A sociolinguistic analysis of English borrowings in Japanese advertising texts

This paper reports a sociolinguistic analysis of English borrowings in Japanese television commercials and print advertising. The two hypotheses formulated and tested were: (1) the primary reason for loanword use in the language of advertising is to make the product seem more modern and sophisticated, and (2) there exists a relationship between loan functions and the audience characteristics (e.g. gender, age, occupation and background). The results have shown these to be true. The age and occupation/background of the audience turned out to be important factors in determining the frequency and distribution of loan functions. The positive attitude of students and a young and ‘more modern’ audience toward English and the international value these people associate with English seem to be skillfully used by advertisers to catch the audience's attention and to affect their desire to be cosmopolitan.