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Constructing Identity in the Japanese Workplace Through Dialectal and Honorific Shifts

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Japanese at Work

Part of the book series: Communicating in Professions and Organizations ((PSPOD))

Abstract

This study takes a social constructionist approach as it considers speaker motivations behind style-shifts in workplace discourse of a company in the Kansai region of Japan. Specifically, it examines shifts involving use of dialectal forms and ‘standard’ forms, desu/-masu forms and plain forms in morning staff meetings and finds associations of dialect with uchi-related contexts led speakers to use dialectal forms in some parts of the meetings, but not others. When used, dialectal forms were used by speakers in combination with plain forms to index ‘off-stage,’ personalized speech directed at the speaker or another individual, to express emotion, and to recreate uchi-related scenes in a narrative. In contrast, desu/-masu forms and standard forms were used to index ‘on-stage,’ depersonalized speech directed at an audience.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    While finer distinctions can be made between different varieties of Japanese spoken within the Kansai region such as Ōsaka dialect, Kyōto dialect, etc., for the purposes of this study the generic term “Kansai dialect” will be used to refer to the variety of Japanese spoken in the workplace data.

  2. 2.

    For more detailed accounts of Kansai/Ōsaka dialects, see, for example, Palter and Slotsve (1995), Peng and Long (1993), Sanada (1996), Shibatani (1990), and Tsujimura (2014).

  3. 3.

    In this study, the discussion of KD forms is restricted to lexical forms that are widely recognized as being features of the Kansai dialect. It does not include consideration of pitch-accent and intonation patterns associated with KD speakers for the reasons pointed out above, that is, because dialect speakers often retain the accent and intonation patterns of their native dialect even when employing standard variety forms.

  4. 4.

    Sanada (1996, 2000) refers to this phenomenon as neo-hōgen, or ‘neo-dialect.’

  5. 5.

    Desu/masu forms and plain forms occurred at the end of both subordinate and main clauses and were often followed by conjunctions such as nde ‘because’ and kedo ‘but’ as well as sentence-final particles such as yo and ne in the case of main clauses.

  6. 6.

    The exclusion of phonological forms from the analysis should not be considered a reflection of their (lack of) importance in any way. The author’s decision was based solely on practical considerations due to space limitations.

  7. 7.

    The sections of the meetings that involved workers talking about their personal lives outside of work, and responding to such talks, were introduced with several aims in mind according to the shachō ‘company president’. One aim was to help workers improve their oral communicative abilities and to gain confidence speaking in front of others, regardless of whether they were new recruits straight out of high school or employees who had been working for the company for many years. Another aim was to develop and strengthen the bonds between workers within the company.

  8. 8.

    The ISO Explanation section did not take place in the second meeting.

  9. 9.

    There was one exception in the data in which a speaker giving a Response to Personal Life Monologue employed only desu/masu forms, and no plain or dialectic forms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kansai University, Osaka, Japan

    Andrew Barke

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  1. Andrew Barke
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Haruko Minegishi Cook

  2. University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Janet S. Shibamoto-Smith

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Barke, A. (2018). Constructing Identity in the Japanese Workplace Through Dialectal and Honorific Shifts. In: Cook, H., Shibamoto-Smith, J. (eds) Japanese at Work. Communicating in Professions and Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63549-1_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63549-1_6

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