Graphic loans: East Asia and beyond

The national languages of East Asia (Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese) have made extensive use of a type of linguistic borrowing sometimes referred to as a 'graphic loan'. Such loans have no place in the conventional classification of loans based on Haugen (1950) or Weinreich (1953), and research on loan word theory and phonology generally overlooks them. The classic East Asian phenomenon is discussed and a framework is proposed to describe its mechanism. It is argued that graphic loans are more than just 'spelling pronunciations', because they are a systematic and widespread process, independent of but not inferior to phonological borrowing. The framework is then expanded to cover a range of other cases of borrowing between languages to show that graphic loans are not a uniquely East Asian phenomenon, and therefore need to be considered as a major category of loan

Change and continuity in Japanese compensation practices: the case of occupational pensions since the early 2000s

This article analyses changes in the provision of Japanese occupational pensions since the early 2000s. It shows how Japanese companies have followed strategies of cost and risk reduction by creating multi-layered benefit systems that offer a combination of defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) plans whose benefits are becoming increasingly performance-oriented. Analysing the reasons behind the resilience of DB schemes in Japan, the article concludes that enterprise union behaviour has had less influence than regulatory issues and continued corporate commitment to long-standing employment practices for regular workers. These findings highlight the embeddedness of Japanese employment practices in their institutional context

Scientific papers.

Mode of access: Internet

Mushikuisama = [God of Bug Eater]

1 volume (approximately 200 pages) : all color illustrations. PARA PARA BOOKS ; Vol. 8. In slip case (40 x 100 x 23 mm). Like a short animated film, conjuring up a fantastical world. --slip case. Flip book tracks a jewelled scarab as it burrows its way through the pages, carving out an entity of the Earth which in turn rises to ingest the insect itself. What follows is a transformation as the the newly formed hill deity sprouts colorful vegetation in a flourishing explosion of nature\u27s mystery. Text in Japanese and English.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/specialcollections_books_popupandmovablebooks/1046/thumbnail.jp