Recent JAPN0310 projects

Paper 1 — Theme: Debunking Language Myths & Linguistic Equality

In the past, students have worked on various languages to compare with Japanese, including: Ainu, Chinese, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Taiwanese Hokkien, Vietnamese, etc.

Fall 2021

Challenging the myth that a language/dialect is “inferior” or “not systematic,” etc.

  • “Yoruba is a Primitive Language”
  • Exploring the Morphosyntactic Variations of Spanish: A Look into Central Peninsular Spanish and Easter Island Spanish (Myth: “Spanish from Spain is (most) sophisticated”)
  • The Tradeoffs in Lexicon and Syntax between Japanese and English (Myth: “Japanese is more sophisticated”)
  • “Flexible Word Order Doesn’t Make Sense!”
  • Disproving the linguistic myth that Tagalog is a combination of its colonizers’ languages (Myth: “Tagalog is only a blend of multiple languages”)

Challenging the myth that a language/dialect is “unique”

  • Finding a Line Between “Prosaic” a2nd “Pariah”: The Myth of Uniqueness in the Korean Language (Myth: “Korean is unique”)

Challenging the myth that language X is “fixed”

  • The Elasticity of the Japanese and Hawaiian Lexicons (Myth: “Language is not allowed to change”)

Challenging the myth that a language/dialect sounds a certain way

  • Can One Language Be More Beautiful Than Another?
  • Myth: Some languages are faster than others

Challenging the myth that a language/dialect is (too) hard/easy

  • Is Japanese a Harder Language to Learn Being an English Speaker?
  • An “Easier” Language

Fall 2020, selected

  • “Asian languages sound very similar.”
  • “Tohokuben is inferior.”
  • “Languages that don’t mark tense on verbs can’t express whether events happened in the past or will happen in the future.”

Spring 2019

Examples of titles/theses, seleced

  • Title: The Japanese language’s sophisticated “stealing” of loanwords: Japanese and French borrowing of loanwords
    • Myth: A language’s tendency to borrow foreign words from other languages is a sign of primitive culture
    • Thesis: Having a rich inventory of loanwords can be an indicator of how systematic the language is. (Discussion of morphological/syntactic systemss of Japanese and French)
  • Title: Phonological and Morphological Differences between Vietnamese and Japanese
    • Myth: “Asian languages sound the same” (from an online forum post)
    • Thesis: They are vastly different, which we can see when examining the formation of the words, for example between Vietnamese and Japanese.
  • Title: Demystifying Ainu language
    • Myth: “Ainu does not have grammar.”
    • Thesis: Ainu language is a linguistically as complex as Japanese. (morphological, syntactic, and phonological comparison of the two languages)

Paper 2 – Indexicality and Social Meaning

Fall 2021

Referencing and addressing people and self

  • From “Father” to “Daddy”: Social indexicality via terms of parental address
  • Exploring I: The Individuality of Self-Referential Pronouns in Japanese
  • Variation in Japanese: Comparing the Use of Addressee Honorifics: Actual Versus Theoretical

Shifting meanings and nuances

  • Indexicality of different Japanese orthography Forms for the Word Ocha
  • Dangerously delicious: The indexicality of the Japanese Words “Oishii,” “Umai,” and “Yabai”
  • Unconventional usage of Katakana and English Lyrics in Japanese Music
  • The commercial use of Japanese orthography: mochi and surume
  • Increasing use of ra-nuki verb forms indexing Japanese speakers of a younger generation

Cross-linguistic and intra-linguistic comparisons

  • The similarities between Japanese and Spanish heritage speakers
  • Exploring differences politeness markers between Japanese and Thai
  • English, Spanish, AND Spanglish?

Spring 2019, selected

  • Title: Orthographic variations of chikara in Japanese advertisements and product packaging 
    • Examples noticed (motivation based on primary sources): a quick Google image search suggested that the orthography type of chikara related to product types and creators intended messages.
    • Gap in existing literature (motivation based on secondary sources): No prior studies on the concept in question; Stanlaw (2004)’s framework could help me fill the gap.
    • Research question: What does the choice of Japanese orthography for the word chikara “power” index?
    • Primary sources: orthographic and image samples of the Japanese words chikara “power” <力>, <ちから>, <チカラ>, <chikara> in food packaging and advertisement
    • Secondary sources
      • Inagawa, M. (2015). Creative and innovative uses of English in contemporary Japan. English Today, 31(3), 11-16.
      • Stanlaw, J. (2004). Japanese English: Language and culture contact. HK: Hong Kong University Press. 
  • Title: The use of personal pronouns by Japanese girl groups
    • Examples noticed (motivation based on primary sources) : Songs by AKB48 (female idol groups) seem to use kimi ‘you’ more frequently than the more traditional anata ‘you’.
    • Gap in existing literature (motivation based on secondary sources): “Previous studies show phenomena of less feminine speech in relation to speech final particles and honorific use (Ide, 1992), but do not make much mention of women’s choice of personal pronouns.”
    • Research question: What are the contexts for the use of the predominantly masculine second-person pronoun kimi?
    • Primary sources: Interview with Japanese speakers on the use of the pronouns ‘you’: anata, anta, kisama, omae, temee
    • Secondary sources:
      • Albin, H. (2014, August 31). One of Morning Musume ’14’s new songs will not be produced by Tsunku. Former Morning Musume member Riho Sayashi leaves UP-FRONT agency (2018, December 08). Arama! Japan.
      • Brasor, P., & Masako, T. (1997). Idol chatter: The evolution of J-pop. Japan Quarterly, 44(2), 55.
      • Ide, S. (1992). Gender and Function of Language Use: Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence from Japanese. Pragmatics and Language Learning, 3, 117-129.
      • Lakoff, R. T., & Ide, S. (Eds.). (2005). Broadening the horizon of linguistic politeness (Vol. 139). John Benjamins Publishing.
      • Mogi, N. (2002). Japanese ways of addressing people. Investigationes Linguisticae, 8, 14-22.
      • Okamoto, S. (1995). Tasteless Japanese: Less “feminine” speech among Japanese women. Gender articulated: Language and the socially constructed self, New York/London: Routledge.
      • Richardson, M. W. (2016). Marketing affect in Japanese idol music (Order No. 10117196).

Paper 3 — Making sense of language change

Fall 2021

Extension of Paper 2 or a new argument essay addressing language change

  • The Stigma of Japanese language hybridization
  • From “Father” to “Daddy”: Social indexicality via terms of parental address
  • The commercial use of Japanese orthography: mochi and surume: Diachronic changes
  • Variation in Japanese: Comparing the Use of Addressee Honorifics- Actual Versus Theoretical
  • Polysemic indexicality of unconventional katakana usage
  • Indexicality of different Japanese orthography forms for the word ocha
  • Dangerously delicious: The indexicality of the Japanese words “oishii,” “umai,” and “yabai” 
  • Exploring I: The Individuality of Self-Referential Pronouns in Japanese
  • Spanglish? Japanglish? What bilingualism can tell us about fluency and social generations?
  • Generation differences: The “proper” and the “improper”
  • Increasing use of ra-nuki verb forms indexing Japanese speakers of a younger generation

Recent JAPN0210 Projects

See my JAPN0210 Course Website >> projects

Independent Projects

Motion Verb Typology beneath the Surface of Japanese-to-English Literary Translation

The Effects of Illocutionary Force on the Grammaticality of -tte omou vs. -to omou

Expressing Sympathy in Japanese: Omoiyari and the Territory of Information Theory — Spring Symposium 2019 presentation