Implications of Variation in Written Japanese (Masters)

8/6/2019 Implications of Variation in Written Japanese (Masters)

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Greg Van BurenResearch Paper

Implications of Language Variation in Written Japanese

AbstractThis article describes results from a reaction test of Japanese speakers attitudestoward word choice, kango and wago . Trends were seen in the results, providing somesupport to the hypotheses that (1) respondents will judge the writer of the kango text tobe male more often than they do the author of the wago text; (2) Respondents will judgethe writer of the kango text to be older than the author of the wago text; (3)Respondents will judge the writer of the kango version to be more educated than theauthor of the wago text. However, due to a limited number of test subjects, signicantdifferences were not present, with the exception of the author s age.

Introduction

!! Language usage can be used to identify a speaker as belonging to a particular

group, or having a particular social identity (Guy 1988: 37). Guy initially looked at

differences in language usage regarding pitch difference; men speak at a different pitch

from women and children at a different pitch from adults (37). He goes on to talk about

differences in phonology, grammar and lexical choice (37). Differences in language are

known to be tied to social dimensions. And the primary dimensions which sociolinguists

have studied include: social class, age, sex, and style (Romaine 1994: 67- 69).

" Early studies on the topic concluded that variation in language occurs in a

random and unpredictable manner, termed 'free variation' (Romaine 1994: 68). Labov's

study (1966) in New York city, however, showed that free variation "was not free, but

rather conditioned by social factors such as social class, age, sex, and style in

predictable ways" (Romaine 1994: 68-69). The use and ultimate variation of language is

predictable due to certain "sociosymbolic aspects of language use [which] serves an

emblematic function: identifying the speaker as belonging to a particular group, or

having a particular social identity" (Guy 1988: 37). Le Page (1978, as cited in Walters

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1988: 131) states the individual creates for himself the patterns of his linguistic

behavior so as to resemble those of the group or groups with which from time to time he

wishes to be identied, or so as to be unlike those from whom he wishes to be

distinguished. "

" According to Hamilton et al. (1992: 102), language is a primary vehicle for

communication and while the aforementioned researchers spoke of differences in

spoken language, written language must also be included when looking at variation.

Japanese Lexicon

" The Japanese lexicon is made up of three major vocabulary strata, consisting of

native Japanese words ( wago ), Sino-Japanese words ( kango ), and foreign loanwords

(gairaigo ) (Yamaguchi 2007: 40). Maynard states that, yamatokotoba (wago) is more

appropriately used to express emotion and feelings (1998: 15). This is corroborated by

Yamaguchi (2007: 40) citing no (1974: 6) stating that, basic concepts in our everyday

life often fall under native Japanese words. These are contrasted with the larger

vocabulary of Sino-Japanese words whose precision and analytical quality tend to be

used to express abstract scientic concepts (Yamaguchi 2007:40). There is a more

specic meaning encoded in Sino-Japanese [promoting] the accuracy of the word

meaning (Yamaguchi 2007: 49). For these reasons casual speech...shows restricted

use of kango while an academic thesis uses kango more abundantly (Maynard 1998:

15). However, while there may be conventions for when a certain word choice is made,

different discourse genres use varying levels of mixture of these two types of

vocabulary (Maynard 1998: 15). None of the foregoing present any actual counts of

vocabulary, but conventional wisdom has it that kango is associated with impersonal

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(scientic, academic) language while wago is more prevalent in emotional (personal,

spoken) discourse.

Script Relationship! Smith & Schmidt (1996: PG) state that, Nomura (1988) and others have detailed

the trend for wago to be encoded in hiragana while kango... [are] to be written, to a

greater degree, [in] kanji. They go on to state that the texts used for their research

reected by this trend lexicon drives the script, since it is less likely for kango to be

encoded in kana script than in kanji (PG). While a word written in kanji does not

automatically indicate a kango word, a trend does exist.

" According to Satake (1989, as cited in Smith & Schmidt 1996: 60) there exist

certain stereotypes with each script. Table 1, below, shows these stereotypes. As seen

from the table the appearance of kanji stereotypically is associated with erudite, middle-

aged males. Hiragana on the other hand, is associated with softness, youth and

femininity. What does this mean sociolinguistically speaking?

" While kango does not have to been written in kanji the trends indicate that such

is the case. Inversely, wago tend to be written with a combination of hiragana and kanji.

From this one can extrapolate that if kanji use is associated men, then kango words are

also associated with men and knowledge.

TABLE 1. Script Stereotypes (Smith & Schmidt 1996: 60)Script Stereotypes Writer/Reader Features Stylistic Features

Kanji male, middle-aged and older erudition

Hiragana female, young softness or femininity

Katakana young, especially male modernity; pop culture

Romaji young, especially female commerciality

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"

" The purpose of the present study was to test Smith and Schmidt s

generalizations, and to examine how readers perceive texts with greater occurrence of

Sino-Japanese morphology as opposed to texts with greater occurrence of Japanese

morphology.

" This pilot study tested three hypotheses: (1) respondents will judge the writer of a

kango text to be male more often than they do the author of a wago text; (2)

respondents will judge the writer of a kango text to be older than the author of a wago text; (3) respondents will judge the writer of a kango version to be more educated than

the author of a wago text.

MethodParticipants

" The participants of this study were 30 native Japanese speakers, 18 male and 12

female, from a Japanese university studying abroad at an American university. Whenthe study was conducted participants time in the United States ranged from three to

nine months. The sample is therefore considered to be relatively homogenous.

Participation in the study was voluntary and no compensation was given. Subjects were

asked to read one of two versions of a modied text.

Materials

Text

" An article from The Nihongo Journal was modied and used for the study. The

changes to the original article were done in order to further accentuate the usage of the

kango and wago . Two versions of the text ( kango and wago ) resulted from the changes

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made to the original article. Wago words, in the original version, were changed into

kango words for the kango version and inversely, kango words were changed into wago

words in the wago version. The two versions of the text were checked by a native

Japanese speaker in order to minimize differences in meaning between the wago and

kango counterparts, however, slight differences may still exist. The three versions of the

article (original, modied toward kango, and modied toward wago) are contained in

Appendix 1. The modications can be seen in Table 2.

" After reading one of the two versions participants answered a questionnaire on

what they read. The questionnaire (Appendix 2) was used to determine native speakers

impressions of characteristics of the author. Questions were asked regarding the

author's age, gender, educational level and personality traits. For the age, gender, and

completed education section of the questionnaire, distinct choices were offered to the

participant. They were asked to circle the answer they agreed with most. However, for

the personality trait portion of the questionnaire participants rated the degree to which

they felt the author possessed certain qualities on a 5-point Likert scale (1 in strong

favor of the 'left' term and 5 in strong favor of the 'right' term).

Procedure

" The participants were given either a wago or kango version of the text and a

questionnaire. Subjects were asked to complete the questionnaire and return it to the

researcher during a group gathering. (All activities took place in Fall 2008.) Participants

were instructed that in the case they were unable to decide on an answer to skip the

question. (Few respondents took this option; almost all questions had responses.)

TABLE 2. Text Modications

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Original Version Wago Version Kango Version(kib) - 'wish' (nozomu) - 'to wish

for'(kib) - 'wish'

(ryok) - 'trip' (tabi) - 'trip' (ryok) - 'trip'

(irai) - 'request' (tanomu) - 'to request' (irai) - 'request'(ks) - 'daydream' (yumemiru) - 'todream of'

(ks) - 'daydream'

(otona) - 'adult' (k) - 'big' (otona) - 'adult'(shin) - 'new' (ataras) - 'new' (shin) - 'new'

(man'in) - 'crowded' (komu) - 'to becrowded'

(man'in) - 'crowded'

(shitagau) - 'to obey(the rules)'

(shitagau) - 'to obey(the rules)'

(jyunsyu) - 'adherence(to the rules)'

(hikiukeru) - 'totake up'

(hikiukeru) - 'totake up'

(jyucy) - 'acceptorder'

(arawareru) - 'toa ear'

(arawareru) - 'toa ear'

(syutsugen) -'a earance'

ResultsAnalysis " Results of the responses were statistically analyzed using chi square ( ) and

analysis of variation (ANOVA). Due to the low number of participants (n=30) the p value

calculated from the chi square test was an approximation, which when compared to the

p value calculated from ANOVA proved to be quite inaccurate. For all tests a value of

0.1 was used. To compensate for the small sample size 0.1 was used instead of the

typical 0.05. This study looked for tendencies, not exact percentages; for this a value

of 0.1 serves the purpose. In order to achieve a value of 0.05, a sample size of at

least 377 is recommended (Raosoft, Inc. 2004). The analysis assumed a null

hypothesis - that no differences between the groups existed and an alternate hypothesis

that differences between the groups existed.

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" The rst question of the questionnaire asked participants to judge the age of the

author. Results (Table 3) show a p < 0.1 and a F value greater than the F critical value.

This indicates that with 90% condence there are differences between the two groups

(wago and kango ). Based on the averages of the two groups it can be stated that

readers of the wago version chose the author to be in 21-30 year old age range and the

author of the kango version to be in the 31-40 year old age range. This result bears out

hypothesis (2), that readers will judge the author of the kango version to be older.

TABLE 3. Age (nenrei)

[1 = Under 20, 2 = 21 - 30, 3 = 31 - 40, 4 = Over 40]

TABLE 4. Gender (seibetsu)[1 = Female, 2 = Male]

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The results from question 2 (Table 4), regarding the gender of the author, show a p >

0.1 and a F value to be less than the F critical. From this result the null hypothesis was

rejected and we must therefore accept that there is no perceived gender difference

between the wago and kango authors. Therefore hypothesis (1), that readers would

judge the kango author to be male, was disproved. Neutral language usage could be a

possible explanation for results not supporting this hypothesis. Neutral language usage

refers to both a possible equality trend in language conventions: certain language is not

associated with a particular group, as well as other language used throughout the

article. The stereotypes mentioned in Smith & Schmidt s article, while only about 10

years old, may have changed slightly resulting in universal expectations. Also, due to a

limited number of modied words in the article, the unmodied words may have reduced

or completely cancelled out the effects of the attempted kango/wago emphasis.

" Contrary to the stereotypes in Smith & Schmidt's (1996: 50) and Iwahara et. al's

(2003: 381) studies which showed that kanji was associated with erudition, the question

regarding the author's education level (Table 5) showed no difference between the two

groups of readers. This conclusion is based on p = 1 and F = 0, meaning no differences

surfaced. Regarding hypothesis (3), that more readers would view the kango author as

more educated, the results did not bear out this hypothesis. The original article was

written by either a professional writer or by someone with writing experience. A skillful

writer would present the topic in a clear and concise fashion, making understanding of

the article easy as possible for the reader. Limited word changes in the article may not

change how the reader perceives the author because the established, easy to

understand structure of the article has not been modied.

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" Tables 6 through 21 (Appendix 3) show the results from the personality trait

section of the questionnaire. The responses show no signicant differences between the

wago and kango reader groups ( = 0.1). The closest question to reject the null

hypothesis was question 4p (Appendix 2) regarding the author's race. With a p value

slightly greater than 0.1 the differences could not be condently claimed. However, the

trend seems to show that kango is chosen to represent a Japanese author more than a

foreigner, although the results fail to support this with condence. Results for question

4p can be seen in Table 21 (Appendix 3).

Conclusion! In this study, three hypotheses were tested: (1) respondents will judge the writer

of the kango text to be male more often than they do the author of the wago text; (2)

Respondents will judge the writer of the kango text to be older than the author of the

wago text; (3) Respondents will judge the writer of the kango version to be more

educated than the author of the wago text. In response to the rst hypothesis, while one

'female' response was noted, the difference between the two groups was not signicant

(p > 0.1). An increase in the number of participants in the survey might have produced

more 'female' responses from the wago readers, however, in this study there existed no

differences. While the text was considered neutral in subject, it appears that the

language used was also neutral in terms of identifying the gender of the author.

" The second hypothesis dealing with the author's age was the only question to

show any differences between the wago and kango groups. The differences were

signicant (p < 0.1). The result indicates that with 90% condence reader's of the kango

text judged the author to be older.

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" The last hypothesis, focusing on the author's education level, also proved to have

no signicant difference (p > 0.1). Based on previous research (Smith & Schmidt 1996,

and Iwahara et al. 2003) the hypothesis seemed to be the most promising. However,

this study's results did not bear this out. Even with modications to the text the overall

quality of the writing was enough to negate any changes in the text. Also, the lack of

signicant evidence could be a result of the small number of participants.

" In order to achieve the best results an n of at least 377 is recommended

(Raosoft, Inc. 2004). Other possible reasons for a lack of differences between the two

groups could be the nature of the instrument. There were limited differences between

texts, ten modications; perhaps the threshold for triggering responses in readers

minds is higher than what this instrument provided. Also the topic of the text was

presumed to be neutral; however, maybe it wasn t neutral after all. The article was

presumed to be neither scientic nor expressive, in an emotional sense. The lack of

these features would indicate that neither kango nor wago should be expected by the

reader. Future research opportunities include a similar test with a larger number of

participants or a study on the number of kango words necessary to show signicant

differences between two groups.

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References:

Guy, G. R. (1988). Language and Social Class. In F. J. Newmeyer (Ed.), Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey; Volume IV Language: The Socio-cultural Context . (pp. 37-63).New York: Cambridge University Press.

Hamilton, D. L., Gibbons, P. A., Stroessner, S. J., & Sherman, J. W. (1992). Language,Intergroup Relations and Stereotypes. In G. R. Semin & K. Fiedler (Eds.), Language,Interaction and Social Cognition . (pp. 102-128). Newbury Park: Sage Publications.

Iwahara, A., Hatta, T., & Maehara, A. (2003). The Effects of a Sense of Compatibilitybetween Type of Script and Word in Written Japanese . Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal , 16 , 377-397.

Labov, W. (1966). The Social Stratication of English in New York City. WashingtonD.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Maynard, S. K. (1998). Principles of Japnese Discourse. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Mizutani, N. (1986). The "Proxy" Fad. In T. Hiramoto (Ed.), The Nihongo Journal (August) . (pp. 26-27). Tokyo: ALC Press.

no, S. (1974). Tracing the Japanese Language [Nihongo o Sakanoboru]. Tokyo:Iwanami Shoten.

Raosoft, Inc. (2004). Sample Size Calculator. Retrieved 12.13, 2008, from http:// www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&condence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&condence1=90&condence2=95&condence3=99

Romaine, S. (1994). Language in Society: An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. New York:Oxford University Press.

Satake, H. (1989). Statistical Method to Analyze the Writing Form Variation of JapaneseWords. S. Mizutani (Ed.), Japanese Quantitative Linguistics. Quantitative Linguistics 39,119-129. Bochum: Studienverlag Dr. N. Brockmeyer.

Smith, J. S. & Schmidt, D. L. (1996). Variability in Written Japanese: Towards aSociolinguistics of Script Choice . Visible Language , 30 (1), 46-71.

Walters, K. (1988). Dialectology. In F. J. Newmeyer (Ed.), Linguistics: The Cambridge Survey; Volume IV Language: The Socio-cultural Context . (pp. 119-63). New York:Cambridge University Press

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http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html?margin=5&confidence=90&population=20000&response=50&sample1=100&sample2=200&sample3=300&confidence1=90&confidence2=95&confidence3=99


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Wetzel, P. J. (1994). Contemporary Japanese attitudes toward honorics (keigo) .Language Variation and Change , 6 (1994), 113-147.

Yamaguchi, T. (2007). Japanese Linguistics: An Introduction. New York: Continuum.

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Appendix 1 - Texts

Original

Kango

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Appendix 1 (continued)

Wago

Translation

The "Proxy" Fad

" In major legal cases, or when famous people are involved in trials, those wishingto attend the hearings rush over and form a long line in front of the courthouse. Forpeople who are busy and don't have the time to wait in line themselves, there are part-time workers whose task is to stand in line and receive hearing admission tickets for

others. The type of "proxy" service is not limited to hearing slips: there are also "linewaiting" agencies that send "standers" (people to stand in line) to sign customers up forentrance examinations for famous schools, or to buy special express train tickets duringthe New Year holiday season.

" The amount of preparation that you have to do yourself when making travel plansor when moving has decreased. At weddings and funerals, professionals in chargehandle most of the arrangements. There is no need to think about the ceremony orlearn its ins and out yourself. Everything runs smoothly as long as the party concerned

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simlply pays and obeys the instructions given. Some agencies will also nd maritalpartners for its clients by computer. These days, it appears there are even people whorequest childbirth from others-and others, likewise, willing to undertake such tasks formoney.

" Hearing about "substitute" or "proxy" services makes me think back to cold,snowy days when I was a child, when I fantasized about having someone go to schoolin place of me. These days, as an adult, there are times when I dream of a "substituteworker" service in which some

one would go to the company and do my job for me. Even if they did make a "substituteworker service," I'd still have to have the money to pay for it... I guess I'll just resignmyself to riding the packed trains to work.

Appendix 2 - Questionnaire

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1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

'1'

'4'

a. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

b. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

c. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

d. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

e. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

f. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"g. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

h. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

i. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

j. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

k. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

l. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"m. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

n. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

o. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

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p. " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5"

" a.

" b.

In this questionnaire, you will be asked to judge the author of a short passage solely onthe basis of the content. Don't think too long about your answers. Just respond off thetop of your head.

Read the text rst, then go on to the questions that follow

1. About how old do you think the author of this passage is?

" 1. Younger than 20" 2. 21-30" 3. 31-40" 4. Over 40

2. What do you think the gender of the author is?

" 1. Female" 2. Male

3. What level of schooling do you think the author has completed?

" 1. Less than high school" 2. High school

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" 3. College" 4. Graduate school

4. How would you describe the author in words? Consider the following terms and circlethe alternative that you think more accurately describes the writer. (If you cannot decide,skip to the next.)

a. " Educated " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Uneducatedb. " Polite " " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Impolitec. " Snobby " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Humble

d. " Condent " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Insecuree. " Sympathetic " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Unsympatheticf. " Friendly " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Unfriendlyg. " Unselsh " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Selshh. " Careful " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Carelessi. " Capable " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Incapable

j. " Flexible " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Inexiblek. " Warm "" " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Coldl. " Intelligent " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Unintelligentm. " Optimistic " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Pessimisticn. " Conservative "" 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Liberalo. " Well-to-do " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Not well offp. " Japanese " " 1" 2" 3" 4" 5" " Foreigner

Please answer the following questions about yourself

1. Sex" a. M" b. F

2. From the age of 5 where did you live the longest?

" _______ (X Prefecture, X City)

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Appendix 3 - Data Tables

TABLE 3. Age (nenrei)[1 = Under 20, 2 = 21 - 30, 3 = 31 - 40, 4 = Over 40]

TABLE 4. Gender (seibetsu)[1 = Female, 2 = Male]

TABLE 5. Completed Education (saisy gakureki)[1 = Less than High School, 2 = High School, 3 = College, 4 = Graduate School]

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TABLE 6. Educated: Uneducated (gaku no aru: gaku no nai)[Educated = 1, Uneducated = 5]

TABLE 7. Polite: Impolite (teinei de aru: teinei de nai)[Polite = 1, Impolite = 5]

TABLE 8. Snobby: Humble (k man: kenkyo)[Snobby = 1, Humble = 5]

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TABLE 9. Condent: Insecure (jimange: jishin no nai)[Condent = 1, Insecure = 5]

TABLE 10. Sympathetic: Unsympathetic (jy no aru: jy no nai)[Sympathetic = 1, Unsympathetic = 5]

TABLE 11. Friendly: Unfriendly (y k teki: hiy k teki)[Friendly = 1, Unfriendly = 5]

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TABLE 12. Unselsh:Selsh (takoteki:rikoteki)[Unselsh = 1, Selsh = 5]

TABLE 13. Careful: Careless (cy i bukai: fucy i)[Careful = 1, Careless = 5]

TABLE 14. Capable: Incapable (shigoto ga dekis : shigoto ga dekinasas )[Capable = 1, Incapable = 5]

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TABLE 15. Flexible: Inexible (jy nan da: ganko da)[Flexible = 1, Inexible = 5]

TABLE 16. Warm: Cold (yasas : tsumetai)[Warm = 1, Cold = 5]

TABLE 17. Intelligent: Unintelligent (chin teki: hichin teki)[Intelligent = 1, Unintelligent = 5]

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TABLE 18. Optimistic: Pessimistic (rakutenteki: hikanteki)[Optimistic = 1, Pessimistic = 5]

TABLE 19. Conservative: Liberal (hosyuteki: kakushinteki)[Conservative = 1, Liberal = 5]

TABLE 20. Well-to-do: Not well-off (y fuku: y fuku dewa nai)[Well-to-do = 1, Not well-off = 5]

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TABLE 21. Japanese: Foreigner (nihonjin: gaikokujin)[Japanese = 1, Foreigner = 5]

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Documents

Implications of Variation in Written Japanese (Masters)