2.1. Mixing with English

English is typically mixed with the recipient language. English can appear in its original form or in mixed or blended forms with local languages. Previous literature has demonstrated that English is used in various ways, including the following:

1. 1. Written entirely in English, ‘pure English forms’ (Stanlaw Reference Stanlaw, Low and Pakir2021, 200)

2. 2. Written in English and a non‑English language, i.e. mixing (cf. Ustinova and Bhatia Reference Ustinova and Bhatia2005)

3. 3. Written in a non‑English language, blended with syntactic changes (e.g. sutairisshu‑na) (Harris Reference Harris2019)

The degree of penetration can be observed in the forms used in the recipient language. English words may undergo linguistic changes during the process of conversion to the host syntactic system. For example, many English adjectives are attached with a Japanese adjective ending na after the conversion, as in supesharu‑na ‘special’ (Harris Reference Harris2019). Meanwhile, the English adjective special sometimes appears without the adjective ending in frequently used phrases, such as supesharu gesuto ‘special guest’. This demonstrates the possibility of non‑attachment of the Japanese adjective morpheme when an English adjective pre‑nominally modifies an English noun. This implementation of the English system—even partial—might indicate the degree of its penetration into the Japanese language.

The linguistic units and processes involved in code‑mixing form a hierarchy (Kachru Reference Kachru1978, Reference Kachru1983). This hierarchy indicates the rankings of mixed exponents as follows (from lowest to highest): (a) noun‑phrase (NP) insertion, (b) verb‑phrase (VP) insertion, (c) unit hybridisation, (d) sentence insertion, (e) idiom and collocation insertion, and (f) inflection attachment and reduplication. Under this hierarchy, ‘mixing of simple lexical items ranks lowest’ (Kachru Reference Kachru1983, 201); contrarily, mixing involving grammar, including inflection attachment, ranks higher. This predicts the comparative frequency of mixed exponents. In short, inflection attachment and reduplication are less likely to occur, and these demonstrate the extent to which code‑mixing has progressed in the host language.

The results of Morrow’s (Reference Morrow1984) study of English loanwords in Japanese generally support the hierarchy of the exponents of mixing (Kachru Reference Kachru1978, Reference Kachru1983). In Morrow’s (Reference Morrow1984) study, half of the English loanwords were NPs, and many were used as adjectives in the analysed fashion articles (Morrow Reference Morrow1984, cited in Morrow Reference Morrow1987). Conversely, there was only one instance of a loanword employed in a VP, ‘no instances of sentence insertion or idiom and collocation insertion’, and ‘a few cases of inflection attachment, but no instances of reduplication’ (Morrow Reference Morrow1984, cited in Morrow, Reference Morrow1987, 53) in the entire data covering the domains of sports writing, fashion articles, and short stories.

In relation to the hierarchy of exponents illustrated by Kachru (Reference Kachru1978), ‘the easiest and most obvious case is lexical borrowing’, and ‘[g]rammatical morphemes and items can also be borrowed, though this occurs much less readily’ (Schneider Reference Schneider2007, 107). The intensity of language contact is also related to the linguistic features of items that are being borrowed. According to Thomason’s (Reference Thomason2001) borrowing scale, casual contact leads to simple lexical borrowing. Slightly more contact than casual contact leads to the borrowing of function words (e.g. conjunctions), while more intense contact may lead to the borrowing of basic vocabulary (e.g. pronouns) and derivational affixes (Thomason Reference Thomason2001). In situations of very intense contact, ‘inflectional categories and patterns’ may be borrowed (Thomason Reference Thomason and Hickey2020, 41). Thomason (Reference Thomason2001) argues that people cannot borrow syntactic or morphological structures without knowing these, although it is possible that they do not speak that language well to borrow a few words.

2.2. Nativisation of English in Japan

The English language undergoes certain processes of change in a new environment. Schneider’s (Reference Schneider2003) Dynamic Model describes five phases in the development of new Englishes: foundation, exnormative stabilisation, nativisation, endonormative stabilisation, and differentiation. Nativisation of English in Japan has been a topic of discussion (Schneider Reference Schneider2014). Ike (Reference Ike2012, 411) claims that ‘Japanese English is in the early exonormative phase’ in the model. More recently, Ike and D’Angelo (Reference Ike, D’Angelo, Buschfeld and Kautzsch2020, 191) argue that ‘in terms of linguistic development, Japan can be assessed as being in a late phase of stabilisation or a very early phase of nativisation’. The model is not adequately suited to the expanding circle (Kachru Reference Kachru, Quirk and Widdowson1985), although a similar dynamism is behind the emergence of hybrid mixes between local languages and English (Schneider Reference Schneider2014). Previous studies have demonstrated the strong impact of English loanwords on Japanese; however, documentation is still insufficient to discuss the nativisation of English in Japan (Schneider Reference Schneider2014).

In the process of English being localised, ‘English words have gone through semantic nativization including semantic broadening, narrowing, and shifting’ (Honna Reference Honna2008, cited in Ike and D’Angelo, Reference Ike, D’Angelo, Buschfeld and Kautzsch2020, 188). Crawford (Reference Crawford2006, cited in Ike Reference Ike2012) argues that ‘English goes through nativisation process within [the] Japanese language and re‑enters English with new meaning and/or forms’ (398–399). Similarly, Ike (Reference Ike, Chowdhury and Marlina2014) claims that nativised expressions are accordingly used in a Japanese variety of English in intercultural communication.

2.3. Motivations for the study

First, to the best of my knowledge, no research has specifically investigated English use that reflects English grammar (e.g. an inflectional attachment of a plural morpheme ‑s) written in English forms in non‑advertising texts in magazines published in Japan. Morrow (Reference Morrow1984) observes inflection attachment in mixing but analyses English loanwords written in Japanese. Second, limited literature is available on the nativisation of English in Japan, as highlighted by Schneider (Reference Schneider2014), even taking more recent work such as Ike and D’Angelo (Reference Ike, D’Angelo, Buschfeld and Kautzsch2020) into consideration. How its linguistic processes differ from those of postcolonial Englishes remains unclear and requires further research.

Based on this premise, the present study investigates English use by first language (L1) speakers of Japanese in fashion magazines targeting women in their late teens and 20s, recently published in Japan. Specifically, this study examines English use that reflects English grammar written in English forms in these magazines. It also offers documentation of English use by L1 speakers of Japanese, particularly their use of grammatical elements of English in non‑advertising magazine texts. This approach allows for the identification of the possible emergence of hybrid mixes between English and Japanese, and enables a detailed examination of how English linguistically penetrates and possibly develops in the expanding‑circle context of Japan. If hybrid mixes are found, then they will be discussed in relation to the process of nativisation based on Schneider’s (Reference Schneider2003) Dynamic Model.

3.1. Data collection: materials to be analysed

A total of three magazines published in July 2023, Non‑no (NN) (2023, September issue), ViVi (VV) (2023, September issue) and CanCam (CC) (2023, September issue), will be analysed for pre‑analysis. These are the three biggest‑circulation magazines among the six magazines published in the same category of young women’s magazines between April and June 2023 (Japan Magazine Publishers Association 2024). The study focuses on magazines targeting young women in their late teens and 20s. Owing to the length of the magazines (each over 100 pages) and for the purpose of comparison, this study concentrates on the tables of contents that all three magazines include in a mutually similar presentation and excludes advertisements.

3.2. Pre‑analysis

Initially, I will analyse the tables of contents of the September 2023 issues of the three magazines (a total of three pages) to investigate whether any English words and sentences written in English forms are used, and if so, then the English uses will be categorised as (i) written solely in English or (ii) written in both English and Japanese. I will also identify the parses of the English words found and examine whether any of the following elements are present: (a) adjectives, (b) adverbs, (c) conjunctions, (d) nouns (excluding proper nouns), (e) prepositions, (f) verbs, or (g) other features related to English grammar.

3.3. Findings from the pre‑analysis

Overall, English use was found to be written solely in English and in both English and Japanese. Three complete English sentences were identified. Regarding the parses, the vast majority of words written in English were nouns. A few verbs, adjectives, and adverbs were identified. Additionally, some conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, and inflectional morphemes were observed (see Table 1 for a summary of the findings from the pre‑analysis). I created the following list of categories for grammatical features based on the findings from the pre‑analysis and previous literature:

1. Functional words

‑ Prepositions

‑ Auxiliaries

‑ Conjunctions

‑ Pronouns (excluding possessive pronouns)

2. Specific grammatical features

Determiners

‑ Articles

‑ Apostrophe ‑’s (possessive)

‑ Pronouns (possessive)

Inflectional attachments

‑ Plural morpheme ‑s

‑ Third‑person singular present morpheme ‑s

3. Complete sentences

4. Other(s)

‑ It (adjective)

3.4. Main analysis

I will analyse 48 tables of contents of 48 monthly issues from the three magazines (see below for a summary) using this list. If any features that involve English grammar are identified, they will be noted.

Table 1.

A summary of the findings from the pre‑analysis of the three magazines (Non‑no, CanCam and ViVi) published in September 2023

Table 1 Long description

The total numbers of the following categories of English words, morphemes, and sentences identified in the pre-analysis are summarized in the table. The numbers are given in the order of Non-no, CanCam, and ViVi, respectively: (1) adjectives (1, 6, 3), (2) adverbs (3, 0, 0), (3) nouns/noun phrases (33, 16, 26), (4) verbs (1, 4, 0), (5) prepositions (0, 2, 0), (6) auxiliaries (0, 1, 0), (7) conjunctions (9, 1, 1), (8) pronouns (3, 1, 0), (9) articles (0, 0, 0), (10) apostrophes’s (possessive) (2, 0, 0), (11) plural morphemes s (5, 6, 3), and (12) complete sentences (1, 2, 0).