Substitution and Transition of English Lexicons: Focusing on Japglish and Singlish

Abstract

Abstract-This article examined the use of English lexicons (i.e., loan words) in the contexts of Japanese language and Sinhala language. Japanese language and Sinhala language are said to be identical in many linguistic aspects. Moreover, with the development of English language education, both languages have successfully adopted many lexicons from English into their own contexts. A comparison was conducted on Japanese and Sinhala languages with relation to the use of English loan words. This study, first, examined the transitional system in Japanese context (alias Japglish), and the substitution system in Sinhala language (alias Singlish). Then, the two systems are compared to seek whether, the processes of adaptation, and the nature of use, show any typological facts that linguistically binds both languages. The review showed that in Japanese language, the transition system allows to use four types of English loan words. In Sinhala language on the other hand, there are three types of English loan words that are being used by the substitution system. A further analysis showed that both systems possess unique aspects, though not identical conversely. Overall, this study concludes that, Japglish and Singlish demonstrate typologically incongruence in the process of adaptation and the nature of use.

Communication Strategies among Trilingual Speakers: Switching and Borrowing among Sinhala, English & Japanese Languages

“…For instance, previous studies (Dissanayaka, 2007;Gunasekra, 1999) on Sinhala language have provided evidence that Sinhala language is comprised with a considerable number of English lexicons especially in colloquial (i.e., spoken) form. It is said that most of them are used either as substitutions (as noted in Kanduboda, 2015) or loan words (according to Dissanayaka, 2007). Japanese language, on the other hand, is also reported to comprise many English loan words despite the difference of pronunciation and meaning (Shibasaki, H., Tamaoka, K., & Takatori, Y., 2007).…”

“…On the other hand, for language borrowing, hypothesis (2) assumed that the number of borrowings from English language can be greater in Sinhala or Japanese conversations due to sociolinguistic suggestions (Dissanayaka, 2007, Kanduboda, 2015, and Shibasaki et al, 2007. The analysis ascertained that the assumptions were true with regards to Sinhala language (with 33.05% occurrence).…”