Lord Language and the Influence of Archetypes a Study on Japanese Role Language Tobias Von Kraemer
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Lord Language and the Influence of Archetypes A Study on Japanese Role Language Tobias von Kraemer Supervisor: Axel Svahn Centre of Languages and Literature, Lund University Bachelor’s thesis in Japanese JAPK11 (Spring term 2020) Abstract This paper concerns the role language of lord characters in Japanese fiction. The idea of role language is defined by Satoshi Kinsui as certain speech patterns of character types in Japanese fiction. The thesis primarily investigates if lord language from six different lord characters exhibits features from other role languages. Liu (2012) notes that a language called gijikogo [pseudo-archaic language] is present in contemporary fiction with a historical setting that gives the feeling of historical times. The investigation found that lord language contains features of both gijikogo and samurai language. The thesis also investigates if Christopher Vogler’s archetypes affect the characters’ role language. Kinsui (2003) notes that depending on the characters’ archetype, the degree of role language gets affected. Westman (2010) and van Duuren (2017) conducted research concerning Shadow characters in Japanese fiction. Their results show that the Shadow archetype is similar to the Hero. However, the present study could not demonstrate a connection between the archetype of a character and their use of lord language. Keywords: lord language, role language, yakuwarigo, tonosamakotoba, gijikogo, archetype influence, sociolinguistics, Kinsui, Vogler, Japanese 1 Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 1 Conventions and Abbreviations ................................................................................................. 4 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 5 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 6 1.1. Purpose ........................................................................................................................ 7 1.2. Structure of Thesis ....................................................................................................... 8 2. Role Language and Archetypes .......................................................................................... 9 2.1. Kinsui’s Role Language .............................................................................................. 9 2.1.1. Rōjingo ............................................................................................................... 10 2.1.2. Role Language and Reality ................................................................................ 10 2.2. Vogler’s Hero’s Journey ............................................................................................ 12 2.2.1. Archetypes .......................................................................................................... 13 2.2.2. Kinsui on Vogler’s archetypes ........................................................................... 16 3. Liu’s gijikogo ................................................................................................................... 18 3.1. Characteristics of gijikogo ......................................................................................... 19 3.2. Manifestation of gijikogo........................................................................................... 20 3.2.1. Word Level ......................................................................................................... 20 3.2.2. Sentence level ..................................................................................................... 22 3.2.3. Grammar level .................................................................................................... 22 3.3. Gijikogo and yakuwarigo........................................................................................... 22 4. Bachelor’s theses .............................................................................................................. 24 4.1. Westman (2010) ........................................................................................................ 24 4.2. van Duuren (2017) ..................................................................................................... 24 5. Study ................................................................................................................................. 26 5.1. Methodology .............................................................................................................. 26 5.2. Results ....................................................................................................................... 26 5.2.1. Shadows ............................................................................................................. 26 5.2.2. Threshold Guardians .......................................................................................... 32 2 5.2.3. Allies .................................................................................................................. 36 5.2.4. Summary of tables .............................................................................................. 40 6. Discussion ........................................................................................................................ 41 7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 43 8. References ........................................................................................................................ 44 9. Fictional Works ................................................................................................................ 45 3 Conventions and Abbreviations Throughout this paper, modified Hepburn will be utilised to transcribe the Japanese language. Italics will be employed for Japanese words and sentences and emphasis. As for the grammatical features, I will use these abbreviations: ABL – Ablative ACC – Accusative ADV – Adverbial ASP – Aspect form CON – Conditional CPL – Copula FP – Final particle GER – Gerund INF – Infinitive IMP – Naked imperative INCL – Inclusive particle LOC – Locative NEG – Negation NML – Nominalizer NOM – Nominative PLU – Plural POLP – Polite prefix PST – Past form QST – Question particle QUOT – Quotative SIMP – Superior imperative TOP – Topic LIMP – Literary imperative Ø – Zero 4 Acknowledgements Thanks are due first to my supervisor, Axel Svahn. Without his insights, advice, and patience, this thesis would be impossible. Thanks to all people that supported me. 5 1. Introduction A relatively new research field in Japanese sociolinguistics was brought to attention in the year 2003 with the study from Satoshi Kinsui. Yakuwarigo ‘role language’ is the relationship between linguistic features, character types and roles embodied in Japanese fiction. It frequently emerges in manga, anime, on the Internet etc. In fiction, the lexicon and grammar of characters vary depending on the traits they possess; gender, age, social status, time and birthplace are all characteristics easily recognisable for the Japanese. These features are tools for easily expressing character in the story. However, the roles associated with these forms, e.g. the old man, are not used in real life (Kinsui, 2003). The Hero with a Thousand Faces (2004 [1949]) is the renowned work of the literature professor Joseph Campbell. It is a cross-cultural study comparing many mythological stories of the world’s cultures. Campbell writes that many of the world’s cultures use a shared framework of heroic myths. He coins this as the “monomyth”. Campbell explains the monomyth like this: A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. (2004 [1949], p. 28) Throughout the book, Campbell uses special names such as “Departure”, “Refusal” etc. to describe archetypically the different sections and titles for characters in the mythical stories. In his book, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (2007), the scriptwriter Christopher Vogler expands on the ideas of Campbell. The monomyth is not only a device used in comparative mythology but also, as Vogler applies it, a structure for fictional storytelling. Similarly, Vogler names the sections and describes the characters archetypically, but only utilizes the term “archetypes” for different characters’ function in the narrative and “stages” for the different sections of the story. The archetypes will be explained further, but a few examples can be observed from Star Wars; the Shadow Darth Vader, and the Mentor Yoda. Furthermore, Kinsui employs in his 2003 monograph Vogler’s archetypes to role language in Japanese fiction (pp. 46 - 47). Since 2003, studies on Vogler’s archetypes’ influence on Kinsui’s role language have been conducted, such as Westman (2010) and van Duuren (2017).. Many types of characters exist in the index of Kinsui (2014). However, there is one 6 type of character that has yet to be examined from this perspective based on Kinsui’s work from this perspective based on Kinsui’s work; the kizoku [noble]/ōzoku [king] has few, yet exclusive words, for