loanwords in Chinese are words, meanings, and productive word-forming elements that entered varieties of Chinese from Japanese. Because both languages use Chinese characters, many such items were borrowed graphically: Chinese writers adopted a Japanese written form and pronounced it according to Chinese rather than borrowing its Japanese pronunciation. These graphic loans may resemble inherited Chinese words and can therefore be difficult to identify.[1][2]

The largest influx occurred from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Its sources included compounds coined in Japan from Chinese morphemes, older Chinese forms given new meanings in Japan, native Japanese words written in kanji, and European words that passed through Japanese before entering Chinese. Terminology circulated in more than one direction: some expressions first appeared in Chinese translations or Chinese–English dictionaries, were selected or reshaped in Japan, and later returned to Chinese through Japanese publications.[3][4] Since the late 1970s, Japanese popular culture, commerce, and mass media have supplied another layer of loans.[5]

Scope

Japanese loanwords in Chinese are not coextensive with wasei-kango. Wasei-kango are expressions formed within Japanese from Chinese morphemes. Only those that Chinese subsequently adopted belong to both groups. Japanese-derived material in Chinese also includes native Japanese words written in kanji, European loanwords transmitted through Japanese, and phonetic borrowings based on Japanese pronunciation.[6]

Relationship between wasei-kango and Japanese loanwords in Chinese
Wasei-kango
Japanese loanwords in Chinese
Other wasei-kango Intersection Other Japanese loanwords in Chinese
Coined in Japan from Chinese morphemes but not adopted into Chinese
Examples: 交番, 改札, 祝日[7]		 Coined in Japan from Chinese morphemes and adopted into Chinese
Examples: 哲學, 音符, 音域[8]		 Graphic loans from native Japanese or Japanese foreign words, and phonetic loans
Examples: 瓦斯, 俱樂部, 榻榻米, 卡拉OK[6]
Defined by formation within Japanese Satisfies both definitions Defined by transmission into Chinese

Definitions of loanword differ. Narrow definitions emphasize borrowing a phonological form together with its meaning. Broader definitions include graphic and semantic loans and imitated patterns of word formation. Shared use of Chinese characters makes the Japanese influence unusually hard to quantify: an identical form may have been coined in Japan, may be an old Chinese expression assigned a modern meaning in Japan, or may have been selected independently from earlier Chinese translations.[9][1]

Counts therefore vary with the corpus and definition. The Dictionary of Loanwords in Chinese marks 839 entries as Japanese-derived, while Gu Jiangping collected 2,250 items in a diachronic corpus, including many forms that appeared briefly and later disappeared. Whether semantic loans, regional varieties, and short-lived expressions are included substantially changes the result.[10]

History

Before the modern borrowing wave

For most of premodern history, lexical transmission ran mainly from Chinese into Japanese, although small-scale transmission in the opposite direction can also occur. Studies commonly distinguish ancient transcriptions of personal and place names, direct borrowing of Japanese character words, and the modern influx. The main period for Japanese influence on the modern Chinese lexicon begins in the late nineteenth century.[6][11]

Nineteenth-century technical vocabulary emerged through interaction among Chinese, Japanese, and European languages. Western missionaries and Chinese collaborators produced scientific translations, periodicals, and bilingual dictionaries that introduced written Chinese equivalents into Japan. Japanese translators also selected expressions from classical texts and coined new compounds. Some terms were standardized in Japan as translations of Western concepts and then entered late Qing Chinese. An occurrence in an ancient Chinese text, or in a modern Japanese dictionary, does not by itself establish the direction in which the modern sense travelled.[4][3]

Late Qing and early Republican China

After the First Sino-Japanese War, growing numbers of Chinese students went to Japan, while Japanese books, textbooks, newspapers, and translations were translated or adapted in China. Japanese terminology in politics, law, the social sciences, and the natural sciences could be transferred readily because it was written in characters familiar to Chinese readers. Journals published in Japan by writers such as Liang Qichao, translations made by overseas students, and textbooks for new schools were important channels.[3][9]

The influx was contested. Zhang Zhidong, Yan Fu, Lin Shu, Zhang Binglin, and others criticized or revised terms coming through Japanese. Yan's coinages such as 群學 and 名學 competed with 社會學 (“sociology”) and 邏輯 (“logic”). Comparing dictionaries from 1903 and 1911, historian Huang Ko-wu argues that by the 1920s Japanese-mediated terminology had prevailed and most of Yan's alternatives had not become standard.[12]

Japanese-derived vocabulary also introduced or reinforced productive elements such as －主義 (“-ism”), －化 (“-ize, -ization”), and －性 (“-ity, -ness”). These elements subsequently combined freely with Chinese morphemes. The source of any individual compound, however, must be established separately; a shared structure is not by itself proof of borrowing.[9][1]

Since the mid-twentieth century

Some early twentieth-century Japanese loanwords lost out to competitors, while others survived only in historical texts or particular regions. Once integrated, a loan could form new compounds and develop new senses within Chinese. Adaptation included the loss of Japanese endings or particles, morpheme substitution, altered word order, semantic change, and shifts in connotation.[10]

Mainland Chinese began another period of borrowing after 1978. Luo Qixiang's study of material from 1979 to 2002 discusses words such as 人氣 and 空港 in terms of form, meaning, route of transmission, and degree of establishment. The internet, anime, games, film and television, tourism, and commerce later accelerated transmission through graphic loans, transliterations, Latin-letter forms, constructions, and vocabulary associated with particular works.[5][13]

Types of borrowing

Earlier classifications often mixed source, spelling, meaning, period, and current status in a single list. A more consistent description separates what is borrowed—written form, sound, meaning, or a productive morphological pattern.[1]

Type Mechanism Common examples in the literature Diagnostic issue
New Sino-Japanese compound A compound coined in Japan is adopted in written form and pronounced in Chinese 絕對, 支配, 哲學, 一元化 Japanese use must predate the relevant modern Chinese use, and earlier Chinese translations must be considered
Older form with a new meaning, or semantic loan An older Chinese written form becomes a fixed translation for a modern concept in Japan, and the new sense enters Chinese 經濟, 革命 The existence of an ancient form does not establish the history of the modern sense
Graphic loan from a native Japanese word A native Japanese word written in kanji is adopted by its characters, not its Japanese pronunciation 手續, 入口 Independent formation of the same compound in Chinese must be excluded
European loan transmitted through Japanese Japanese first borrows a European word, sometimes writing it phonetically with kanji, and Chinese then adopts it 瓦斯; older studies also list 俱樂部, 浪漫, and 淋巴 The ultimate source may be European while Japanese is the intermediary; individual histories remain disputed
Transliteration from Japanese pronunciation Chinese characters, syllables, or mixed scripts approximate the Japanese sound 榻榻米 (from たたみ), 卡拉OK (from カラオケ) Sound correspondences and early attestations usually make the route more visible than in graphic loans
Productive element or word-formation pattern A reusable morpheme or construction is borrowed or reinforced －主義, －化, －性 Direct loans must be distinguished from calques and later formations within Chinese

Lists sometimes label 電話, 科學, 自由, 社會, and 權利 simply as “Chinese words invented by the Japanese”. Word-by-word research finds more complex histories: some reuse classical forms, some reflect earlier Chinese scientific translations, and some acquired a stable modern definition or wide circulation in Japan. Studies of terms such as “individual”, “society”, “religion”, “liberty”, “rights”, and “science” describe competition among several translations and circulation across national boundaries.[14]

Regional and register variation

Taiwan

During Japanese rule in Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, Japanese was in sustained contact with Taiwanese Hokkien and Taiwanese Hakka. Loans entered both written usage through characters and everyday speech through Japanese pronunciation; after 1945, some spread again through Taiwanese Mandarin and popular culture. Research on Taiwanese Hokkien records character forms such as 便當, 水道水, 注文, 案內, and 看板, as well as spoken forms derived from Japanese オートバイ, ビール, おばさん, and あっさり.[15] Corpus research finds largely regular substitution between Japanese segments and Taiwanese Hokkien segments, with variation conditioned by the receiving phonology and by preservation of source-language features.[16]

Northeastern China

Japanese came into contact with varieties including Northeastern Mandarin and Jiaoliao Mandarin in areas governed through the Kwantung Leased Territory and Manchukuo. Administrative and everyday forms such as 町, 番地, 出張, and 郵便 appear in early documents; some disappeared from general use after the Second World War, while other graphic or phonetic loans remained in local dialects. Recent work distinguishes historical Japanese-style administrative language, present-day regional vocabulary, and words shared with Standard Chinese, and also examines speakers' awareness of Japanese origins.[17]

Recent items such as 聲優, 攻略, 達人, 暴走族, 少子化, and 人氣 often circulate first in communities associated with anime, games, film, fashion, food, or commerce. Their frequency, meaning, and perceived foreignness vary by region, generation, and register. Researchers use corpus frequency, breadth of use, persistence, and the formation of new collocations to assess whether a loan has become established.[5][13]

Establishing etymology

Establishing that a modern Chinese item came through Japanese normally requires several kinds of evidence:

  1. comparison of the earliest attestations of the written or spoken form in Chinese and Japanese;
  2. comparison of its classical, early modern, and present meanings;
  3. study of early translations of the Western concept in Chinese books, bilingual dictionaries, and Japanese lexicography;
  4. evidence for a route of transmission through translated books, periodicals, students, textbooks, or dictionaries;
  5. separate identification of the borrowed sound, graphic form, meaning, morpheme, or pattern; and
  6. evidence of use and establishment in Standard Chinese, regional varieties, or particular communities.

The words 革命, 政府, 紀律, 宗旨, 封建, 契約, 警察, and 科學 already have ancient or otherwise earlier Chinese forms. Such attestations establish the existence of a form, but the route taken by a modern political, legal, or scientific sense still depends on Japanese semantic development, the dating of Chinese modern uses, missionary translations, and other evidence. Scholarship therefore distinguishes Japanese coinages, old forms with Japanese-developed meanings, Chinese translations that returned after circulation in Japan, and modern character terminology shared by both languages.[4][3][14][1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Shi, Youwei (2021). Loanwords in the Chinese Language. Translated by Hu, Zhengmao. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003131359. ISBN 9780367674397.
  2. ↑ Lü, Wentao (2019-12-16). 语言接触视阈下汉语中的日语借词研究 [A study of Japanese loanwords in Chinese from the perspective of language contact] (PhD thesis) (in Chinese). Central China Normal University. doi:10.27159/d.cnki.ghzsu.2019.000016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Shen, Guowei (2010). 近代中日词汇交流研究：汉字新词的创制、容受与共享 [Studies in modern Sino-Japanese lexical exchange: the creation, reception and sharing of new character words] (in Chinese). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. ISBN 9787101071573.
  4. 1 2 3 Masini, Federico (1993). The Formation of Modern Chinese Lexicon and Its Evolution Toward a National Language: The Period from 1840 to 1898. Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series. Vol. 6.
  5. 1 2 3 Luo, Qixiang (2003). "改革開放後中国語に入った日本語からの新語" [New words from Japanese that entered Chinese after reform and opening]. Hiyoshi Review of Language and Culture (in Chinese) (30): 119–138.
  6. 1 2 3 Gu, Jiangping (2011). 汉语中的日语借词研究 [Japanese loanwords in Chinese] (in Chinese). Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House. ISBN 9787532634224.
  7. ↑ Komori, Kazuko (2020). "中国語母語話者の和製漢語の意味推測" [Chinese native speakers' inference of the meanings of wasei-kango]. Meiji University International Japanese Studies (in Japanese). 12 (1): 47–62.
  8. ↑ Ogura, Hideki (2003-01-01). "ことばQ&A：中国語にとりいれられた日本語" [Words Q&A: Japanese adopted into Chinese]. Kotoba Research Institute (in Japanese). National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics.
  9. 1 2 3 Liu, Lydia H. (1995). Translingual Practice: Literature, National Culture, and Translated Modernity—China, 1900–1937. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804725354.
  10. 1 2 Gu, Jiangping (2009). "汉语对日语借词的显性改造与隐性吸收" [Overt adaptation and covert absorption of Japanese loanwords in Chinese] (PDF). Yangtze River Academic (in Chinese) (4): 112–117.
  11. ↑ Shen, Guowei (1994). 近代日中語彙交流史：新漢語の生成と受容 [A history of modern Japanese–Chinese lexical exchange: the formation and reception of new Chinese words] (in Japanese). Kasama Shoin. ISBN 4305102714.
  12. ↑ Huang, Ko-wu (2008). "新名詞之戰：清末嚴復譯語與和製漢語的競賽" [The battle of new terms: competition between Yan Fu's translations and wasei-kango in the late Qing] (PDF). Bulletin of the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica (in Chinese) (62): 1–42.
  13. 1 2 Li, Yini; Xu, Jinghong (2014). "论汉语网络流行语中的日语借词" [Japanese loanwords in Chinese internet slang]. Journal of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (Social Sciences Edition) (in Chinese). 16 (4).
  14. 1 2 Fogel, Joshua A., ed. (2015). The Emergence of the Modern Sino-Japanese Lexicon: Seven Studies. Brill. ISBN 9789004290518.
  15. ↑ Ting, Chin-chang (2009). 台語之日語借詞研究 [A study of Japanese loanwords in Taiwanese] (MA thesis) (in Chinese). National Chung Cheng University.
  16. ↑ Nien, Fu-chen (2009). Japanese Loanwords in Taiwanese: A Perspective from Corpus and Optimality Theory (MA thesis). National Chengchi University.
  17. ↑ Bai, Xiaomeng; Zhang, Shouxiang; Kōga, Masahiro (2021). "中国語東北方言における日本語借用語" [Japanese loanwords in northeastern Chinese dialects]. In Imamura, Keisuke; Long, Daniel (eds.). アジア・太平洋における日本語の過去と現在 [Japanese past and present in Asia and the Pacific] (in Japanese). Hituzi Syobo. pp. 343–361. ISBN 9784823410987.

Further reading

  • Gao, Mingkai; Liu, Zhengtang (1958). 现代汉语外来词研究 [Study of loanwords in modern Chinese] (in Chinese). Beijing: Chinese Character Reform Press.
  • Cui, Yin; Ding, Wenbo (2013). 日源外来词探源 [Tracing Japanese-derived loanwords] (in Chinese). World Publishing Corporation Guangdong. ISBN 9787510051036.
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