The Japanese Vogue Words: A Case Study of Vogue Words in Early 2020

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study Japanese vogue words (流行語) invented during January – June 2020 in the following aspects: the proportion of new and old words, word type, meaning, and relationships between vogue words and Japan’s social conditions. The research samples included 20 Japanese vogue words invented in early 2020, which were voted from Petrel’s Instagram. The structural analysis was carried out based on the results of Google Trends. The morphemic analysis was conducted using the Unidic of the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics. The results showed that the Japanese vogue words invented during January – June 2020 have a greater proportion of old words than new words. Both groups of words are compounds (混種語) with the same word structure. However, many new words were found to contain loanwords (外来語). Regarding the meaning of vogue words, there are 9 words associated with COVID-19 (49%) and 6 of them are new words. The results also suggested that the relationships between the Japanese way of life and the use of words are reflected through the use of vogue words during the new normal period.