ABSTRACT

This article inquires into the proportions of putative American variants in diachronic data of Japanese English and, subsequently, comments on the direction this specific East Asian, Expanding Circle English is taking, particularly in relation to change broadly and Americanization specifically. As a whole, Japanese English has a very obvious preference for American variants. Although the proportions of American variants in Japanese English have declined from the 1960s to the 1990s, such a decline is not significant. Comparatively across Englishes, Japanese English also stands as such a heavily American-influenced English that it has even surpassed American and Philippine Englishes in its recorded use of American variants. Thus, from a variationist sociolinguistic and diachronic standpoint, it could be said that Japanese English is has very strong preference for American variants, almost to the point of appearing as an American-lineage English.

摘要

本文探究了日语英语历时数据中推定的美国变体的比例，随后，对这种特定的东亚，扩展圈子英语所采取的方向进行了评论，特别是在广泛地变化和特定于美国化方面。总体而言，日语英语对美国语言的偏爱非常明显。尽管从1960年代到1990年代，日文英语中美国变体的比例有所下降，但这种下降并不显着。相对于英语而言，日语英语也是受美国影响很大的英语，在记录的美国变体形式使用方面甚至超过了美国和菲律宾英语。因此，从变异主义的社会语言学和历时的观点来看，