THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND JAPANESE POP MUSIC

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THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND JAPANESE POP MUSIC

• Nicholas Ajumobi
• Languages and Nationalism
• December 1, 2004

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CULTURAL IDENTITY THROUGH LANGUAGE

• It is widely believed that there is a natural
  connection between the language spoken by members
  of a social group and that group's identity. By
  their accent, their vocabulary, their discourse
  patterns, speakers identify themselves and are
  identified as members of this or that speech and
  discourse. From this membership, they draw
  personal strength and pride, as well as a sense
  of social importance and historical continuity
  from using the same language as the group they
  belong to.Nuha Jurayj (MiddleEastUK.com)
• The language of a particular group of people
  embody the cultural beliefs and continuing trends
  of those peoples

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CULTURAL IDENTITY THROUGH THE JAPANESE LANGUAGE

• Despite certain borrowings in written Japanese
  from Chinese--Kanji, in terms of character use,
  the Japanese language has qualities which are
  unlike any other languages.
• Linguists have tried to find out whether the
  Japanese language has a genetic ties to other
  languages, notably, Ainu Korean and Indonesian.
  
• There are two forms of writing which are
  exclusively used in the Japanese language
  ????(hiragana) ????(katakana)

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FACTS ABOUT THE ENGLISH/LATIN ALPHABET

• Most widely used alphabet
• Created as the Roman alphabet in 8th century
  B.C.- spread with the expansion of the Roman
  Empire
• In the past couple of centuries the Latin
  alphabet has spread to eastern Asian countries
  because of European colonization
• Examples of Latin Alphabet in Asia
• Mandarin (China) Pinyin
• Japanese Romaji?? tori

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????

• ? -a ? -i ? -u ? -e ? -o
• ? -ka ? -ki ? -ke ?-ku ?-ko
• ? -sa ? -shi ?-su ?-se ?-so
• ? -ta ? -chi ? -tsu ?-te ?-to
• ? -na ? -ni ? -nu ?-ne ?-no
• ? -ha ? -hi ? -fu ?-he ?-ho
• ? -ma ? -mi ? -mu ?-me ?-mo
• ? -ya ? -yu ?-yo
• ? -ra ? -ri ?-ru ?-re ?-ro
• ? -n ?-wo

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????

• ? -a ? -i ? -u ? -e ? -o
• ? -ka ? -ki ? -ku ? -ke ? -ko
• ? -sa ? -shi ? -su ? -se ? -so
• ? -ta ? -chi ? -tsu ? -te ? -to
• ? -na ? -ni ? -nu ? -ne ? -no
• ? -ha ? -hi ? -hu ? -he ? -ho
• ? -ma ? -mi ? -mu ? -me ? -mo
• ? -ya ? -yu ? -yo
• ? -ra ? -ri ? -ru ? -re ? -ro
• ? -n ? -wo

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????(CONTINUED)

• Japanese easily accommodates English in J-pop
  and shows the Japanese as a group of people who
  are accepting of other cultures.
• Katakana- used for integration of foreign words.
• Ex ????? restaurant
• ??? bus

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WHAT IS J-POP?

• Japans own type of popular pop and rocks songs.
• Japanese pop music that is mostly sung in
  Japanese but has expressions which are English or
  maybe a title which is in English.
• Marked by themes which portray much of the
  popular ideals some of the trends of the
  culture.

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WHAT IS J-POP (CONTINUED)

• So the style is pretty much alike. Most JPOP
  singers have a Eurodance mixed with Backstreet
  Boys/N' Sync feel to their music. This, to me,
  was like getting the best of European and
  American music.Lansia Wann, An American Teen
  Discovers Japanese Pop
• American singers like Britney Spears and the
  Backstreet Boys sing out a mellower tune with
  less dance to them than JPOP. There's also
  something about JPOP that makes you feel happy.
  However, the two music cultures aren't completely
  different in both the US and Japan, the teen
  scene is taking over the industry.Lansia Wann,
  An American Teen Discovers Japanese Pop

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REASON FOR INTEGRATION

• Much of J-pop is played in anime (japanese
  animation)
• Anime has continued to become more popular among
  North American audiences
• To appeal to North American audiences

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NIHONGO-ROCK DEBATE

• Should rock music be sung in Japanese?
• -Proponents rock music can be sung in Japanese
  because it sounds original. In addition, if rock
  music is accompanied by English lyrics in Japan
  there is a lack of understanding in many
  audiences of those words
• -Oponents rock music should not be sung in
  Japanese because the Japanese language does not
  match well with sounds in rock music rock music
  is most suitable for the English language.
• Example the word I
• English- 1 syllable
• Japanese- 2 syllables ??

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J-POP SAMPLE

• Artist Namie Amuro
• Song Alarm
• Lyrics asa made nadamete yelling koori no
  kyozou wa breaking nouri ni yakitsuku calling
  kaisen put me through it AKUSERU zenkan no hot
  way genkai koeteku voltage mezasu wa sexy na
  DIVA gimme gimme, boy I'm ready! words up
  6am sending ya mail gamen ni kiss shite I'm
  about to go let me see ya kokoro mo twenty-six
  sorosoro kigae no time suashi ni najinda takame
  no heat de walking out of my door watching me
  out honki o koko kara ga shoubu C'mon tick
  tack lady, tick tack baby girl sing it, lai la
  la lai mugamuchuu de drive me crazy, drive me
  bump bump boy, shake it up, here we go michi no
  sekai tick tack lady, tick your body modoranu
  kako no hanashi wa none sense kick me harder,
  kick my booty ima dake wo kakujitsu ni ikiteku

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IN THOUGHT

• If theres one thing Ive learned in linguistics
  it is that there are many rules in language but
  many of those rules are arbitrary.Hao Wu,
  Linguistics 30 Student
• Maybe this is why components of languages can
  easily be borrowed by other languages.

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TRENDS SUPPORTED BY J-POP

• Steady increase in language integration
• It is more likely than not that a group of people
  would borrow aspects of other languages and
  cultures and integrate into own
• Contrasted to efforts of French intellectuals

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Banno Ohno Sakane Shinagawa, TokashikiAn.
  Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Genki
  II. The Japan Times. Jun. 2004
• Mizutani Osamu. An Introduction to Modern
  Japanese. The Japan Times. 1977 (Book in Cassette
  Form)
• Bowring Laurie. An Introduction to Moderm
  Japanese Book One Grammar Lessons. Cambridge
  University Press. 1992.
• http//www.middleeastuk.com/com/features/identity.
  htm
• http//www.worldhistory.com/wiki/L/Latin-alphabet.
  htm
• http//www.jpop.com/lyrics/index.php?cmd6recid9
  2
• http//www.japan-guide.com/e/e2069.html
• http//www.geocities.com/gatoranime/engrish.html
• http//tivao.tripod.com/jpop.html
• http//www.frugalfun.com/jpop.html
• Wu, Hao. Linguistics 30 Student at UNC