Cartography of Romance loanwords in Japanese : an annotated type-based corpus and quantitative analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a multidimensional analysis of Romance loanwords (gairaigo) in the Japanese lexicon, focusing on their historical stratification and the mechanisms of phonological adaptation. The study addresses a gap in existing scholarship by integrating early borrowings from the Nanban period (Portuguese and Spanish, 16th–17th centuries) with later influxes from French and Italian, thereby identifying shared principles of formal integration across distinct historical layers. A stratified corpus of 200 lexical types was compiled for a type-based quantitative analysis, designed to maximize phonological diversity and to enable systematic comparison of adaptation strategies across periods and source languages. Quantitative mapping of lexical types across semantic domains reveals a strong concentration of French and Italian borrowings in gastronomy, music, and art, contrasting with the historical predominance of Portuguese in religion and material culture. The phonological analysis examines recurrent repair strategies imposed by Japanese moraic phonotactics, including vowel epenthesis, consonant gemination, liquid neutralization, and vowel lengthening. The results demonstrate that while the Japanese moraic CV structure functions as a stable filter across all periods, later strata exhibit a tendency toward more transparent and systematic phonological mapping, reflecting increased exposure to European source languages. By integrating historical stratification, semantic cartography, and type-based phonological analysis, this study provides a comprehensive overview of Romance influence on Japanese and contributes to broader theories of language contact in moraic language environments.