Forms and functions of Englishisms in Japanese women's fashion magazines

Abstract

FORMS AND FUNCTIONS OF ENGLISHISMS IN JAPANESE WOMEN'S FASHION MAGAZINES by Yumie Sase Englishisms, as defined in Thompson (2008), is an umbrella term that covers much vaguer terms for types of language contact, including loanwords, borrowings, Anglocisms, and foreignisms. This thesis analyzes the forms and functions of Englishisms in advertising of Japanese women's fashion magazines. It also compares the number of Englishisms per 100 words of text across domains and generations in these magazines. First, a collection of data is presented to show Englishisms and the frequency, by type and token, across three Japanese women's fashion magazines. Second, Englishisms are identified to compare the forms and functions of Englishisms in advertisements of various domains in all three magazines. Third, three hypotheses are tested: (1) the three magazines differ in number of Englishisms per 100 words of text; (2) in all three magazines, the number of Englishisms per 100 words of advertising text that occur in the fashion and cosmetics' domains are greater than in other domains; and (3) the functions of foregrounder and neutralizer are performed by Englishisms in all three magazines; however, the specific functions of those Englishisms in context differ across domains. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my thesis chair, Dr. Peter Lowenberg, and the members of my committee: Dr. Kevin Moore and Dr. Kenneth Vanbik. My special thanks to Dr. Lowenberg for giving me constant suggestions to improve my thesis. This thesis would not have been possible without their support, patience, encouragement, and the opportunities they provided. Thanks also go to Kanako Valencia Suda for checking all the Englishisms I collected for data analyses and Japanese translation. Also, my appreciation goes to my thesis editors, Ed Uber and Cathy Cox, for the time they spent going over my thesis. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for always supporting me to continue my education in the U.S.