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Paper short abstract

This paper examines the pluralization strategies of loanwords in Japanese Christian sources, focusing on the retention of native plural morphology, the recharacterization through Japanese plural suffixes, and the morphosyntactic conditions that seem to favour or prevent each pluralizing option.

Paper long abstract

This paper investigates the pluralizing strategies of loanwords inside the printed texts produced by the Society of Jesus in Japan (kirishitanban stricto sensu). More than 600 loanwords are attested in the Christian sources, many of which retained some aspects of their original morphology, including the expression of gender and number, while also undergoing morphological integration through the addition of Japanese affixes.

Pluralization is a particularly revealing domain, as no less than four competing forms are attested: the types Apostolo (singular), Apostolos (plural), Apostolo-tachi (singular + Japanese plural suffix), and Apostolos-tachi (plural + Japanese plural suffix). In addition, pluralizing prefixes may occasionally occur. These coexisting strategies raise questions about the function and the distribution of number marking in missionary sources.

Thus, after a brief overview of loanwords displaying plural morphology and/or Japanese plural markers, the paper analyses the function associated with the attested forms: particular attention is devoted to the possibility of a singular form (the type Apostolo) to be used as transnumeral, that is, capable of referring to both single and multiple entities. The study then examines the syntactic environments that appear to allow or disfavour specific pluralizing strategies. The data seem to suggest that the presence of alternative number-expressing devices, such as classifiers, tends to disfavour the recharacterization through Japanese plural suffixes, while still allowing plural marking via native morphology (the type Apostolos). Finally, the paper addresses minor but significant discrepancies in the selection of Japanese pluralizing suffix, which are otherwise highly consistent, arguing that such variation reflects the translators’ intentions.

The analysis draws on missionary grammars and on devotional literature printed both in Latin and Japanese characters, with particular attention to texts whose European source is known.

Our findings will align with contemporary scholarship supporting the view that translation was a collaborative process involving European missionaries and Japanese converts, and that certain choices in the translation and printing processes were decided by the Society of Jesus and consistently applied by its members.

Keywords: kirishitanban, Japanese plural markers, Christian loanwords, missionary linguistics