Crosslinguistic lexical transfer of English-based loanwords in English L2 writing by Japanese university students

Nicolai Struc,Nicholas Wood

doi:10.15845/bells.v6i0.806

Abstract

Research has shown tentative support for a “borrowed word effect” of English-based loanwords in Japanese (gairaigo) on written production in English by Japanese learners. This study interrogates a longitudinal learner corpus of argumentative and narrative writing by Japanese learners (NNS) and a corresponding NS corpus. Vocabulary profile analyses revealed: 1) NNS writing showed greater deployment of loanword cognate items than NS writing in both genres. 2) The deployment of loanword cognate items in NNS writing in both genres did not change over time. 3) NS writing showed greater deployment of loanword cognate items in narrative writing than argumentative writing, but NNS genres showed no difference. Keyword analysis and concordances of selected loanword cognate items revealed widespread and consistent patterns of ungrammaticality resembling L1 usage. Findings suggest Japanese writers heavily rely on loanword cognates. While loanword cognates arguably contribute to fluency, findings suggest potential for overreliance and negative transfer.

Highlights

It has been argued that gairaigo, or lexical items of foreign origin used in Japanese, provide a valuable resource for Japanese L2 learners of English (e.g. Brown and Williams 1985), enabling them to more readily access, acquire, and use the L2 words from which gairaigo are derived, and resulting in a relatively higher frequency usage of loanword cognate items in written texts or “borrowed word effect” (Daulton 2007)
3.1 Proportions of loanword cognate items Each of the subcorpora was submitted to vocabulary profiling using the BNC 14,000 most frequent word family lists and corresponding subsets comprised of loanword cognates
As we have seen, gairaigo represent an integral element of the Japanese lexicon, fashioned over time to conform to the constraints of the language but often retaining sufficient similarities to their origins for it to be argued that they provide an important resource for Japanese learners of English, expediting the acquisition and use of the L2 words from which they are derived

Summary

Introduction

It has been argued that gairaigo, or lexical items of foreign origin used in Japanese, provide a valuable resource for Japanese L2 learners of English (e.g. Brown and Williams 1985), enabling them to more readily access, acquire, and use the L2 words from which gairaigo are derived, and resulting in a relatively higher frequency usage of loanword cognate items in written texts or “borrowed word effect” (Daulton 2007). Brown and Williams 1985), enabling them to more readily access, acquire, and use the L2 words from which gairaigo are derived, and resulting in a relatively higher frequency usage of loanword cognate items in written texts or “borrowed word effect” (Daulton 2007). Before we investigate these propositions through the interrogation of a longitudinal learner corpus and a native-speaker corpus, we briefly locate gairaigo within its wider linguistic context, consider its usage, and review its potential as a learning tool. The final stratum is comprised of hybrids which are pairings of the above (e.g. gairaigo + native)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion