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Programme: accepted abstracts

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Abstract ID: 161

Thematic Session (Papers belonging to this Thematic Session)

Commercialism and language use

Authors: Ikuta, Shoko; Tanabe, Kazuko
Submitted by: Ikuta, Shoko (Meiji Gakuin University, Japan)

Although there could be some minor variations depending on the nation’s political system, urban cities in general can be characterized by their brisk commercial activity distinct from suburban areas.  Most cities have dense shopping districts constantly providing commodities and services to the consumers. Tokyo, the capital of a liberal capitalistic Japan, is a typical of such cities.  Martinez (1999) offers a view of Japan as a postmodern consumer society.  Jameson (1997), known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, describes postmodernism as the spatialization of culture under the pressure of organized capitalism.  The use of language in such a highly commercialized society cannot be free from such pressures.

In this panel, we aim to bring together research focusing on language use as a reflection of urban (sub)cultures in relation to commercialism. In particular, the panel will present case studies on how voice quality variables can be associated with urban commercialism and how speakers can use them to project/manage different identities.

One focus is placed on the phenomenal use of voice quality with nasalization in Japanese, especially with formulaic expressions such as “irasshaimase” (lit. “welcome (to our shop)”), currently spreading among the language use of sales clerks working in Shibuya, one of Tokyo’s commercial and cultural centers, especially known as an epicenter of consumption and subcultures unique to younger generations. It is the suprasegmental practice of nasalization over a whole sentence/speech act, which has emerged within the last decade and is rapidly spreading to the extent that it cannot be simply attributed to individual habit of pronunciation or idiolect. This type of nasalization is clearly different from the prevocalic segmental velar nasal (bidakuon) [ŋ], which is nearly extinct in contemporary Tokyo dialects.  Historically the bidakuon has been attributed to the regional dialect in Kanto (including Tokyo) area and reported to have been disappearing and replaced with the velar stop [g].  Although voice quality in Japanese such as intonation patterns, voice pitch, or the prosodic focus of the negative morpheme “nai” has been studied in relation to socio-cultural roles or style shifting (Inoue 1998, Yuasa 2008, Takano 2008), nasality has been neglected in Japanese dialectology or sociolinguistic studies.

Voice quality in English varieties has been studied in relation to social dialects (Trudgill 1974, Esling 1978).  Laver (1980) indicates voice quality can be an index to membership of occupational groups.  Lately, there has been a stream of publication in sociophonetics (Preston & Niedzielski 2010, Di Paolo & Yaeger-Dror 2011, Thomas 2011) as well as in prosody in interaction (Reed 2011).  Applying insights from sociolinguistics and sociophonetics, this panel explores the following questions.

1. What are the sociolinguistic factors motivating the emergence and the diffusion of some particular characteristic voice quality variables?    

2. How are those variables associated with urban commercialism?

3. In what ways are those variables used for the projection of the speaker’s personal/social/professional identity?

4. How do the speakers shift between the use of those and natural vernacular style to profect/manage different identities?

As a whole, the panel seeks the social indexicality of such innovative use of voice quality.

In addition, the panel would like to address topics such as urban dialect formation, youth language, social identity, and stylistic variation in relation to urban (sub)culture or commercialism. Contributions from researchers investigating similar phenomena from different cultural backgrounds will be especially valuable.

References

David Britain & Jenny Cheshire (eds.). 2003. Social dialectology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

J.H. Esling. 1978. The identification of features of voice quality in social groups.  Journal of the International Phonetic Association 7: 18-23.

Fumio Inoue. 1998. Nihongo wocchingu. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.

Fredric Jameson. 1997. Postmodernism or the cultural logic of late capitalism.  Durham: Duke University press.

John Laver. 1980.　The phonetic description of voice quality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

D.P. Martinez. 1999. Gender, shifting boundaries and global cultures. In D.P. Martinez (ed.) The worlds of Japanese popular culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1-18.

Shoji Takano. 2008. Variation in prosodic focus of the Japanese negative nai, in K. Jones & T. Ono (eds.) Style shifting in Japanese. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 285-327.

Erik R. Thomas. 2011. Sociophonetics: an introduction. Palgrage Macmillan.

Peter Trudgill. 1974. The social differentiation of English in Norwich, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

I.P. Yuasa. 2008. Culture and gender of voice pitch:A sociophonetic comparison of the Japanese and Americans. London: Equinox.