Phonological and Morphological Analysis of Janglish

What is Janglish? What is Katakana English?

If a language is an ordered system of sounds and symbols that convey meaning, is Janglish a language?

Below are examples of how Japanese people use English. Special thanks to Patricia Yarrow for sharing her examples.

PHONOLOGY

The sound system of a language

LETTERS SWITCHED AROUND ( /r/ and /l/ )

…a grass of water

load closed

Jewerry store

 

SOUNDS (kind of) SPELLED AS THEY SOUND

Bottons (buttons)

Blan New (An advertisement.)

 

WORD GROUPINGS - Happy/Let's/My/GO! GO!

Combinations of popular words, plus nouns and/or adjectives

Happy Size (on a cream of corn soup container)

LET'S PLAY WITH ME!! (on a handkerchief)

Let's take me to see the thoroughbreds (on a child's lunch box)

My Happy (t-shirt)

My Wet (wet wipes/tissues-"Cool and refreshing tissue for new life")

GO! GO! STUDY ABROAD! (college newsletter on the Internet)

GO! GO! DVD! (DVD web site)

 

MORPHOLOGY

The word structure rules of a language

SINGULAR vs. PLURAL (Note: The Japanese language does not have plural markers.)

This trains go to Fukuoka (sign at Oita station, a World Cup Soccer/Football Site in 2002)

 

ACCRONYMS (Abbreviations)

TIT Fair (A badge worn by female guides at Tokyo's International Trade Fair)

 

WORD COMBINATIONS

(Note: Combining words is an extremely popular way to name products in Japan. English and Japanese words are combined, as well as English words with English words. The result is that product names are easily pronounced for Japanese but the product name is generally unappealing to native English speakers.)

NOUNS + NOUNS

Cream Collon (Yes, this is really the name of a cream candy! Some students thought it was Cologne, as in the perfume)

365 DAYS BIRTHDAY TEDDY (365 hi no basudei-tedi)

SALAMACA (Noodles for making macaroni salad: Salad + Macaroni)

Dorinku-Shabei (Sherbert drink)

 

ADJECTIVES + NOUNS

CREAP (A coffee creamer: Creamy + Powder)

PAKUPAKU TIME (mixture of Japanese onomatopoeic adjective with English noun)

Pocari Sweat (A popular athletic drink.)

 

ADJECTIVES + ADJECTIVES

MAJIKUREEN (Magic Clean)

 

LOANWORDS

The table below mostly contains examples of Katakana English, but examples from other foreign languages are also provided.