QUESTIONING THE PRIMACY OF LINGUISTIC FACTORS IN CHINESE AND JAPANESE LOANWORD ADAPTATION TRENDS

In general, English loanwords borrowed into Chinese are translated while English loanwords borrowed into Japanese and are transliterated. Previous researchers claim unanimously that the difference in loanword adaptation strategy stems from internal linguistic differences between Chinese and Japanese. I argue against a linguistic explanation by demonstrating that historically both languages have shown periods when the opposite approach (i.e., transliteration for Chinese and translation for Japanese) was predominant. I instead claim that social factors are the primary determinants of adaptation choice: specifically, Chinese and Japanese translate loanwords from English during periods of social distance from the west, and transliterate during periods of social closeness to the west.

關鍵字

Loanwords ； Translation ； Transliteration ； Japanese ； Sociolinguistics

並列摘要

大体来说，汉语的英语借词为意译，而日语的英语借词为音译。学者一致认为汉语与日语借词策略不同乃源自于语言系统内部的差异。本文中，作者对上述看法加以驳斥，并提出在历史上确实有汉语偏向音译，而日语偏向意译的时期。因此，作者提出社会因素才是借词策略的主要决定因素；更具体的说，与西方社会处于疏远关时，汉语和日语借词采用意译；反之当与西方社会亲善的时期，则采用音译。

並列關鍵字

借词；意译；音译；日语；社会语言学

國際替代計量

QUESTIONING THE PRIMACY OF LINGUISTIC FACTORS IN CHINESE AND JAPANESE LOANWORD ADAPTATION TRENDS

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