Speaker Biography
Wang Wei holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics and is an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Linguistics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He serves as the responsible editor of Contemporary Linguistics and is a researcher at the CASS Key Laboratory of Linguistics. He was a Harvard-Yenching Institute Visiting Scholar from 2009 to 2010. His research primarily focuses on the temporal system of Chinese and loanwords (including lettered words). He is the author of On ‘Le’ and has published numerous translations and academic papers.
Lecture Time & Venue
Time: June 25, 2025 (Wednesday), 09:00–12:00
Venue: Room 136, Teaching Building No. 5, Songjiang Campus, Shanghai International Studies University
Lecture Title
A Critique of the “Japanese-Loanword Theory”
Lecture Abstract
The “Japanese-origin loanword” theory (also known as the “Japanese loanword” theory) has established itself as a distinct subfield in the study of Chinese vocabulary. A number of Chinese scholars, particularly those in the field of Japanese studies, maintain that a significant portion of the new vocabulary that entered the Chinese lexicon in the late Qing and early Republican periods—primarily consisting of terms used to translate Western concepts—originated as loanwords from Japanese. This perspective, known as the “Japanese-Loanword Theory,” has exerted considerable influence, extending beyond the discipline of linguistics and shaping broader understandings of Chinese characters and the Chinese language.
This issue warrants a thorough reexamination. The primary criterion should be grounded in the academic definition of “loanwords,” recognizing that the notion of “origin” pertains to relationships between languages, rather than between nations. The determining factor in classifying a word as a loanword is whether native speakers’ understanding and use of that newly introduced word involve foreign morphological structures or semantic logic. Applying this analysis, the classification of the vast majority of so-called “Japanese-origin loanwords” proves to be inaccurate and requires reconsideration.
Considering the historical relationship between Chinese and Japanese, particularly within the context of the “Sinosphere” (Chinese character cultural sphere), it is essential to distinguish between two categories: “Japanese-coined Sinographs” (Sino-Japanese words) and “Japanese loanwords.” The former are not loanwords but rather “native words” of Chinese; the latter constitute true loanwords. Genuine Japanese loanwords in Chinese are, in fact, very few in number. The so-called “Japanese-origin loanwords” are primarily composed of words that, within Japanese, originally derived from Chinese as loanwords.
Chinese academia has long sustained confusion and misunderstanding on this issue, giving rise to a significant cultural illusion—namely, the notion that “Chinese is inadequate.” A rigorous academic inquiry is necessary to restore historical accuracy, provide a sound scholarly assessment of this distinct period in the formation of modern Chinese, definitively refute the claim of “Chinese inadequacy,” strengthen cultural confidence in Chinese characters as a crucial symbol of Chinese civilization, and establish the linguistic and scholarly groundwork to support Chinese in becoming the next global lingua franca.
