1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Pragmatics
  4. Volume 25, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 25, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1018-2101
  • E-ISSN: 2406-4238
PDF

Abstract

Most previous studies of language and gender have focused on English as well as women’s language. The present study focuses on context dependency and the multiple functions of Japanese men’s language, or “masculine Japanese.” It reports a case study that qualitatively analyzes four conversations between a Japanese male and a female speaker collected in a naturalistic setting. The findings suggest the specific nature of the mixed-gender pair is important in examining these aspects. In mixed pairs where the male speaker is in a superior position to the female speaker, his use of masculine Japanese may be limited in “direct talk” or when he is directly addressing his female interlocutor because of their relatively hierarchical interpersonal relationship. On the other hand, his use of masculine language may be more frequent in direct quotations used to reveal his inner thoughts or simulate male speakers’ speech from prior contexts during his storytelling. In each context, masculine Japanese seems to have different functions. In direct talk, it provides linguistic resources for constructing traditional masculinities, even if they are not necessarily used, for example, when his relative status is a more salient feature than his gender. By contrast, in direct quotation, masculine language may be used as an involvement strategy or to consolidate solidarity, thus constructing different dimensions of interpersonal relationships in the mixed pair, though it may also be used as an entertainment strategy. The paper also discusses the need for a more holistic approach by including interactional features in research on gender and Japanese language.

© 2015 International Pragmatics Association
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/prag.25.2.03ita
2015-06-01
2023-09-30

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/prag.25.2.03ita
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Abe, Hideko Nornes
    (2004)  Lesbian bar talk in Shinjuku . In S. Okamoto , and J.S. Shibamoto Smith (eds.), Japanese language, gender, and ideology. NewYork: Oxford University Press, pp. 166-184.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Butler, Judith
    (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Cameron, Deborah
    (2005) Language, gender, and sexuality: Current issues and new directions. Applied Linguistics26.4: 482-502. doi: 10.1093/applin/ami027
     https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/ami027 [Google Scholar]
  4. Clark, Herbert H. , and Richard J. Gerrig
    (1990) Quotations as demonstrations. Language66.4: 764-805. doi: 10.2307/414729
     https://doi.org/10.2307/414729 [Google Scholar]
  5. Coates, Jennifer
    (2003) Men Talk: Stories in the Making of Masculinities. Malden, MA: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9780470755617
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470755617 [Google Scholar]
  6. (2004) Women, Men, and Language: A Sociolinguistic Account of Sex Differences in Language. Harlow: Pearson Longman.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. (2007) Talk in a play frame: More on laughter and intimacy. Journal of Pragmatics39.1: 29-49. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2006.05.003
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2006.05.003 [Google Scholar]
  8. (2011) Pushing at the boundaries: The expression of alternative masculinities. In J. Coates , and P. Pichler (eds.), Language and gender: A reader (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 263-274.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Coates, Jennifer , and Pia Pichler
    (eds.) (2011) Language and Gender: A Reader (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Eckert, Penelope , and Sally McConnell-Ginet
    (2013) Language and Gender (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511791147
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791147 [Google Scholar]
  11. Endo, Orie
    (2002)  Dansei no kotoba no bunmatsu [Sentence final forms of masculine Japanese]. In Gendai Nihongo Kenkyuu Kai (ed.), Dansei no Kotoba: Shokuba Hen [Masculine Language in Work Contexts]. Tokyo: Hitsuji, pp. 33-45.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Fishman, Pamela
    (1983) Interaction: The work women do. In B. Thorne , C. Kramarae , and N. Henley (eds.), Language, gender, and society. Rowley: MA: Newbury House, pp. 89-101.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Gumperz, John J
    (1982) Language and Social Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Holmes, Janet
    (1997) Story-telling in New Zealand women's and men's talk. In R. Wodak (ed.), Gender and discourse. London: Sage, pp. 263-294. doi: 10.4135/9781446250204.n12
     https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446250204.n12 [Google Scholar]
  15. (2005) Leadership talk: How do leaders do mentoring, and is gender relevant?Journal of Pragmatics37.11: 1779-1800. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2005.02.013
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.02.013 [Google Scholar]
  16. (2006) Gendered Talk at Work: Constructing Gender Identity Through Workplace Discourse. Oxford: Blackwell. doi: 10.1002/9780470754863
     https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470754863 [Google Scholar]
  17. Holmes, Janet , and Miriam Meyerhoff
    (eds.) (2003) The Handbook of Language and Gender. Oxford: Blackwell. doi: 10.1111/b.9780631225034.2004.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/b.9780631225034.2004.x [Google Scholar]
  18. Horiguchi, Sumiko
    (1991) Aizuchi kenkyuu no gendankai to kadai [The current state and future tasks of research on backchannel expressions]. Nihongogaku10: 31-41.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Ide, Sachiko
    (1991) How and why do women speak more politely in Japanese. In S. Ide , and N.H. McGloin (eds.), Aspects of Japanese women’s language. Tokyo: Kuroshio, pp. 67-79.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Ide, Sachiko , and Megumi Yoshida
    (2002) Sociolinguistics: Honorifics and gender differences. In N. Tsujimura (ed.), The handbook of Japanese linguistics. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 444-478.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Inoue, Miyako
    (2004) Gender, language, and modernity: Toward an effective history of “Japanese Women’s Language”. In S. Okamoto , and J.S. Shibamoto Smith (eds.), Japanese language, gender, and ideology. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 57-75.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. (2006) Vicarious Language: Gender and Linguistic Modernity in Japan. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Itakura, Hiroko
    (2001) Conversational Dominance and Gender. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing doi: 10.1075/pbns.89
     https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.89 [Google Scholar]
  24. Company
    .
  25. James, Deborah , and Sandra Clarke
    (1993) Women, men, and interruptions: A critical review. In D. Tannen (ed.), Gender and conversational interaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 231-280.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. James, Deborah , and Janice Drakich
    (1993) Understanding gender differences in amount of talk: A critical review of research. In D. Tannen (ed.), Gender and conversational interaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 281-312.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Johnstone, Barbara , and Judith Mattoson Bean
    (1997) Self-expression and linguistic variation. Language in Society26.2: 221-246. doi: 10.1017/S0047404500020911
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500020911 [Google Scholar]
  28. Kamada, Osamu
    (2000) Quotation in Japanese Language. Tokyo: Hitsuji.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Kiesling, Scot
    (1998) Men’s identities and sociolinguistic variation: The case of fraternity men. Journal of Sociolinguistics2.1: 69-99. doi: 10.1111/1467‑9481.00031
     https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9481.00031 [Google Scholar]
  30. (2002) Playing the straight man: Displaying and maintaining male heterosexuality in discourse. In K. Campbell-Kibler , R.J. Podesva , S.J. Roberts , and A. Wong (eds.), Language and sexuality: Contesting meaning in theory and practice. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications, pp. 249-266.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. (2007) Men, masculinities, and language. Language and Linguistics Compass1.6: 653-673. doi: 10.1111/j.1749‑818X.2007.00035.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00035.x [Google Scholar]
  32. Kobayashi, Mieko
    (2002) Shokuba de tsukawareru koshou [Address terms used in the workplace]. In Gendai Nihongo Kenkyuu Kai (ed.), Dansei no Kotoba: Shokuba Hen [Masculine Language in Work Contexts]. Tokyo: Hitsuji, pp. 99-119.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Kollock, Peter , Philip Blumstein , and Pepper Schwartz
    (1985) Sex and power in interaction: Conversational privileges and duties. American Sociological Review50: 34-46. doi: 10.2307/2095338
     https://doi.org/10.2307/2095338 [Google Scholar]
  34. Ladegaard, Hans J
    (2013) Laughing at adversity: Laughter as communication in domestic helper narratives. Journal of Language and Social Psychology32.4: 390-411. doi: 10.1177/0261927X13489301
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X13489301 [Google Scholar]
  35. Labov, William
    (1972) The transformation of experience in narrative syntax. In W. Labov (ed.), Language in the inner city: Studies in the Black English vernacular. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 354-396.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Leech, Geoffrey
    (2007) Politeness: Is there an East-West divide?Journal of Politeness Research3.2: 167-206. doi: 10.1515/PR.2007.009
     https://doi.org/10.1515/PR.2007.009 [Google Scholar]
  37. Leung, Cynthia B
    (2009) Collaborative narration in preadolescent girl talk: A Saturday luncheon conversation among three friends. Journal of Pragmatics41.7: 1341-1357. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2009.02.011
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.02.011 [Google Scholar]
  38. Ljung, Magnus
    (2011) Swearing: A Cross-Cultural Linguistic Study. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Maltz, Daniel N. , and Ruth A. Borker
    (1982) A cultural approach to male-female miscommunication. In J.J. Gumperz (ed.), Language and social identity. Tübingen: Narr, pp. 196-216.
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Matsumoto, Yoshiko
    (1988) Reexamination of the universality of face: Politeness phenomena in Japanese. Journal of Pragmatics12.4: 403-426. doi: 10.1016/0378‑2166(88)90003‑3
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(88)90003-3 [Google Scholar]
  41. Maynard, Senko K
    (1990) An Introduction to Japanese Grammar and Communication Strategies. Tokyo: The Japan Times.
     [Google Scholar]
  42. (1996) Multivoicedness in speech and thought representation: The case of self-quotation in Japanese. Journal of Pragmatics25.2: 207-226. doi: 10.1016/0378‑2166(94)00097‑2
     https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(94)00097-2 [Google Scholar]
  43. (1997) Japanese Communication: Language and Thought in Context. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  44. McGloin, Naomi H
    (1990) Sex difference and sentence-final particles. In S. Ide , and N.H. McGloin (eds.), Aspects of Japanese women’s language. Tokyo: Kuroshio Nakajima, pp. 23-41.
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Montagu, Ashley
    (2001) The Anatomy of Swearing. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Nakajima, Etsuko
    (2002) Shokuba no dansei no gimon-hyoogen [Interrogative expressions used by men in the workplace]. In Gendai Nihongo Kenkyuu Kai (ed.)Dansei no Kotoba: Shokuba Hen. Tokyo: Hitsuji, pp. 47-61.
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Occhi, Debra J. , Cindi L. Sturtz Sreetharan , and Janet S. Shibamoto Smith
    (2010) Finding Mr. Right: New looks at gendered modernity in Japanese televised romances. Journal of Japanese Studies30.3: 409-417. doi: 10.1080/10371397.2010.518605
     https://doi.org/10.1080/10371397.2010.518605 [Google Scholar]
  48. Ochs, Elinor
    (1992) Indexing gender. In A. Duranti , and C. Goodwin (eds.), Rethinking context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 335-358.
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Ochs, Elinor , Ruth Smith , and Carolyn Taylor
    (1996) Detective stories at dinner-time: Problem solving through co-narration. In C.L. Briggs (ed.), Disorderly discourse: Narrative, conflict, and inequity. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 95-113.
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Okamoto, Shigeko , and Janet S. Shibamoto Smith
    (2004) Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology: Cultural Models and Real People. New York: Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Okamoto, Shigeko , and Janet. S. Shibamoto Smith
    (2008) Constructing linguistic femininity in contemporary Japan: Scholarly and popular representations. Gender and Language2.1: 87-112.
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Sakurai, Takashi
    (2002) Ore to boku [Ore and boku]. In Gendai Nihongo Kenkyuu Kai (ed.), Dansei no Kotoba: Shokuba Hen [Masculine Language in Work Contexts]). Tokyo: Hitsuji, pp. 121-132.
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Shibamoto Smith , Janet S
    (2004) Language and gender in the (hetero)romance: “Reading” the ideal hero/ine through lovers’ dialogue in Japanese romance fiction. In S. Okamoto , and J.S. Shibamoto Smith (eds.), Japanese language, gender, and ideology. NewYork: Oxford University Press, pp. 113-130.
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Sturtz Sreetharan, Cindi. L
    (2004) Japanese men’s linguistic stereotypes and realities: Conversations from the Kanto and Kansai regions. In S. Okamoto , and J.S. Shibamoto Smith (eds.), Japanese language, gender, and ideology. NewYork: Oxford University Press, pp. 275-289.
     [Google Scholar]
  55. (2006) Gentlemanly gender? Japanese men’s use of clause-final politeness in casual conversations. Journal of Sociolinguistics10.1: 70-92. doi: 10.1111/j.1360‑6441.2006.00318.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-6441.2006.00318.x [Google Scholar]
  56. (2009) "Ore" and "Omae:" Japanese men's use of first- and second-person pronouns. Pragmatics19.2: 253-278. doi: 10.1075/prag.19.2.06stu
     https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.19.2.06stu [Google Scholar]
  57. Takanashi, Hiroko
    (2011) Complementary stylistic resonance in Japanese play framing. Pragmatics21.2: 231-264. doi: 10.1075/prag.21.2.04tak
     https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.21.2.04tak [Google Scholar]
  58. Talbot, Mary
    (2010) Language and Gender. Cambridge: Polity.
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Tannen, Deborah
    (1979) What’s in a frame? Surface evidence for underlying expectations. In R. Freedle  (ed.), New directions in discourse processing. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, pp137-181.
     [Google Scholar]
  60. (1989) Talking Voices: Repetition, Dialogue, and Imagery in Conversational Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  61. (1990) You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York: William Morrow.
     [Google Scholar]
  62. (2004) Talking the dog: Framing pets as interactional resources in family discourse. Research on Language and Social Interaction37.4: 399-420. doi: 10.1207/s15327973rlsi3704_1
     https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3704_1 [Google Scholar]
  63. (2005) Interactional sociolinguistics as a resource for intercultural pragmatics. Intercultural Pragmatics2.2: 205-208. doi: 10.1515/iprg.2005.2.2.205
     https://doi.org/10.1515/iprg.2005.2.2.205 [Google Scholar]
  64. Uchida, Nobuko
    (1993) Kaiwa-koodoo ni mirareru seisa [Sex Differences Seen in Conversational Patterns]. Nihongogaku12: 156-168.
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Warner-Garcia, Shawn
    (2014) Laughing when nothing’s funny: The pragmatic use of coping laughter in the negotiation of conversational disagreement. Pragmatics24.1, 157-180. doi: 10.1075/prag.24.1.07war
     https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.24.1.07war [Google Scholar]
  66. Weedon, Chris
    (1987) Feminist Theory and Poststructuralist Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1075/prag.25.2.03ita
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Amount of talk; Direct quotation; Direct talk; Gender; Identity; Japanese men; Masculine language; Masculinity; Mixed talk; Storytelling

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error