Encountering accented others – and selves – in provincial Japan
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Edwin K. Everhart
Abstract
Who has a regional accent in Japan? Now over a century into the project of language standardization, this question remains pressing but difficult to answer conclusively. This chapter addresses distinctive characteristics of the metalinguistics of accent in the Touhoku (northern Honshu) region through local categories, and drawing on participant observation, it also offers a close reading of moments of indeterminacy in which language users negotiate the encounter with accent in themselves and in others. Three cases illuminate how the presence or absence of regional accent is subject to the interactional work of language users, and the identification of accent can be thwarted by a strategy of non-participation. The chapter concludes by reviewing the impact of accent in language users’ lives.
Abstract
Who has a regional accent in Japan? Now over a century into the project of language standardization, this question remains pressing but difficult to answer conclusively. This chapter addresses distinctive characteristics of the metalinguistics of accent in the Touhoku (northern Honshu) region through local categories, and drawing on participant observation, it also offers a close reading of moments of indeterminacy in which language users negotiate the encounter with accent in themselves and in others. Three cases illuminate how the presence or absence of regional accent is subject to the interactional work of language users, and the identification of accent can be thwarted by a strategy of non-participation. The chapter concludes by reviewing the impact of accent in language users’ lives.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- The pragmatics of accents 1
-
Part 1. Ideologies of accents in national contexts
- Attitudes to accents 19
- Urban youth accents in France 41
- Encountering accented others – and selves – in provincial Japan 63
- ‘Could I have an appointment for a viewing?’ 85
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Part 2. Accents in second language education teaching and learning
- The pragmatic force of second language accent in education 117
- A lack of phonological inherentness 141
- English-language attitudes and identities in Spain 163
-
Part 3. Accents in the media and the workplace
- From I’m the One That I Want to Kim’s Convenience 189
- Divine intervention 205
- In the ear of the beholder 229
-
Concluding remarks
- From sound to social meaning 247
- Index 263
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- The pragmatics of accents 1
-
Part 1. Ideologies of accents in national contexts
- Attitudes to accents 19
- Urban youth accents in France 41
- Encountering accented others – and selves – in provincial Japan 63
- ‘Could I have an appointment for a viewing?’ 85
-
Part 2. Accents in second language education teaching and learning
- The pragmatic force of second language accent in education 117
- A lack of phonological inherentness 141
- English-language attitudes and identities in Spain 163
-
Part 3. Accents in the media and the workplace
- From I’m the One That I Want to Kim’s Convenience 189
- Divine intervention 205
- In the ear of the beholder 229
-
Concluding remarks
- From sound to social meaning 247
- Index 263
