Hayashi 1

Linda Hayashi
Dr. Lane Igoudin
Linguistics 001, Section 3010
21 March 2013
Japanese v English Language: Wordplay and Puns
Abstract: Wordplay and puns are contingent upon phonic similarity and lexical relationships.
Comparing examples in Japanese and English using linguistic criteria reveals how language
tendencies and universals can be established. The primary topological resource is the phonically
similar lexemes categorized as homophones, homonyms and polysemy. Gathering prothesis,
metathesis and epenthesis as examples of cross-pollination requires scholastic competence of the
Japanese and English language (beyond the scope of this presenter). Borrowing lexemes from
each language further increases resources. ESL is readily incorporated into Japanese puns for a
general public. Whereas Japanese incorporated into English puns appears less frequently and in
specific situational context.

Wordplay indulges creativity. The absence or lack of humor suggests that the game is
played to reveal patterns and family resemblances. Most if not all cultures find amusement
exploiting special semantic perceptions. Humans derive satisfaction from combining or
connecting the normally incongruous or ambiguous meaning of unrelated but similar sounding
words. Through juxtaposition of context, a semantic surprise is produced. The challenge and
success to cognitively generate these amusements, display an appreciation, if not affection for
language. This paper contrasts Japanese and English homophones, homonyms, and polysemy to
demonstrate structure and mechanisms at play. Will there be consistency or differences, or both?
What would these distinctions indicate about the two languages and why?

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An estimate of English speakers is 1.5 billion1 v Japanese speakers 125 million,
represents a 12 to 1 ratio (Crystal, 3; Asian.Washington.edu). There are 15 vowels in English
including diphthongs v 5 vowels in Japanese. Consonants are fewer in Japanese. There are no
affricates. (Ohata, 4). Although these phonetic considerations are not critical for wordplay in
each native language, they influence the psychoacoustic preferences of word choices.
Vowel Comparison
Vowel
Chart
high

Japanese
front
i

mid

central

English
front
i

back
u

central

back
u

low

Japanese Consonant Chart

Manner of
Articulation
Stops
-v
+v
Fricatives -v
+v
Nasals
Liquids

Place of Articulation
Bilabial
Alveolar
p
t
b
d

s
z
m
n
r

Alveopalatal

Velar
k
g

Glottal

English Consonant Chart

Manner of
Articulation
Stops
-v
+v
Fricatives -v
+v
Affricates -v
+v
Nasals
Liquids

Place of Articulation
LabioBilabial
dental
p
b
f
v

m
r

Interdental

Alveolar
t
d
s
z

Alveopalatal

Velar
k
g

Glottal

n
l r

Charts reproduced from Phonological Differences between Japanese and English: Several Potentially Problematic
Areas of Pronunciation for Japanese ESL/EFL Learners by Kota Ohata

This estimate includes English as the first, second or foreign language as stated by David
Crystal (3). The estimate in The Study of Language by George Yule of 350 million must be
assumed (it is not stated) to be native speakers would change the ratio to 2.8 to 1 (226).

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Sound similarity is key to wordplay. The phonemes of the word choices have advantages or
disadvantages. Exchanging words for each other depends on how closely they sound alike. Word
order is a critical consideration for punning. If the pair of words chosen do not conveniently or
immediately fit sentence structure, additional embellishment or story telling may be necessary to
position the chosen words. The main clause order for English is SVO, subject, verb, object and
Japanese is SOV. Comparison of sentence order is not applied here. The detection of word order
accommodation would be more evident in longer stories or joke set-ups. The examples in this
paper are limited to one-liners or very short phrases. English uses a phonetic syllabary of 26
letterforms. Japanese uses Chinese ideograms, referred to as kanji. Familiarity with 2,000 of the
50,000 ideograms indicates adult literacy. Supplementally, the phonetic alphabet or syllabary
hiragana has 46 letterforms, the same number as katakana which is reserved for representing
non-native words. Wordplay relies primarily upon phonemes. Morphemes, graphemes, syntax,
semantics and pragmatics are considered in the provided examples to demonstrate the linguistic
complexity involved in punning.
The definition of homophones is the same in Japanese and English. There is phonetic
similarity, but lexical and semantic difference. The Japanese pun, Kaeru ga kaeru. means: the
frog comes back home (Araki et al. 7). The nouns frog and home are identical phonemes. Kaeru
is represented with (return home) and (frog). They are different morphemes with no
related etymology. The same properties are found in this English pun, Whats black and white
and red/read all over? A newspaper (Maynard, 146). The color red and the past tense verb
read are identical phonemes [rd]. They are different morphemes and unrelated
etymologically.

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English has many homonyms, Why was Cinderella thrown off the baseball team?
Because she ran away from the ball (Seewoester, 78). The origin of ball as a gala event is
French derived from Latin, related to Greek. The object ball used in games and sports comes
from Middle English via Old Norse via German. Japanese does not appear to have homonyms.
There may be multiple meanings for a word, but each instance uses a different spelling. No kanji
character is repeated for the homophone kisha. The combined ideographs for company
uses a proper name together with meaning shrine. The reporter combines
chronicle with person. The train is steam with car. The forth and final
occurrence of kisha is the verb return.

Kisha no kisha ga kisha de kisha shita.

companys news reporter by train returned
The companys news reporter returned by train. (Bullock, 11.4)

Polysemy categorizes lexemes with multiple semantic or contextual applications and one
etymology or origin. The standard example used for English is, My feet smell and my nose
runs. The two body parts interchange functions. The feet can smell when they are stinky. The
nose can also smell by using olfaction. A nose with sinus mucus can also run just as feet or
legs mobilize our bodies to run. Each lexeme smell and run have one etymological origin
with different related meanings. As seen in the previous example of homonyms in Japanese,
incidents of polysemy are also difficult to locate. Japanese has similar phonemic morphemes but
each has unique and unrelated etymology.

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In Philosophical Grammar, Ludwig Wittgenstein describes the kinship between objects
that may have a feature [that] is common to all members of the family (75). Wittgenstein
describes polysemy further, Thus there is probably no single characteristic which is common to
all things we call games. But it cant be said either that game just has several independent
meanings (rather like the word bank) (75). Family resemblance implies the derivational
branching tree of common origin. Could the lack of homonyms and polysemy of Japanese be an
attribute of a large non-alphabetic writing system? With an abundance of morphemes, there
would be no motivation to be conservative. Lexemes would not need to serve multiple meanings.
Do languages such as English have homonyms and polysemy because of morpheme
conservation?
After the same sounding phonetics of homophones, homonyms and polysemy have been
used; stretching the resemblance of psychoacoustics can further lexical sources. When wordplay
uses non-identical but similar sounding phonemes, they are categorized as imperfect puns or
malapropisms. Why did the cookie cry? Because its mother had been a wafer so long (Ritchie,
112). The adverbial away for and food object a wafer are substitutions of each other.

Tomato wo taberu to tomadou.

tomato when eaten get confusion
I get confused when I eat tomatoes. (Araki et al. NLP)
Substitution for the food item tomato and the state of mind confusion are acceptable enough.
The [to] ending tomato differs from the [do] ending tomadou. A comparable English
imperfect pun or malapropism would be Titanic in panic (Kawahara and Shinohara, 113). The
beginning [taI t] is swapped out for [p]. This could also just be considered rhyme.

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Transposition of phonemes or words can produce lengthier and sonorous wordplay.
Transpositions are also known as spoonerisms, as phonemes and words are rearranged in the
phrase, Id rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy. Two words frontal
lobotomy were swapped out for five.
?
Dajare wo iu no wa dare ja?
pun who say
Who says puns? (Araki et al. NLP)
The word for pun dajare has [j] and [r] transposed for dare ja at the end of the question for
who? Borrowing English words enables residents of Shimane to go to the cinema.
Metathesis reverses two phonemes in shimane-no shinema (Kawahara and Shinohara, 114).
Borrowing from Shakespeare, a pun master himself, furthers Japanese lexical play. The prior
familiarity of the source involves intertextuality, without it, the pun loses its referential effect.
? ?
Kaudeki-kai? Kaudeki-kai na? Sore ga mondaida.
buy it should ? buy it should not? that is the problem
To buy or not to buy, that is the question. (Maynard, 146).
Saying Thank you in English has become ubiquitous. A subway station attendant is asked in
Japanese if this is Hankyu Station. He confirms that it is. His courtesy is acknowledged with,
Oh Hankyu very much (Tanaka). The English word shocking is the name of a restaurant in
Japan (Araki et al. NLP). The verb eating resembles shoku and the noun king sounds like
ou, hence Eating King, perhaps a poke at Burger King.

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Borrowing from Japanese yields Kimono my house resembles come on my house.
Why dont you come up and sashimi sometime? Sashimi is sliced fish. This intertextual is a
version of a quote popularized by the movie star Mae West, known for her double entendres.
Knowing that the quote from Hamlet makes the alteration humorous. Knowing that the quote is
from Mae West is not necessary and is not dependent upon context. Have you laughed
yourselves to the point of nori-turn. Nori is the seaweed used for sushi (e-forwards.com).
Wordplay is not solely the realm for adults. The popularity of the anime Pokmon provided a
specialized environment for English speakers to borrow the Japanese character names for
wordplay. The main creature Pikachu is used in the phrase, Im going to Pikachu (peek at you)
in the shower. The creature Raichu is used in the phrase, Im not gonna Raichu (write you) a
love song. (McCoral). The cartoon creature is positioned between the words. One needs to
know the memes of Pokmon to unlock the semiotics. There are hundreds of them. Here was a
flurry of spontaneous wordplay by English speaking non-adult fans venturing into Japanese
language during the popularity of the anime/game phenomenon.
Phonetic analysis confirms what the word player and punsters already know. There are
psychoacoustic preferences that designate their creation. Phonetic analysis of Japanese puns
shows preference for corresponding consonants to be as similar as possible. Syllable intrusion is
minimized to maintain overall similar sound and rhythm. Findings estimate 89 out of 149 (60%)
of the intruded vowels duplicate the adjacent syllables (Araki et al. J Puns, 4). Nasal
consonants [m] and [n] rather than oral consonant [p] and [t] correspond with each other more
closely (Kawahara and Shinohara, 131). The contrast of sound similarity is more neutral,
therefore preferred. The phonological analysis of Japanese puns has begun to exhibit preferences

Hayashi 8
or tendencies that do not appear in English pun creation. Corresponding English pun
psychoacoustic analysis is currently unavailable.
The comparisons that are available show both consistency and difference. Consistency is
due to the specific structure of the pun. Further investigation of the 7,000 known languages may
uncover one that has no homophones indicating either no puns or different wordplay or no
wordplay. The difference is the apparent lack of homonyms and polysemy in Japanese. Further
investigation is required to determine the previous conjecture. Does a writing system with more
morphemes tend to generate less homonyms and polysemy?
Wordplay or puns subjected to linguistic analysis not only increases linguistic knowledge
but also furthers cross-cultural understanding and contributes to the disciplines of philosophy,
literature, and cognitive science.

Works Cited
Araki, Kenji, Pawel Dybala, Rafal Rzepka, and Kohichi Sayama. Japanese Puns Are Not
Necessarily Jokes. Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Technical
Report. FS12.02. 2012. Print.
Araki, Kenji, Pawel Dybala, Rafal Rzepka, and Kohichi Sayama. NLP Oriented Japanese Pun
Classification. 2012 International Conference on Asian Language Processing.
KAKENHI 23-01348. 2012. Print.
Binstead, Kim and Tekizawa, Osamu. Computer generation of puns in Japanese. The Journal
of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, 13.6 1998. Print.
Bullock, Ben. 11.4. Do you know any Japanese tongue-twisters? sci.lang.japan n.d. Web. 16
Mar 2013. <http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/hayakuchi-kotoba.html>

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Crystal, David. Emerging Englishes. English Teaching Professional,14.1 Jan 2000, 3. Print.
Kawahara, Shigeto and Kazuko Shinohara. The Role of Psychoacoustic Similarity in Japanese
Puns: A Corpus Study. Journal of Linguistics, 45.1 Mar. 2009, 11138. Print.
Maynard, Senk K. Linguistic Creativity in Japanese Discourse: Exploring the Multiplicity of
Self, Perspective, and Voice. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing. 2007. Print.
McCoral, Greg. Pokepuns, Part of a Series on Pokemon. Know Your Meme. 2009. Web. 8 Mar
2013. <http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pokepuns>
Ohata, Kota. Phonological Differences between Japanese and English: Several Potentially
Problematic Areas of Pronunciation for Japanese ESL/EFL Learners. Asian EFL
Journal. Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 2004. Print.
Ritchie, Graeme. The Linguistic Analysis of Jokes. New York: Routledge. 2004. Print.
Seewoester, Sarah. The Role of Syllables and Morphemes as Mechanisms in Humorous Pun
Formation. The Pragmatics of Humour Across Discourse Domains. Ed. Marta Dynel.
Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing. 2011. Print.
Tanaka, Ken and Remi. #52 Bad Japanese Puns with Ken and Remi. YouTube, 11 Nov 2008.
Web. 8 Mar 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Iv77sPvmM>
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Philosophical Grammar. Ed. Rush Rees. Trans. Anthony Kenny.
Berkeley: University of California Press. 1974. Print.
The Department of Asian Languages and Literature. asian.washington.edu University of
Washington. n.d. 2013. Web. 18 Mar 2013. <http://asian.washington.edu/fields/japanese>
The Punderful World of Sushi. e-forwards.com, 10 Dec 2010. Web. 17 Mar 2013.
<http://www.e-forwards.com/2010/12/sushi-humor-and-jokes/>