Japan Luncheon Series
Shigeko Okamoto, Professor of Linguistics, California State University, Fresno
It is often noted that language standardization has been steadily advancing in modern Japan and that many speakers are now bi-dialectal, code-switching between "regional" and "standard" varieties of Japanese. Most studies are, however, based on self-report survey data. This talk examines actual conversations of speakers in two locales in Western Japan. Dr. Okamoto's analyses show that speakers mix different kinds of variants (phonological, morphological, and lexical) in a complex way, depending on the situation, suggesting that they cannot be said to code-switch between two varieties as discrete linguistic systems, and that an adequate account of these linguistic practices requires a more dynamic view of language that considers the interface between regional and stylistic variation.