Perceptions of Loanwords in Hiragana

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Abstract

Although loanwords are conventionally written in katakana, it is possible to find examples of loanwords in hiragana script. These marked examples of script use often appear in texts outside formal writing conventions, such as product and business names. This research reports on the results of a survey investigating the reactions of Japanese people to three such words, はぴねす/happiness, れもん/lemon, and ふらい/fly. Overall, high levels of appropriacy were reported, although this figure differed significantly between examples. The perceived motivations for the use of hiragana over katakana drew on a number of factors, including the associations of the hiragana script, the perceived audience of the text, and reasons relating to the particular loanword in question.

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  • 駒澤大学外国語論集

    駒澤大学外国語論集 28 41-64, 2020-03

    駒澤大学総合教育研究部外国語第1・第2部門

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