Language adaptation: European language influence on Japanese syntax

This study investigates syntactic change that the Japanese written language has undergone through contact with European languages. The main focus of my research is to examine the process of language adaptation.; The study covers two periods: the Tokugawa period (1600-1868), when Dutch was the primary European language, and the modern period from 1868 to the present, when English has dominated. The data from the first period comes mainly from Nihongo ni oyoboshita orandago no eikyoo (The Influence on Japanese by the Dutch Language) by Saito Shizuka. The book provides numerous examples of Japanese sentences and their Dutch translations. The data from the second period comes primarily from the following sources: Angeria koogaku shoosen (Handbook of the English Language) and A New Familiar Phrases of the English Language, language aids compiled by Japanese Dutch interpreters in the late Tokugawa period; and two revolutionary novels of the Meiji (1868-1912) and Taisho (1912-1926) periods, Ukigumo (Drifting Clouds) by Futabatei Shimei, and Aru onna (A Certain Woman) by Arishima Takeo.; Five factors were found to be present. First, language adaptation occurred as a response to a need for modernization. Second, translation became a device for language adaptation. Thirdly, as a result of translation, new syntactic features appeared in the Japanese language. Fourthly, there were 'language cultivators' who initiated these changes during the two periods under question. Finally, there were those who accepted the changes and spread them to a wider audience.; It was found that language change took place by first adapting already existing Japanese linguistic features; pure linguistic innovation occurred only when there were no other devices available.; This study has several implications for the field of linguistics. First, language adaptation as demonstrated by the case of Japanese, is a kind of language change. In order to understand language change better, additional languages need to be studied within this framework. Secondly, since language adaptation has both natural and intentional aspects, syntactic change cannot be completely understood without the inclusion of non-linguistic factors. Finally, language change at the syntactic level may be a dynamic phenomenon in which various aspects of the grammar of a language deeply interrelate with each other.