Kotobagari

Template:Short description Template:Italics title Template:One source Template:Nihongo is a sardonic term which refers to the reluctance to use words that are considered potentially offensive or politically incorrect in the Japanese language. For instance words such as Template:Nihongo, Template:Nihongo, Template:Nihongo, Template:Nihongo, kichigai ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, "crazy"), Template:Nihongo, and Template:Nihongo are currently not used by the majority of Japanese publishing houses; the publishers often refuse to publish writing which includes these words.

Another example is that a school janitor in Japan used to be called a Template:Nihongo. Some felt that the word had a derogatory meaning, so it was changed to Template:Nihongo. Now yōmuin is considered demeaning, so there is a shift to use Template:Nihongo or Template:Nihongo instead. This pattern of change is an example of the linguistic phenomenon known as the "euphemism treadmill".

Other examples of words which have become unacceptable include the replacement of the word Template:Nihongo for "farmer" with Template:Nihongo.

Since World War II, the word Shina ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) for China written in kanji has been recognized as derogatory, and has been largely superseded by the Japanese pronunciation of the endonym, Template:Nihongo, or with Shina written in katakana ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}).

In the 1960s, the Sino-Japanese word Template:Nihongo meaning "Mongol" was recognized for its connotation of a "stupid, ignorant, or immature" person (compare the English term "Mongoloid"), and the ethnic group is now referred to by the katakana term Template:Nihongo.<ref>Bulag, Uradyn E. "Contesting the Words that Wound: Ethnicity and the Politics of Sentiment in China." Inner Asia 10.1 (2008): 87-111.</ref>

Kotobagari and ideology

Template:Original research section Kotobagari has led to some confusing terminology.

NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Company, runs a Korean language study program, but the language is referred to as "Hangul".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This is a result of both the North and South Korean governments demanding that the language be called by their respective preferred name of Korea suffixed with "language" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}). North Korea wanted the show to be called Chōsen-go or "Chōsen language" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), taken from the Japanese pronunciation of the full name of North Korea, Template:Nihongo or "Democratic People's Republic of Korea". South Korea wanted Kankoku-go or "Kankoku language" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) from Template:Nihongo or "Republic of Korea".

As a compromise, "Hangul" was selected and Korean is referred to as "the language on this program" or "this language", but this has led to the use of the neologism "Hangul language" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) to refer to the Korean language, which is technically incorrect since hangul itself is a writing system, not a language.

References

Bibliography

• Gottlieb, Nanett (2006). Linguistic stereotyping and minority groups in Japan. Oxon: Routledge. Template:ISBN.