Role Language and Character Language
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/ala.5.2.29-42Keywords:
role language, character, stereotype, fiction, dialectAbstract
Since Kinsui's (2000, 2003) initial proposal, research on role language has progressed with the topics growing more diverse. In this paper we propose that a peculiar speech style assigned to a certain character in fiction should be treated as character language rather than role language. Role language, which is based on social and cultural stereotypes, is a subset of character language. Given that role language is also a linguistic stereotype, its knowledge should be widely shared by members of the speech community, and its patterns within limits. Character language, on the other hand, allows for various types, being far from being a closed class. We examine and give examples of four types of character language: speech styles that could become actual role language, once shared widely in the speech community; speech styles that are effectively adopted by characters outside of their expected speaker's social and cultural groups; speech styles employed to represent something other than their stereotypes; and uniquely created speech styles.
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References
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Nishida, T. (2011) “Yakuwarigo toshiteno tsundere hyōgen: ‘Jōyōsei’ no umu ni chakumoku shite [Tsundere expressions as role language, focusing on circumstances of usage].” In: Kinsui, S. (ed.), pp. 265-78.
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Togashi, J. (2011) “Tsundere zokusei niokeru gengo-hyōgen no tokuchō: Tsundere hyōgen kēsu sutadī [Properties of the tsundere character and their relationship to linguistic expression: A case study of tsundere expressions].” In: Kinsui, S. (ed.), pp. 279-95.
Bogle, D. (2001) Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, & Bucks, fourth edition. New York: Continuum.
Dobrow, J. and Gidney, C. (1998) “The good, the bad, and the foreign: The use of dialect in children’s animated television.” ANNALS, AAPSS 557: 105-119.
Green, L. J. (2002) African American English: A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kato, T. (2009) Murakami Haruki Yellow Pages 3, Tokyo: Gentosha.
Kinsui, S. (2000) “Yakuwarigo tankyū no teian [A proposal for exploring role language.” In K. Sato (ed.) Kokugo Ronkyū [Inquiries into Japanese Language] vol. 8, Kokugo-shi no Shin-shiten [A New Perspective on the History of the Japanese Language]. Tokyo: Meiji Shoin, pp. 311-35.
Kinsui, S. (2003) Virtual Nihongo: Yakuwarigo no Nazo [Virtual Japanese: The Enigma of Role Language]. Tokyo: Iwanami Publisher.
Kinsui, S. (ed.) (2007) Yakuwarigo Kenkyū no Chihei [New Horizon of Role Language Research]. Tokyo: Kurosio Publisher.
Kinsui, S. (2010) “On “role language” in contemporary Japanese: An investigation of stereotypical styles in Japanese language.” Proceedings of the Symposium ‘Yakuwari/Kyarakutā/Gengo’ [Roles/Characters/Languages], March 28-29, 2009, Kobe University, Japan, pp. 51-54.
Kinsui, S. (ed.) (2011) Yakuwarigo Kenkyū no Tenkai [Development of Role Language Research]. Tokyo: Kurosio Publisher.
Kinsui, S. (2014) Kore mo Nihongo Aruka?: Ijin no Kotoba ga Umareru Toki [Is This Also Japanese?: When Aliens’ Language Was Born]. Tokyo: Iwanami Publisher.
Kinsui, S. (ed.) (2014) Yakuwarigo Shōjiten [The Concise Dictionary of Role Language]. Tokyo: Kenkyusha.
Kinsui, S., Tanaka, Y., and Okamuro, M. (eds.) (2014) Dorama to Hōgen no Atarashii Kankei: “Kānēshon” kara “Yae no Sakura”, Soshite “Ama-chan” e [A New Relationship between Dramas and Dialects: From “Carnation” to “Yae no Sakura”, and “Ama-chan”]. Tokyo: Kasama Shoin.
Lippi-Green, R. (1997) English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States. London: Routledge.
Lippi-Green, R. (2012) English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States, second edition. Oxon: Routledge.
Luther, C. A., Lepre, C. R. and Clark, N. (2012) Diversity in U.S. Mass Media. Malden: Willey-Blackwell.
Nishida, T. (2011) “Yakuwarigo toshiteno tsundere hyōgen: ‘Jōyōsei’ no umu ni chakumoku shite [Tsundere expressions as role language, focusing on circumstances of usage].” In: Kinsui, S. (ed.), pp. 265-78.
O’Grady, W., Archbold, J., Aronoff, M., and Rees-Miller, J. (2005) Contemporary Linguistics: An Introduction, fifth edition. Boston: Bedford.
Sadanobu, T. (2011) “Kyarakuta wa bumpō o doko made kaeru noka? [How much does Modern Standard Japanese grammar vary in accordance with the speaker’s “character”?].” In: Kinsui, S. (ed.), pp. 17-26.
Teshigawara, M. and Kinsui, S. (2011) “Modern Japanese ‘role language’ (yakuwarigo): Fictional orality in Japanese literature and popular culture. Sociolinguistic Studies 5(1): 37-58.
Togashi, J. (2011) “Tsundere zokusei niokeru gengo-hyōgen no tokuchō: Tsundere hyōgen kēsu sutadī [Properties of the tsundere character and their relationship to linguistic expression: A case study of tsundere expressions].” In: Kinsui, S. (ed.), pp. 279-95.
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Published
29.12.2015
How to Cite
KINSUI, S., & YAMAKIDO, H. (2015). Role Language and Character Language. Acta Linguistica Asiatica, 5(2), 29–42. https://doi.org/10.4312/ala.5.2.29-42
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Research articles
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Copyright (c) 2015 Satoshi Kinsui, Hiroko Yamakido
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