New Words Related to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Japanese

Abstract

The term "new" in this study does not refer to a literal new meaning that previously existed in Japanese but to words that may have existed but gained popularity in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.  This paper is written to discuss and classify new words that appear based on aspects of the meaning and origin of the term used. This study is a qualitative study with a descriptive method. The data are new words and phrases related to the COVID-19 pandemic sourced from Asahi online/digital newspaper. The data collection method is purposing sampling, The data were analyzed with the basic meaning and form of the word using an interactive analysis model. In results, this study shows that new words that have emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic are derived from loanwords, the combination of loanwords and original Japanese words, and a composition of words that already exist, but creates a special meaning in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. In conclusion, new words regarding the covid-19 outbreak are owned by the language of their respective countries and depend on the handling of covid-19 in that country. In Japan, new words in loan form also have popular Japanese native terms. Vocabulary in Japanese related to covid also contains a combination of original Japanese words and loan words.