Eigo Evangelion: The Sociolinguistics of Anglicisms in the Japanese Series Neon Genesis Evangelion

Abstract

This paper discusses the functions of the English language in the Japanese animated series Neon Genesis Evangelion in relation to Japanese attitudes towards English. Against the background of the history of these attitudes, the theoretical focus is on two main functions of English in Japanese society: language mixing and ornamental use. The corpus of representations of English in the audio and visuals of Neon Genesis Evangelion, categorised according to the model of language mixing in popular culture by Moody (2006), reflects the status of the English language as both exoticised in Japanese society and highly influential in the Japanese lexicon. Moody’s (2006) model ultimately proves to require elaboration to be suitable for the categorisation of English use in this anime, as especially fictional English terms require a distinction between ornamental and communicative use in addition to Moody’s original categories of language mixing (wasei eigo, loanwords, nonce borrowings, and code-switching).