ABSTRACT Loanwords (gairaigo), words ‘borrowed’ from other languages, are an integral part of the Japanese language, and are estimated to account for around 10% of the modern Japanese lexicon. While loanwords are conventionally written with the katakana script, some contemporary examples appear in the hiragana script, which is usually reserved for words of Japanese origin. A corpus of loanwords in hiragana was assembled and analysed in order to describe typical characteristics of these words, such as the source language and method of elongating vowels, as well as the genres of text in which such words appear. The motivation for the use of hiragana for loanwords is also discussed, and expands on selected well-documented functions of loanwords. For example, loanwords can be used to fill lexical gaps, or give a ‘cool’ or ‘modern’ image to a referent. These functions are discussed specifically in relation to loanwords in hiragana. The results of this study extend prior research on loanwords in Japanese, and reinforce the often-cited flexibility and adaptability of the Japanese writing system.

中文翻译：

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当代平假名外来词：典型特征与语境分析

摘要 外来词 (gairaigo)，从其他语言“借来”的词，是日语的一个组成部分，估计约占现代日语词典的 10%。虽然外来词通常用片假名书写，但一些当代例子出现在平假名中，平假名通常保留给源自日本的单词。为了描述这些词的典型特征，例如源语言和拉长元音的方法，以及这些词出现的文本体裁，收集并分析了平假名中的借词语料库并进行了分析。还讨论了将平假名用于外来词的动机，并扩展了选定的有据可查的外来词功能。例如，外来词可用于填补词汇空白，或为所指对象赋予“酷”或“现代”形象。这些功能专门针对平假名中的外来词进行了讨论。这项研究的结果扩展了先前对日语外来词的研究，并加强了经常被引用的日语书写系统的灵活性和适应性。