Opinion

Linguistic Mutations

By DAVID ZOPPETTI

I often hear people around me lamenting the decline of the Japanese language.

Last year's edition of the Kojien dictionary had 10,000 new entries, one-third of which were katakana "imported words." The younger generation is shifting away from traditional and elaborate expressions in favor of a simpler and more colloquial vocabulary. Many are uncomfortable with keigo "courtesy terms," often using them in an improper way or not at all. Word processors are creating people who can easily read kanji, but who are forgetting how to write them.

Although these facts are correct, I do not believe they should be seen as a "decline" in the Japanese language. They are signs of our times. Language is becoming more international and people are probably seeking a more direct type of communication. Of course, it is saddening that colorful expressions of the past should disappear and ironical that modern electronics is reducing people's literacy.

But language doesn't degenerate. It only changes. It adapts to meet the needs of those using it. Linguistic mutations are neither good nor bad. They simply mirror the changes of the society in which we live. Scholars of the Heian Court would have probably frowned upon the language used by intellectuals of the Meiji Period. These, in turn, would have certainly disapproved of the Japanese seen as correct by those criticizing modern Nihongo. When it comes to linguistic changes, conservatism often lacks objectivity and historical perspective.

Having said this, I couldn't help having mixed feelings when I read the following EC language announcement sent to me recently by a friend in Switzerland

"The European Commission announced that English will be the official language of the EU. A five-year plan to introduce this new `EuroEnglish' has been decided

"In the first year, `s' will replace the soft `c.' Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants happy. The hard `c' will be dropped in favor of the `k.' This should klear up konfusion and keyboards kan have one less letter.

"In the sekond year, the troublesome `ph' will be replaced with the `f.' This will make words like `fotograf' 20 percent shorter

"In the third year, governments will enkourage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent `e' is disgraceful, and should go away.

"By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to replasing `th' with `z' and `w' with `v.' During ze fifz year, ze unesesary `o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining `ou' and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters. FINALI ZE UNION DREM VIL KUM TRU!!" (FINALLY THE UNION DREAM WILL COME TRUE! — for those of you who lost track "en route")

The lesson might be that whereas natural linguistic mutations are unavoidable and even useful at times, artificial ones can be pretty ugly. And Japanese might not be so degenerate after all.

Shukan ST: Jan. 29, 1999

(C) All rights reserved