Semantic Interaction Between Chinese and Japanese Chinese Character Vocabulary

Examples of Chinese Japanese-originated Return Words Related to Religion

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.201127.097How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Japanese-originated return words, religious words, semantic interaction

Abstract

In modern Japan, when learning from the West, it chose a large number of Chinese classical words to translate Western terminology. These Chinese character words flowed back to China in large quantities at the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, and entered the modern Chinese vocabulary system. It is believed that these Japanese-originated Chinese characters should belong to foreign words in a broad concept. From the perspective of language and cultural contact, this article examines some Chinese Japanese-originated return words within the five categories of “nature (自然)”, “hygiene (卫生)”, “civilization (文明)”, “phenomenon (现象)”, and “freedom (自由)” that originated in ancient Chinese religious books or were related to Buddhism and Taoism. And a brief analysis of their semantic evolution in Chinese and Japanese languages is made. Such words reflect the semantic interaction between Chinese and Japanese Chinese vocabulary and also reflect the transitions and exchanges between Eastern and Western cultures. Linking the development and changes of Chinese vocabulary with the languages of other countries in the Chinese character cultural circle, and observing the development and evolution of word meanings, can provide broader ideas for the study of Chinese religious vocabulary.

Copyright

© 2020, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhuqin Deng
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/11/28
TI  - Semantic Interaction Between Chinese and Japanese Chinese Character Vocabulary
BT  - Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Education, Language and Inter-cultural Communication (ELIC 2020)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 490
EP  - 497
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.201127.097
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.201127.097
ID  - Deng2020
ER  -