English influence on Japanese popular music: A case study of language contact Kaisa Nyman 153 351 University of Eastern Finland Department of English Master's Thesis May 2012 ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND Tiedekunta – Faculty Osasto – School Philosophical Faculty School of Humanities Tekijät – Author Kaisa Nyman Työn nimi – Title English influence on Japanese popular music: A case study of language contact Pääaine – Main subject T y ö n laji – Level Päivämäärä – Date S i v u m ä ärä – Number of pages English Pro gradu -tutkielma x May 2012 90 Sivuainetutkielma Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract The present study is a case study on language contact, examining features and functions of English elements widely present in Japanese popular music. Study is of descriptive nature and has both quantitative and qualitative elements. The questions which the study attempts to find answers for are the following: 1) What is the essence and function of English elements, including both code-switches and loanwords, in Japanese contemporary popular music? 2) How do the subject matter of the lyrics and the song genre affect the choice of language in the lyrics? While a decision was made to use the term 'code-switching', the concept is questioned slightly in the Japanese case as, rather than being 'pure' English, the English elements in question tend rather to be created in Japan, thus making them a Japanese variety of English. The data consists of two albums (いざｯ, Now and One) by a Japanese pop group Arashi. The total number of songs examined is 29. The method of analysis used is a descriptive analysis which considers the different functions, both grammatical and otherwise, that English elements serve in the Japanese data of lyrics. Database containing all instances of code-switches and loanwords was created, after which the data was categorized and analysed. Also observed were the placement of English elements in the lyrics, as well as the subject matter and genre of the songs in relation to the code-switches. Great majority of the loanwords were found to be nouns. With the code-switches the number of nouns, adverbs and interjections is the largest. Concerning the quantity of English elements, the study reveals the number of code-switches in Arashi songs to be even higher than expected. 20.78% of the data consists of English code-switches. The number of loanwords on the other hand is surprisingly low compared to the usual distribution of loanwords in the Japanese language. The following functions of English elements in the lyrics were identified: Westernization, re-enforcing the message through repetition, orthographic play, rhyming, and offering alternatives to language use. While English code-switches are present in all parts of the songs, there is a concentration of them in the refrains. As for the subject matter and genre of the songs, subject matter appears to have less influence on the extent of code-switching than genre, though neither appears to be a major factor. Results of the study appear to be fairly reliable as they are rather straightforward and run parallel to the results of other studies of similar nature. The study can thus hopefully offer quite an accurate picture of the nature and functions of English elements in Japanese popular music. Table of Contents Abstract 1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................1 2 Japanese as a language...................................................................................................7 2.1 Japanese linguistic features and the differences to English...............................8 2.2 Japanese vocabulary.........................................................................................11 2.3 The Japanese writing system............................................................................12 3 Theories about language contact.................................................................................18 3.1 Borrowing.........................................................................................................18 3.2 Code-switching.................................................................................................19 3.2.1 The continuum from borrowing to code-switching.................................20 3.2.2 Written code-switching...........................................................................23 3.2.3 Code-switching and the relevance of grammatical models.....................25 4 The role of English in Japan........................................................................................28 4.1 English-based contact processes in Japan today..............................................30 4.1.1 Japanese-English code-switching............................................................31 4.1.2 On the loanword phenomena...................................................................33 4.1.3 The modification of English words upon entering Japanese...................36 4.2 English as an integral part of Japanese.............................................................38 4.3 The ‘problem’ of English in Japan...................................................................40 4.4 Poetics of English in J-pop...............................................................................41 4.4.1 Western influence on Japanese music.....................................................41 4.4.2 Lyrics particularly compatible with foreign lexis...................................45 4.4.3 Functions of English elements in J-pop..................................................47 4.4.4 On the intelligibility of English elements...............................................53 4.4.5 J-pop code-switching in other languages................................................54 5 Data and methodology..................................................................................................55 6 Results and discussion..................................................................................................62 6.1 Amount of code-switches and loanwords in the data......................................62 6.2 On code-switching............................................................................................65 6.2.1 Locations of code-switches in the lyrics.................................................66 6.2.2 The influence of genre.............................................................................68 6.2.3 The influence of song subject matter.......................................................69 6.2.4 Grammatical aspects of code-switching..................................................70 6.2.5 Functions of code-switching...................................................................71 6.2.6 Songs without code-switching................................................................75 6.3 On loanwords...................................................................................................76 6.3.1 Loanwords by word class........................................................................77 6.3.2 Loanwords and the varied use of katakana.............................................77 6.4 English in song titles........................................................................................79 6.5 Errors in grammar versus made-in-Japan English...........................................85 6.6 Roman script as part of Japanese.....................................................................86 7 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................87 References APPENDIX 1. Tracklist of 嵐 – いざｯ、Now APPENDIX 2. Tracklist of 嵐 – One APPENDIX 3. Example of J-pop lyrics APPENDIX 4. List of loanwords by word class APPENDIX 5. Tracklist of SHINee – The SHINee World 1 Introduction The main language of international media (journalism, film, music) is currently English (Stanlaw 2005: 280). Stockwell (2002: 187) states that [the use of English] is to be seen as an integral part of the socio- cultural reality of those societies which have begun using it during the colonial period and, more important, have retained it and increased its use in various functions in the post-colonial era. English is the de facto second language in many East Asian countries, such as Korea, Malaysia, and Japan (ibid). English is increasingly used in Asian arts and literature, for instance (Stanlaw 2005: 282). While Japan has never experienced colonization as such, not to mention its geographic location hardly allows for an easy access to Western influences, language-contact with Western languages, English in particular, is surprisingly pervasive none the less (Loveday 1996: 81). Japan had its first contact with English already 500 years ago, and since Meiji period (1868–1912), it has been the most important foreign language for Japan, supplying great amounts of loanwords into Japanese, increasingly so after the Second World War (Loveday 1996: 47; Iwasaki 2006: 94). Monolingual as Japanese society may in a sense be, the English language has now come to feature extensively in the lives of modern day Japanese people, as Loveday (1996: 47) points out. It has become nearly impossible to have a conversation without using English loanwords for instance (Stanlaw 2005: 127). Along with the role of English becoming increasingly significant in many global contexts (business and diplomacy among others), Japanese have 2 begun to assess the knowledge of English as ‘modern’ (Llamas et al. 2007: 153). English has indeed secured a permanent place in Japanese linguistic repertoires (Stanlaw 2005: 36). The presence of English in the many forms of Japanese modern culture, music among them, has at least one big and clear reason behind it: the strong influence of American culture in Japan after the Second World War. While Japan has, in the past, been an importer of (Western) culture, rather than an exporter, the flow of cultural influence has began to reverse. Traditional Japanese concepts such as kimono, samurai, ninja, and others, have always appeared intriguing in Western eyes, but in recent decades Japanese popular culture has found a foreign audience as well. As is aptly stated by McQueen Tokita and Hughes (2008: 7): confidence in the local popular cultural products has led to a vibrant cultural industry (music, karaoke, television, cinema, anime, manga, and so on), which has found avid consumers outside Japan. Especially in East and South-east Asian countries, Japan is today considered something of a leader and a trendsetter in popular culture, particularly in the field of popular music, fashion and design (Turkki 2005: 148; McQueen Tokita and Hughes 2008: 7). However, it is not just Japan's neighbours that are intrigued by Japanese popular culture, but people all over the world, especially the youth in America and in Europe. While in the field of cinema Akira Kurosawa has been a well-recognized director since the 1950s, other fields of popular culture are quickly catching up. Manga, or Japanese comics, 3 for instance, has become so popular in Finland as well that recently it has become possible to buy manga from practically anywhere, with bigger stores even having separate sections for it. Western influenced Japanese popular music, or J-pop, as it is more commonly known, has lately gained enthusiastic listeners all over the world, especially among the Western youth, Finnish included. In Finland, it would appear to be J-rock artists that are popular in particular. Yun (2007: 11–12) observes that for instance in the summer of 2007, nearly all major music festivals in Finland had J-rock artists (such as Dir en grey, MUCC or D'espairsRay) performing. In addition to this, the most enthusiastic fans queued for five whole days for the concert of a Japanese band Ayabie in Tavastia club in spring 2007. Japanese culture and language have in recent years, on the whole, greatly increased their popularity in Finland. More and more people are studying Japanese and especially the youth have taken an interest in many aspects of the Japanese popular culture. Interestingly, Japan's cultural exports are strongly influenced by West and while Western influence is not limited to language alone, this study will quite obviously be focused mainly on aspects of language (Stanlaw 2005: 127). Concerning language, Western influence is most obvious in the increasing amount of English loanwords and phrasings in the linguistics of popular music (Stanlaw 2005: 127). With this study, I hope to be able to shed some light on different aspects of English in popular music. Pop music is, after all, an area of mass popular culture evidencing code-switching of particularly large-scale, as stated by Loveday (1996: 124–5). He also notes that in spite of the social significance of commercial entertainment in modern societies, mass commercial communication is in need 4 of attention by linguists. This statement gives me confidence concerning my choice of topic and its significance. The focus of this work will thus be examining the role of English in the lyrics of J-pop. In the Japanese case, it would be rather difficult, not to mention a bit pointless, to look at code-switching alone, when loanwords make up such a relatively large part of the Japanese vocabulary and thus loanwords will be looked at as well. The main reason for why language contact in the forms of English code-switching and loanwords in Japanese popular music was chosen as the topic for this study is the curiosity raised by the motives behind the extent of English elements witnessed to be present in J-pop songs. Another aspect that makes me interested in conducting the study on the chosen topic is that, although there are quite a few studies that have been conducted concerning oral code- switching, much less has been said about the written aspect. The few studies focusing on written code-switching (e.g. Callahan 2004, Nishimura 1997), nearly all of which have been published within recent years, mention the unbalance that has been present in the study of code-switching until lately. The research will be performed through the means of a case study, by looking at the songs of a (also internationally) popular Japanese band, 嵐 (arashi ‘storm’) or Arashi. The usage of English elements, both code-switches and fully integrated loanwords, in the lyrics of two Arashi albums, いざｯ 、Now and One, will be looked at in order to get a general view of how English may function as part of the lyrics in Japanese contemporary music. As the language contact situation in Japan, particularly between Japanese and English, is very 5 diverse, I believe a case study is an appropriate form for unravelling its intricacies. For a full analysis on the language contact situation in Japanese popular music, several aspects need to be considered. Due to obvious connections between language and culture, linguistic outlook alone will not be sufficient enough. Historical background of English in Japan and sociolinguistic aspects needs to be taken into consideration as well. Several studies suggest that there are no all inclusive grammatical rules concerning code- switching. For this, instead of particularly emphasizing the grammatical listings of all the instances of code-switching and loanwords in my data, I choose rather to look at individual instances of English inspired vocabulary items in the lyrics in order to explore the creative and interesting ways they are being used. The research questions for which this study will attempt to find answers to, are the following: 1) What are the essence and functions of English elements, including both code-switches and loanwords, in Japanese contemporary popular music? 2) How do the subject matter of the lyrics and the song genre affect the choice of language in the lyrics? The theoretical framework of this study will focus on the following topics: I will first be looking at the features of Japanese language and their differences to English. A brief look at the Japanese writing system and vocabulary will be necessary. A few essential theories on language contact will receive attention, those concerning borrowing and code- 6 switching. The different definitions offered to code-switching will be looked at, as well as the distinction between code-switching and borrowing, an issue highly debated by researchers in the field of code-switching. Needless to say, special emphasis will be placed on written code-switching as that is the area most closely related to the topic of this study. The relevance of grammatical models to code-switching will be considered as well. A few important aspects concerning the language situation in Japan will receive attention, from the aspects of English-based contact processes in Japan to English as an integral part of Japanese, and the supposed ‘problem’ of English in Japan. Finally, the poetics of English as part of Japanese will be discussed in detail. This particularly includes looking at the Western influence on Japanese music and the social functions and motivations of English elements in J-pop.