Jokes about an oriental language (8)
I believe the answer is:
japanese
'language' is the definition.
(Japanese is an example)
'jokes about an oriental' is the wordplay.
'jokes' becomes 'japes' ('jape' can be a synonym of 'joke'**).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'oriental' becomes 'e'.
'japes' going around 'an' is 'japanes'.
'japanes'+'e'='JAPANESE'
(Other definitions for japanese that I've seen before include "Native of Nagasaki" , "Person form Osaka, say" , "This nationality drives NASA jeep badly" , "national" , "Far easterner(s)" .)