31.1798, Diss: Japanese; Sociolinguistics: Hannah E. Dahlberg-Dodd: ''Social Meaning in Virtual Space: Sentence-final expressions in the Japanese popular mediascape''

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-31-1798. Fri May 29 2020. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 31.1798, Diss:  Japanese; Sociolinguistics: Hannah E. Dahlberg-Dodd: ''Social Meaning in Virtual Space: Sentence-final expressions in the Japanese popular mediascape''

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Date: Fri, 29 May 2020 14:19:27
From: Hannah Dahlberg-Dodd [dahlberg-dodd.1 at osu.edu]
Subject: Social Meaning in Virtual Space: Sentence-final expressions in the Japanese popular mediascape

 
Institution: Ohio State University 
Program: Department of East Asian Languages and Literature 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2019 

Author: Hannah E. Dahlberg-Dodd

Dissertation Title: Social Meaning in Virtual Space: Sentence-final expressions 
in the Japanese popular mediascape 

Dissertation URL:  http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1573476174708106

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics

Subject Language(s): Japanese (jpn)


Dissertation Director(s):
Mineharu Nakayama
Charles Quinn
Anna Babel
Mie Hiramoto

Dissertation Abstract:

Often cited as one of the most salient indices of sociocultural meaning,
“sentence-final expressions” (bunmatsu hyōgen) have long been a subject of
analysis in Japanese linguistics. These units are a kind of what Bolinger and
Sear (1981) more broadly refer to as an “audible gesture,” or a linguistic
unit that conveys paralinguistic meanings, i.e. meaning that includes neither
denotational nor propositional content. Named for their frequent and typical
appearance at the end of utterances, in Japanese an immense number are
deployed to a wide variety of sociocultural ends. Because of the large number
of available expressions, however, previous research has struggled to develop
a method of sociolinguistic analysis that is capable of capturing their
multivalent nature. This is a difficulty that has been compounded by an array
of different degrees of use, resulting in highly skewed levels of academic
attention being given to certain expressions and nearly none to others.

In this dissertation, I explore alternate means of addressing the intersection
of sentence-final expressions and sociocultural meaning through a hybrid
approach that utilizes statistical methods informed by cultural analysis.
Drawing on frameworks developed for understanding “role language” (Kinsui
2003) and “character language” (Sadanobu 2011, Kinsui and Yamakido 2015), the
series of studies presented in this dissertation approach these expressions
from the perspective of their role in the performance of characterological
figures and the history of use that these expressions have within mass media
genres. By utilizing mass media genres, in particular popular entertainment
media, I focus not simply on the use of these expressions, but the
sociocultural ideologies that inform their use with regard to both creator and
audience. Moreover, careful study of these expressions in popular media sheds
light on the boundaries of their potential meanings, since we find them at
work in such a variety of situations, ranging from the mundane to the
fantastical.

Each of the included studies presents a close examination of the phenomenon it
focuses on in a particular medium of popular culture. Taken together, these
studies propose a more broad-based, holistic approach to sociocultural meaning
in mass media genres as it is constructed through the multivalent indexical
possibilities of sentence-final expressions. The linguistic units and usages
that contribute to the construction of a persona, fictionalized or otherwise,
are many, and in Japanese, sentence-final expressions provide a wide variety
of options to that end. Analyzing not only their use, but in the process
exploring alternative means of researching their utilization in a variety of
contexts will help establish and clarify the value of better understanding
mass media discourse both as a target for linguistic inquiry and as a key part
of our language socialization.




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