Reexamining Japanese youth language
-
Yuning Cao
Abstract
This paper investigates Japanese youth language (abbreviated as “YL” thereafter) from a sociolinguistic approach and discusses whether the terminology itself is felicitous in capturing the group of words or the users it claims to be capturing by focusing on YL usage in real life and collected latest data featuring top-ranking YL words in 2018 and 2019. A closer examination of YL reveals that the usage not always matches users’ age, and that the terminology itself suggests an outsider view, creating a misconception that only young people use it. It is thus argued that age is not the correct label to define YL, and that various types of YL words exist under this umbrella notion that are used in different communities for various purposes. This article intends to promote a more comprehensive and objective understanding of YL.
YL words appeared in this article
| Romanized YL | Origin[12] | Meaning in English[13] |
|---|---|---|
| agemizawa | ageru ‘to go up’ + mi ‘the feeling of’ + zawa (no particular meaning) | tension up |
| ariyorinoari | When facing a forced choice between “with” (ari) and “without” (nashi), one is completely biased (yori) towards “with” (ari). | completely “yes”, no complaints |
| buhiru | Euphony between moe-ota ‘lovely-otaku’ and moe-buta ‘lovely-pig.’ Buhi is the cry of a pig. | affection to characters in manga or in animations |
| dis-uru | From the English word “disrespect”, precisely from “diss” in American hip-hop rap | to deny or to criticize others |
| emoi | From the English word “emotional” | touching, etc. |
| fabo | From the English word “favorite” | to give a thumb up |
| iinaminottenne | A catchy phrase from a video named “iinaminotten☆ NIGHT” by four sexy actresses called “Fucking Rabbits” | in good condition, in good feeling |
| kusa(hukahi) | The juxtaposition (wwwwww) of the initial letter of warau ‘to laugh’ resembles grassland (kusa) | interesting, funny |
| KY | kuuki-ga yomenai ‘unable to read the atmosphere’ | unable to read the situation |
| mazimanzi | mazi ‘serious’ + manzi ‘卍’; the “卍” suffix is rare and thus visually appealing which is suitable for conveying emphatic nuances | bad guy, to a great extent, etc. |
| MK5 | mazi-de ‘seriously’ + kireru ‘snap, crack’ + 5-byoo-mae ‘5 seconds before’ | be about to go crazy, be about to lose control |
| ryo | ryookai ‘understood’ | I see, OK |
| sorena | Although there are similar words in the Kansai dialect, it is unknown whether it was originated from it | that’s it (more as a backchannel for agreement or approval) |
| sukipi | suki ‘love, like’ + hito ‘person’ with a euphony of changing hi to pi | lover, a person you like |
| suko | An alteration of suki ‘like, love’ | to love, to like |
| sutabaru | The English word “Starbucks” + verb ending -ru | to go to Starbucks |
| tapiru | tapioca (bubble tea) + verb ending -ru | to go to a bubble-tea shop, to drink bubble tea |
| toka | A copula for enumerating examples, indicating vagueness, and avoiding affirmation | and the like; such as; among other things; and so on |
| tyooberiba | tyoo ‘very’ + the English word beri ‘very’ + the English word baddo ‘bad’ | extremely bad, worst |
| wakarimi | wakaru ‘to understand’ + mi ‘the feeling of’ | kind of understand; feels like (I) understand |
| wakewannai | wake ‘reason’ + wakannai ‘do not understand (abbreviated version)’ | I don’t get it; that’s absurd |
| wantyan | From the English word “one chance” | possibly, probably |
| yabai | yaba (‘game house,’ used to be an argot for brothel, then referring to a dangerous place) + adjective ending -i | dangerous, to a great extent, etc. |
Interview questions
Opening greetings
What is your general impression on YL? How often do you use them? What are the characteristics of YL, trendy words, and new words? What nuances does the terminology “YL” entail?
What kind of people use YL frequently? In what kind of situations do people usually use YL?
Do you like using new words? What kind of words do you perceive as YL on the Internet? Will you check unknown words when you encounter them?
What makes you start using new words?
(After a target YL word is drawn from the pouch) Have you used this word before? Have you heard about it? Can you describe its usage for me? Where do you often see/hear this word (in what kind of platform: SNS, blogs, websites, news, et cetera)?
(If the informant does not use the word) Why you choose not to use this word? What is the cause of resistance, if any? How do your habits of using SNS influence your usage of this YL word?
(If the informant uses the word) In which platforms do you usually use this word? To whom do you use it? How about the frequency? What is your reason or motivation of using it? Do you find it convenient in conveying what you would like to express?
Why do you think this YL word is in trend (regardless of your own usage)?
(For obsolete words) Why are some “dead words” no longer in use? What makes it lose of popularity?
What kind of words are more likely to become obsolete?
Closing greetings
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Notes
- Editors’ notes
- Articles
- How is laughter used to create and reinforce food attitudes in Japanese Dairy Taster Brunch conversations
- Hard-to-learn conjunctive expressions for advanced learners: a survey on storytelling in I-JAS
- Japanese L2 learners’ subjective construal: an analysis of expressions of emotion and evaluation in written storytelling found in I-JAS data
- Filler words in Japanese textbooks and Japanese classes
- How an utterance is regarded as implying disagreement: an analysis of confirmation requests in Japanese decision-making meetings
- Reexamining Japanese youth language
- Book Reviews
- Yuta Sakamoto: Silently Structured Silent Argument
- Ken-Ichi Kadooka: Japanese Mood and Modality in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Theory and Application
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Notes
- Editors’ notes
- Articles
- How is laughter used to create and reinforce food attitudes in Japanese Dairy Taster Brunch conversations
- Hard-to-learn conjunctive expressions for advanced learners: a survey on storytelling in I-JAS
- Japanese L2 learners’ subjective construal: an analysis of expressions of emotion and evaluation in written storytelling found in I-JAS data
- Filler words in Japanese textbooks and Japanese classes
- How an utterance is regarded as implying disagreement: an analysis of confirmation requests in Japanese decision-making meetings
- Reexamining Japanese youth language
- Book Reviews
- Yuta Sakamoto: Silently Structured Silent Argument
- Ken-Ichi Kadooka: Japanese Mood and Modality in Systemic Functional Linguistics: Theory and Application
