The prevalence and frequency of Japanese-English cognates: Recommendations for future research in applied linguistics

Abstract

Abstract Research has demonstrated that cognates are processed and acquired more readily than noncognates regardless of whether the languages share a common script or etymological background (e. g., Japanese and English). Very little research, however, has focused on the prevalence and frequency of cognates in orthographically distinct languages. Using Japanese word frequency data, the present study demonstrates that between 49 % and 22 % of the most common 10000 words in English are cognate in Japanese, depending on the frequency threshold used. The analysis is extended to the Academic Word List (Coxhead 2000), which is shown to be between 59 % and 30 % cognate. Finally, a lexical familiarity study revealed that Japanese cognate frequency was a reliable indicator of whether the word was known to the majority of Japanese speakers. Based on the findings and drawing upon research in psycholinguistics, a number of recommendations are put forward for future studies in applied linguistics.