Substitution and Transition of English Lexicons: Focusing on Japglish and Singlish

Abstract

This article examined the use of English lexicons (i.e., loan words) in the contexts of Japanese language and Sinhala language. Japanese language and Sinhala language are said to be identical in many linguistic aspects. Moreover, with the development of English language education, both languages have successfully adopted many lexicons from English into their own contexts. A comparison was conducted on Japanese and Sinhala languages with relation to the use of English loan words. This study, first, examined the transitional system in Japanese context (alias Japglish ), and the substitution system in Sinhala language (alias Singlish ). Then, the two systems are compared to seek whether, the processes of adaptation, and the nature of use, show any typological facts that linguistically binds both languages. The review showed that in Japanese language, the transition system allows to use four types of English loan words. In Sinhala language on the other hand, there are three types of English loan words that are being used by the substitution system. A further analysis showed that both systems possess unique aspects, though not identical conversely. Overall, this study concludes that, Japglish and Singlish demonstrate typologically incongruence in the process of adaptation and the nature of use.