Cover not available
Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 24:1 (2014) ► pp.35–62

Identities and linguistic varieties in Japanese

An analysis of language ideologies as participants’ accomplishments

This study explores categorization processes of people (identities) and language (linguistic varieties) in interactions between L1 (first language) and L2 (second language) speakers of Japanese and the language ideologies behind them. Utilizing Conversation Analysis (CA) in combination with Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA), the present study focuses on how participants apply these categories to self and other where identities and language ideologies emerge in the sequences of ordinary conversations. The study also illuminates how the participants react to such ideologies, which is rarely documented in previous studies of L2 Japanese interactions. It is controversial to use CA and MCA as methodologies for inquiries into ideology due to different epistemological and theoretical frameworks. Yet, joining the emerging trend of CA studies that address ideological issues, this study will also demonstrate the compatibility between them. Methodological integration of CA and MCA has been proposed since the 1970s, but has started to be adopted only recently. Because few studies employ this combination in the area of language ideologies, it serves as a novel analytic tool in this body of research. Thus, this study makes a methodological contribution to the study of language ideologies, illustrating the production of language ideologies and reactions to it as participants’ accomplishments.
Keywords: Language ideologies, Identity construction, Conversation Analysis (CA), Japanese, Linguistic varieties, Membership Categorization Analysis (MCA)
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 1 March 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.24.1.02fuk
References (64)
Agha, Asif (2006) Registers of language. In A. Duranti (ed.), A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 23-45.Google Scholar
Antaki, Charles, and Sue Widdicombe (1998) Identity as an achievement and as a tool. In C. Antaki, and S. Widdicombe (eds.), Identities in Talk. London: Sage, pp. 1-14.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Befu, Harumi (2001) Hegemony of Homogeneity: An Anthropological Analysis of Nihonjinron. Melbourne, Australia: Trans Pacific Press.Google Scholar
Befu, Harumi, and Kazufumi Manabe (1989) An empirical investigation of nihonjinron: The degree of exposure of Japanese to nihonjinron propositions and the functions these propositions serve. Kwansei Gakuin University Annual Studies 381: 35-62.Google Scholar
Benwell, Bethan, and Elizabeth Stokoe (2006) Discourse and Identity. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Billig, Michael (1999) Conversation analysis and the claim of naivety. Discourse and Society 10: 572– 576. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary, and Kira Hall (2006) Language and identity. In A. Duranti (ed.), A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 369-394.Google Scholar
Cook, Haruko M. (2006) Joint construction of folk beliefs by JFL learners and Japanese host families. In M.A. DuFon, and E.E. Churchill (eds.), Language Learners in Study Abroad Contexts. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 120-150. DOI logo DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Creighton, Michael (1997) Soto others and uchi others: Imaging racial diversity, imagining homogeneous Japan. In M. Weiner (ed.), Japan’s Minorities: The Illusion of Homogeneity. London: Routledge, pp. 211-238.Google Scholar
Crystal, David (1997) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
(1992) An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Deppermann, Arnulf (2005) Conversational interpretation of lexical items and conversational contrasting. In A. Hakulinen, and M. Selting (eds.), Syntax and Lexis in Conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, pp. 289-317. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Doerr, Neriko (2010) Introduction, nationhood, and language. Critical Asian Studies 42.1: 53-62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edley, Nigel, and Margaret Wetherell (1997) Jockeying for position: The construction of masculine identities. Discourse & Society 8.2: 203-217. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
(1999) Negotiating hegemonic masculinity: Imaginary positions and psycho-discursive practices. Feminism Psychology 9.3: 335-356. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fitzgerald, Richard, and William Housley (2002) Identity, categorization and sequential organization: The sequential and categorical flow of identity in a radio phone-in. Discourse & Society 13.5: 579-602. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Gafaranga, Joseph (2001) Linguistic identities in talk-in-interaction: Order in bilingual conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 331: 1901-1925. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Garfinkel, Harold (1967) Studies in Ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Hall, Stuart, and Paul du Gay (1996) Questions of Cultural Identity. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Hester, Stephen (1998) Describing “deviance” in school: Recognizably educational psychological problems. In C. Antaki, and S. Widdicombe (eds.), Identities in Talk. London: Sage, pp. 133-150.Google Scholar
Hester, Sally, and Stephen Hester (2012) Categorial occasionality and transformation: Analyzing culture in action. Human Studies. doi: 10.1007/s10746-012-9211-7. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Higgins, Christina (2011) Introduction to Part I. In C. Higgins (ed.), Identity Formation in Globalizing Contexts: Language Learning in the New Millennium. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 21-25. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Iino, Masakazu (1996) ”Excellent foreigner!”: Gaijinization of Japanese language and culture in contact situations. An ethnographic study of dinner table conversations between Japanese host families and American students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
(2006) Norms of interaction in a Japanese homestay setting: Toward a two-way flow of linguistic and cultural resources. In M.A. DuFon, and E.E. Churchill (eds.), Language Learners in Study Abroad Contexts. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, pp. 151-173. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kasper, Gabriele (2009) Categories, context, and comparison in conversation analysis. In H. Nguyen, and G. Kasper (eds.), Talk-in-Interaction: Multilingual Perspectives, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, National Foreign Language Resource Center, pp. 1-28.Google Scholar
Kitzinger, Celia (2000) Doing feminist CA. Feminism and Psychology 101: 163-193. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Komori, Yoichi (2000) Yuragi no Nihon Bungaku [The vacillation of Japanese literature]. Tokyo: NHK Books.Google Scholar
Kroskrity, Paul V. (2006) Language ideologies. In A. Duranti (ed.), A Companion to Linguistic Anthropology. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 496-517.Google Scholar
Makino, Seiichi, and Michio Tsutsui (1989) A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. Tokyo: Japan Times.Google Scholar
Matsumoto, Yoshiko (1985) A sort of speech act qualification in Japanese: Chotto. Journal of Asian Culture 91: 143-159.Google Scholar
Matsumoto, Yoshiko, and Shigeko Okamoto (2003) The construction of the Japanese language and culture in teaching Japanese as a foreign language. Japanese Language and Literature 37.1: 27-48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, Laura (1995) Crossing ethnolinguistic boundaries: A preliminary look at the gaijin tarento in Japan. In J.A. Lent (ed.), Asian Popular Culture. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, pp. 189-201.Google Scholar
(2010) Japan-related linguistic intervention. Critical Asian Studies 42.2: 239-245. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Miller, Roy A. (1977) Japanese Language in Modern Japan: Some Sociolinguistic Observations. Washington D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.Google Scholar
Moerman, Michael (1988) Talking Culture: Ethnography and Conversation Analysis. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Neustupńy, Jir´i V. (1995) Atarashii Nihongo Kyooiku no tame ni [For new education of the Japanese language]. Tokyo: Taishuukan shoten.Google Scholar
Nishizaka, Aogu (1997) Soogokooi Bunseki to iu Shiten [A perspective of interactional analysis]. Tokyo: Kaneko Shoten.Google Scholar
(1999) Doing interpreting within interaction: The interactive accomplishment of a “henna gaijin” or “strange foreigner.” Human Studies 221: 235-251. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ochs, Elinor (2002) Becoming a speaker of culture. In C. Kramsch (ed.), Language Acquisition and Language Socialization. New York: Continuum, pp. 99-120.Google Scholar
Ohara, Yumiko, and Scott Saft (2003) Using conversation analysis to track gender ideologies in social interaction: Toward a feminist analysis of a Japanese phone-in consultation TV program. Discourse & Society 141: 153-172. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Ohta, Amy S. (1993) The foreign language learner in Japanese society: Successful learners of Japanese respond to Miller’s “law of inverse returns.” Journal of Association of Teachers of Japanese 271: 205-228. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Phillipson, Robert, and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (1995) Linguistic Human Rights: Overcoming Linguistic Discrimination. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Pomerantz, Anita (1984) Giving a source or basis: The practice in conversation of telling “What I know.” Journal of Pragmatics 81: 607-625. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Psathas, George (1995) Conversation Analysis: The Study of Talk-in-Interaction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  BoP DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1999) Studying the organization in action: Membership categorization and interaction analysis. Human Studies 221: 139-162. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sacks, Harvey (1972) An initial investigation of the usability of conversational data for doing sociology. In D. Sudnow (ed.), Studies in Social Interaction. New York: Free Press, pp. 31-74.Google Scholar
(1979) Hotrodder: A revolutionary category. In G. Psathas (ed.), Everyday Language: Studies in Ethnomethodology. New York: Irvington, pp. 7-14.Google Scholar
(1992) Lectures on Conversation: Volumes I and II (Edited by G. Jefferson, introduction by E.A. Schegloff). Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sakai, Naoki (1996) Shizan sareru Nihongo, Nihonjin [The stillborn Japanese language and people]. Tokyo: Shinyoosha.Google Scholar
Shinmura, Izuru (2003) Kjoojien Dictionary (5th ed.; electronic version). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Siegal, Meryl (1996) The role of learner subjectivity in second language sociolinguistic competency: Western women learning Japanese. Applied Linguistics 171: 356-382. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, Michael (1979) Language structure and language ideology. In P. Clyne, W. Hanks, and C. Hofbauer (eds.), The Elements. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society, pp. 193-248.Google Scholar
Stokoe, Elizabeth (2012) Moving forward with membership categorization analysis: Methods for systematic analysis. Discourse Studies 14.3: 277-303. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Suzuki, Asuka (2009) When gaijin matters: Theory-building in Japanese multiparty interaction. In H. Nguyen, and G. Kasper (eds.), Talk-in-Interaction: Multilingual Perspectives. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, National Foreign Language Resource Center, pp. 89-109.Google Scholar
Takasaki, Midori (2012) Bimi o imi suru go no shiyoo to seisa [On gender differences and the use of words that mean bimi ‘good flavor’ in Japanese: Focusing on oishii ‘delicious’]. Jinbun Kagaku Kenkyuu 81: 55-68.Google Scholar
Talmy, Steven (2009) Resisting ESL: Categories and sequence in a critically “motivated” analysis of classroom interaction. In H. Nguyen, and G. Kasper (eds.), Talk-in-Interaction: Multilingual Perspectives. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, National Foreign Language Resource Center, pp. 181-213.Google Scholar
ten Have, Paul (1999) Doing Conversation Analysis. London: Sage.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Tsukuba Language Group (1991) Situational Functional Japanese, vol. 1 (Notes). Tokyo: Bonjinsha.Google Scholar
Ueno, Chizuko (2005) Datsu aidentiti no senryaku [Strategies for de-identity]. In C. Ueno (ed.), Datsu Aidentiti [De-identity]. Tokyo: Keisoo Shoboo, pp. 289-321.Google Scholar
Watson, Rod (1978) Categorisation, authorization and blame-negotiation in conversation. Sociology 121: 105-113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wooffitt, Robin (2005) Conversation Analysis and Discourse Analysis: A Comparative and Critical Introduction. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Woolard, Kathryn A. (1992) Language ideology: Issues and approaches. Pragmatics 21: 235-249.  BoP DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yoshino, Kosaku (1992) Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary Japan. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cited by (11)

Cited by 11 other publications

Saito, Junko
2021. “We’re family”: Japanese Characters’ Categorizations of a Gay Man in a TV Drama. In Linguistic Tactics and Strategies of Marginalization in Japanese, ► pp. 143 ff. DOI logo
Burdelski, Matthew & Chie Fukuda
2019. Multimodal membership categorization and storytelling in a guided tour. Pragmatics and Society 10:3 ► pp. 337 ff. DOI logo
Surtees, Victoria
2019. “As a friend, that’s the one thing I always am very conscious not to do”. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 4:1 ► pp. 45 ff. DOI logo
Jakonen, Teppo
2018. The environment of a bilingual classroom as an interactional resource. Linguistics and Education 44 ► pp. 20 ff. DOI logo
Suzuki, Satoko
2018. Chapter 11. Linguistic nationalism and fictional deception. In Pragmatics of Japanese [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 285], ► pp. 267 ff. DOI logo
Suzuki, Satoko
2020. Multiculturalism or Cultural Nationalism? Representation of Ellie Kameyama as a Conduit and the Other in the NHK Morning DramaMassan. Japanese Studies 40:2 ► pp. 121 ff. DOI logo
Suzuki, Satoko
2022. Nationalism and gender in the representation of non-Japanese characters’ speech in contemporary Japanese novels. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 271 ff. DOI logo
Fukuda, Chie
2017. Gaijin performing gaijin (‘A foreigner performing a foreigner’): Co-construction of foreigner stereotypes in a Japanese talk show as a multimodal phenomenon. Journal of Pragmatics 109 ► pp. 12 ff. DOI logo
Menard-Warwick, Julia & Genevieve Leung
2017. Translingual practice in L2 Japanese: workplace narratives. Language and Intercultural Communication 17:3 ► pp. 270 ff. DOI logo
Nakamura, Momoko
2017. Between Performed Persona and Assigned Identity Categories: Stereotype as Identity Resource for Japanese Business Women in Leadership Positions. In Challenging Leadership Stereotypes through Discourse, ► pp. 239 ff. DOI logo
Mayes, Patricia
2015. Becoming an ‘autonomous writer’: Epistemic stance displays and membership categorization in the writing conference. Discourse Studies 17:6 ► pp. 752 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 21 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.