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Part of
Pragmatics of Japanese: Perspectives on grammar, interaction and culture
Edited by Mutsuko Endo Hudson, Yoshiko Matsumoto and Junko Mori
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 285] 2018
► pp. 245–266

Chapter 10
Metapragmatic discourse in self-help books on Japanese women’s speech

An indexical approach to social meanings

| University of California, Santa Cruz

Drawing on the indexical view of language (Agha 2007; Eckert 2008, 2012; Silverstein 1979, 2003), I reexamine the notion of (normative) linguistic femininity by analyzing metapragmatic discourse in self-help books on Japanese women’s speech. My analysis demonstrates that what is taught as ideal speech for women by self-help books is broader and more complex than the scholarly characterization of joseego ‘women’s language.’ Based on the findings, I discuss the role of language ideology in the process of linking linguistic forms and social meanings, the multiplicity and variability of indexical meanings, the importance of sexuality for linguistic femininity, the coordination of multiple linguistic and extra-linguistic features to index social meanings, and the use of linguistic (and extra-linguistic) features as creative indexes.

Keywords: metapragmatic discourse, indexical meanings, gender and language, language ideology, Japanese, Japanese women’s language, pragmatics
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Indexicality, language ideology, and metapragmatic discourse
  • 3. Self-help books and women’s speech as a special case
  • 4.Ideal speech patterns for women as creative indexes
  • 5.Ideology and the construction of linguistic femininity
    • 5.1 General stylistic features and femininity
    • 5.2 Specific linguistic features and femininity
    • 5.3 Extra-linguistic features and the meanings of “feminine” forms
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix: A list of self-help books examined in this study
Published online: 16 April 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.285.10oka
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Appendix: A list of self-help books examined in this study

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Cited by 2 other publications

Okamoto, Shigeko
2021. Your politeness is my impoliteness. East Asian Pragmatics 6:1 DOI logo
Okamoto, Shigeko & Maho Morimoto
2023. Gender norms and styling in Japanese conversation: A multilevel analysis. Journal of Sociolinguistics 27:1 ► pp. 42 ff. DOI logo

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