The Role of Phonology and Phonetics in Loanword Adaptation - Katrin Dohlus

Do loanword adaptations apply on a phonological or a phonetic level? This study addresses this issue by investigating the adaptation of German and French loanwords and proper names with front rounded vowels into Japanese. The adaptation forms of front rounded vowels are analysed from a phonological and a phonetic perspective. Both the phonological and the phonetic analysis can account for part of the data, but neither alone is able to account for all the adaptation forms of German and French front rounded vowels in Japanese. It is shown that adaptations are complex processes determined by a variety of factors such as perception, knowledge of the source language, and written forms. Furthermore, it is shown that socio-linguistic factors have a major impact on adaptation processes.

The Author: Katrin Dohlus, born in Berlin in 1977, studied Japanese Studies, German Linguistics and English at Humboldt University Berlin. A DAAD/Monbusho scholarship enabled her to spend a research period of two years at Kobe University in Japan after graduation, where she studied Japanese phonology and phonetics. In 2005 she started her doctorate in Linguistics at Humboldt University Berlin.