SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Foreign loanwords have come to form a substantial portion of the contemporary Japanese vocabulary. While many studies have been undertaken on language borrowing, the phenomenon of global events, disasters and socio-economic movements precipitating their inception is underexplored. The purpose of this paper is to build on the prior research on well-established loanwords by examining novel usage in the specific context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Data was obtained using tweeted replies to coronavirus-related articles in order to identify which novel loanwords have come into use due to Covid-19. Subsequently, to determine comprehension rates and attitudes, a survey was carried out using 121 participants drawn from members of the Japanese public. It found a low comprehension rate of the novel loanwords, particularly amongst participants over 60 years of age. Drawing from these results, the utility of novel loanwords related to Covid-19 is called into question.