Japanese Jazu : An Examination of English in Japanese Jazz Lyrics
Author
Summary, in English
This thesis deals with language mixing in 20th century Japanese jazz, particularly the use of English. There have been multiple studies conducted on the language mixing phenomenon in Japanese pop-music (J-pop), a popular genre in Japan today. The results showcase that English is frequently used in J-pop, both inter-sentential and intra-sentential code-switching. The use of English has also been shown to have a wide array of functions. Similar research into jazz, a genre that was popular in early to mid-20th century Japan, is scarce. Jazz was popularized in Japan in the 20’s when it became a metaphor for globalism and Japan’s changing local identity. During World War II, it was banned due to its connection to the US and afterwards it came to represent the power of the US and an art of freedom. This thesis attempts to measure to which extent English is being used in Japanese jazz during the years 1928-1957 by analyzing 100 songs from compilation CD’s. Furthermore, the study examines what type of language mixing can be seen. The results show that English is the most frequently used foreign language. The use of English greatly increases after World War II and English occurs in most songs released postwar. Full English verses are used, but also language mixing at sentence level.
Publishing year
2024
Language
English
Full text
- Available as PDF - 423 kB
- Download statistics
Document type
Student publication for Bachelor's degree
Topic
- Performing Arts
- Languages and Literatures
Keywords
- Japanese
- code-switching
- English
- jazz
- language mixing
Supervisor
- Benjamin Kirkland Macaulay