The Roman Alphabet in the Japanese Writing System

Abstract

In the seventh century, the Japanese language adopted the Chinese script. It represents one of the most striking cases of languages in contact. In the last five years, Japanese has entered a new phase of languages in contact, this time not through the borrowing of Chinese characters, but through the increasing use of the Roman alphabet in the Japanese writing system. Some have called this new phase the beginning of a "second Chinese invasion." This novel use of Roman letters is particularly evident in the field of advertising. Japanese is now unique because it uses the three existing types of writing systems in the world: alphabetical, syllabic, and ideographic. This paper examines the use of the Roman alphabet in advertising and various areas of Japanese life. It also considers the possible consequences of this new addition to the Japanese script for the Japanese language and culture. A Japanese scholar has even stated that in present-day Japan, a Japanese totally ignorant of the Roman alphabet would be seriously inconvenienced.