Abstract:
Loan words are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different
language (The source Language). A loan word can also be called a ‘borrowing’. The abstract
noun borrowing refers to the process of speakers adopting words from a source language into
their native language. As in many languages, Japanese language also uses loan words. Japanese
language has borrowed many words from foreign countries, mainly from China since the early
Nara Period (710-794). Garago(外来語) is the Japanese word for "loan word" or "borrowed
word". Although many Chinese words have been mixed into Japanese most of them are no
longer considered as "loan words". Most Chinese loan words are written in kanji and carry the
Chinese reading. Around the 17th century, the Japanese language began to borrow from many
western languages. Loan words are generally written in katakana, except the ones of Chinese
origin. They are pronounced using Japanese pronunciation rules and Japanese syllablesn. Loan
words of Japanese are very important and difficult area to Japanese language learners. The
investigation on both form and function of loan words in foreign language learners’
perspectives is very much worthy in the field of foreign language learning. One must master
the loan words of Japanese to even engage in day today conversation. According to Daulton
(2008), there is an exclusive use of loan words in Japanese language due to the advancement
of technology. New loan words are adopted by Media and underground of utilitarian loanwords
(scientific terminology). Therefore, Japanese people are living in the generation of “gairaigo”.
The purpose of this research is to identify basic categories of loan words and their main
characteristics. Further this paper aims to compare Japanese loanwords with Sinhala loan words
and find the uniqueness of Japanese loan words.
