2014 Volume 36 Issue 4 Pages 23-32
The present study investigates the effects of Japanese and English lexical knowledge on comprehension of Japanized English words. Three tests of Japanese words, English words and Japanized English words were administered to 99 Chinese students learning Japanese in the eastern China region who have studied English since Grade 3 (10 years prior to university education), much longer than Japanese. Multiple regression analyses, predicting scores of Japanized English words by scores of Japanese (noun, verb, and adjective) and English (noun, verb, adjective, and adverb) lexical knowledge tests, indicated that English knowledge hindered the participants’ familiarity of Japanized English words, while English verb knowledge enhanced, and English adjective knowledge impeded understanding of Japanized English words. Furthermore, based on the familiarity and comprehension scores of Japanized English words test, a cluster analysis grouped 28 Japanized English words into three clusters. The detailed characteristics of these clusters were reported.
