Japanese Native Speakers' Attitudes Towards
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JAPANESE NATIVE SPEAKERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS ATTENTION-GETTING NE OF INTIMACY IN RELATION TO JAPANESE FEMININITIES THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Atsuko Oyama, M.E. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2008 Master’s Examination Committee: Approved by Professor Mari Noda, Advisor Professor Mineharu Nakayama Advisor Professor Kathryn Campbell-Kibler Graduate Program in East Asian Languages and Literatures ABSTRACT This thesis investigates Japanese people’s perceptions of the speakers who use “attention-getting ne of intimacy” in discourse in relation to femininity. The attention- getting ne of intimacy is the particle ne that is used within utterances with a flat or a rising intonation. It is commonly assumed that this attention-getting ne is frequently used by children as well as women. Feminine connotations attached to this attention-getting ne when used by men are also noted. The attention-getting ne of intimacy is also said to connote both intimate and over-friendly impressions. On the other hand, recent studies on Japanese femininity have proposed new images that portrays figures of immature and feminine women. Assuming the similarity between the attention-getting ne and new images of Japanese femininity, this thesis aims to reveal the relationship between them. In order to investigate listeners’ perceptions of women who use the attention- getting ne of intimacy with respect to femininity, this thesis employs the matched-guise technique as its primary methodological choice using the presence of attention-getting ne of intimacy as its variable. In addition to the implicit reactions obtained in the matched- guise technique, people’s explicit thoughts regarding being onnarashii ‘womanly’ and kawairashii ‘endearing’ were also collected in the experiment. By analyzing the participants’ associations regarding female personal traits using factor analysis, three types of womanhood were revealed: polite womanhood (polite, well-mannered, trustworthy, and womanly), endearing womanhood (endearing, protective, and womanly), and clingy womanhood (clingy and projecting childishness). Clingy womanhood was particularly associated with younger age, and was suggested to carry both positive and negative connotations. The results of the matched-guise experiment indicate that the attention-getting ne of intimacy did not have significant direct impact on the listeners’ perceptions in the ii context of this study, with one exception. The exceptional case was when the listeners thought the interlocutors were more likely to be siblings (i.e. sisters) when ne was present than when it was absent. When the listeners considered the speakers to be siblings in their early twenties, they also believed that the speakers projected a greater degree of clingy womanhood when ne was present than when it was absent. These findings suggest that intimate moods are produced by the use of the attention-getting ne of intimacy. The findings also suggest the possibility of a correlation between the attention-getting ne of intimacy and clingy or childish womanhood, that is, immaturity of women. In the male listeners’ perceptions, the attention-getting ne of intimacy seems to exaggerate the link between the speakers’ perceived degree of endearing womanhood and popularity with men, which in turn suggests the male-centered aspect of endearing womanhood as well as of the attention-getting ne of intimacy. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Towards the completion of this thesis, I have come to realize how many people helped me throughout this project, and how fortunate I have been to have them in my life. This thesis would have never been brought to fruition without these people’s help. My advisor, Doctor Mari Noda, offered leadership, knowledge, and support in the process of structuring my thesis work and gave me freedom to explore my interests and ideas. The basis of this thesis was constructed through discussions with her that centered on the acquisition of the particle ne. I am grateful to her for her encouragement and for her invaluable advice. I also wish to express my gratitude to Doctor Mineharu Nakayama for his numerous, insightful comments. Doctor Nakayama offered me profound support in developing my ideas as well as in devising the experiment. It was his Pragmatics course, my very first graduate course that motivated me to pursue the particle ne. I am grateful to him for his help. I also wish to thank Doctor Kathryn Campbell-Kibler. Doctor Campbell-Kibler offered me extensive support in structuring my experiment and in analyzing my data. In her Sociolinguistics course, she also directed me to consider social practice. I am grateful to her for her guidance and for providing me with valuable advice, relieving my concerns about my research. I would also like to express my gratitude to people who allowed me to use their conversation voices for my stimuli. Wordless thanks also to the many native speakers of Japanese in the U.S., who willingly participated in my experiment and who thoughtfully shared their opinions on femininity. This thesis would have been impossible without these anonymous people. I am also grateful to the people from Humanities Information iv Systems for providing me with help in conducting my web-based survey. Finally, I thank Levi Gibbs for helping me with the editing. My peers, friends, and acquaintances also offered me substantial help in many stages of this project. Morioka-san, Karen, Ayaka, Miki, Saori, Kaori, Chris, Seth, Shima-san, Abbie, Carlos, Joshua, Teppei, Itomitsu-san, Chinatsu-san, Kengo-san, and many other people. I am grateful to them for their consideration and for their support. Many discussions with Christian also guided me towards what I have been getting at. I wish to thank him for his unwavering support and for being my best friend. Lastly, I wish to express my sincere and heartfelt gratitude to my family for their encouragement and for their great affection for me. v VITA 1998 .................................... B.E. Architecture, Kansai University 2000 .................................... M.E. Architecture, Kansai University 2000 .................................... Research student, Kansai University 2001-2003 ......................... Instructor of Japanese Mito International Japanese Language School 2003-2005 ......................... Lecturer of Japanese Ryazan State University, Russia 2006-present ....................... Graduate Teaching Associate The Ohio State University FIELD OF STUDY Major Field: East Asian Languages & Literatures vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv VITA .................................................................................................................................. vi LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... xii ORTHOGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS .............................................................................. xii Chapters: 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Attention-getting interjectional ne and Japanese femininities ............................ 1 1.2 Organization of the thesis ................................................................................... 6 2. The attention-getting ne of intimacy ............................................................................... 7 2.1 An analysis of the interjectional ne in conversations ......................................... 8 2.1.1 Conversation data ............................................................................................ 8 2.1.2 Functional classification of interjectional ne ................................................ 10 2.1.3 Social context of interjectional ne ................................................................ 20 2.1.4 Contents of the talk and its restriction of attention-getting ne of intimacy .. 27 2.2 Sentence final and interjectional particles: occurrence and involvement ......... 31 2.3 Interjectional ne ................................................................................................ 35 2.3.1 Characteristics of interjections and interjectional particles .......................... 35 2.3.2 Overview of interjectional ne ....................................................................... 38 2.3.3 Affect and rapport ......................................................................................... 42 2.3.4 Territory of information and its sharedness .................................................. 44 2.3.5 Impressions of ne: frequency and politeness ................................................ 46 vii 2.3.6 Historical and special issues of the social meanings of ne and gender ........ 48 2.3.7 Gender ........................................................................................................... 50 2.3.8 Conversation style, prosody of the particle ne, and gender .......................... 57 3. “Japanese women’s language” and Japanese femininities ............................................ 61