Abstract
This article analyzes stylized pronunciations of English by Japanese speakers on televised variety shows in Japan. Research on style and mocking has done much to reveal how linguistic forms are utilized in interaction as resources of identity construction that can oftentimes subvert hegemonic discourse (Chun 2004). Within this research area, scholars have primarily explored language among monolingual speakers of English, and immigrant or second generation L2 English multilinguals who have frequent contact with speakers of other languages (Rampton 1995; Chun 2009). What has not been examined is the use of stylized languages in contexts where English is considered a foreign language, such as Japan. In this article, I investigate Stylized native-speaker English (NSE), or English spoken with a highly enunciated hyper-L1 accent, which indexes a degree of social “cool”. I examine the ways in which NSE is stylized in variety shows through an analysis of both oral discourse and textual commentary (telop) produced on the screen for viewers. The article argues that these forms of stylization are used as resources in the social construction of cool identities and demonstrates how the indexical relationship between social cool and Stylized NSE works bi-directionally.
Transcription conventions
- (())
detailed description
- ˚ ˚
low volume
- underline
said with stress
- =
Latching
- $ $
laughing voice
- CAPS
loud volume
- !
Emphasis
- .
falling tone
- ?
rising tone
- ::
extended sound
- (0.8)
length of pause in seconds

Overlap
- COP
Copula
- Q
question marker
- IP
interactional particle
- NOM
Nominative
- OBJ
object marker
- PST
past tense
- TOP
topic marker
- NEG
Negative
- QT
Quotative
- VOL
Volitional
- POT
Potential
- INT
Interjection
- DM
Diminuative
- DER
Derogatory
References
Bateson, Gregory. 1972. Steps to an ecology of mind. New York: Ballantine Books.Search in Google Scholar
Bell, Allan & AndyGibson. 2011. Staging language: An introduction to the sociolinguistics of performance. Journal of Sociolinguistics15(5). 555–572.10.1111/j.1467-9841.2011.00517.xSearch in Google Scholar
Blommaert, Jan. 2010. The sociolinguistics of globalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511845307Search in Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. The forms of capital. In John G.Richardson (ed.), Handbook of theory of research for the sociology of education, 46–58. New York: Greenwood Press.Search in Google Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary. 2001. The whiteness of nerds: Superstandard English and racial markedness. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology11(1). 84–100.10.1525/jlin.2001.11.1.84Search in Google Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary & KiraHall. 2005. Identity and interaction: A sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies7(4–5). 585–614.10.1177/1461445605054407Search in Google Scholar
Chun, Elaine W. 2004. Ideologies of legitimate mockery: Margaret Cho’s revoicing of mock Asian. Pragmatics14(2/3). 263–289.10.1075/prag.14.2-3.10chuSearch in Google Scholar
Chun, Elaine W. 2009. Speaking like Asian immigrants: Intersections of accommodation and mocking at a U.S. high school. Pragmatics19(1). 17–38.10.1075/prag.19.1.02chuSearch in Google Scholar
Cook, Haruko M. 2008. Situational meanings of Japanese social deixis: The mixed use of the masu and plain forms. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology8(1). 87–110.10.1525/jlin.1998.8.1.87Search in Google Scholar
Coupland, Nikolas. 2001. Dialect stylization in radio talk. Language in Society30. 345–375.10.1017/S0047404501003013Search in Google Scholar
Coupland, Nikolas. 2003. Sociolinguistic authenticities. Journal of Sociolinguistics7(3). 417–431.10.1111/1467-9481.00233Search in Google Scholar
Coupland, Nikolas. 2007. Style: Language variation and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511755064Search in Google Scholar
Daulton, Frank E. 2008. Japan’s built-in lexicon of English-based loanwords. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781847690319Search in Google Scholar
Eckert, Penelope. 2008. Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics12(4). 453–476.10.1111/j.1467-9841.2008.00374.xSearch in Google Scholar
Galbraith, Patrick W. & Jason G.Karlin. 2012. Introduction: The mirror of idols and celebrity. In Patrick W.Galbraith & Jason G.Karlin (eds.), Idols and celebrity in Japanese media culture, 1–32. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave MacMillan.10.1057/9781137283788_1Search in Google Scholar
Glenn, Phillip. 2003. Laughter in interaction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511519888Search in Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1974. Frame analysis. Lebanon, NH: Northeastern University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1981. Forms of talk. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Search in Google Scholar
Gottlieb, Nanette. 2005. Language and society in Japan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Hara, Yumiko. 2012. NHK Baraeti Bangumi ni Miru Moji Teroppu no Hensen: Terebi ni Okeru Hyouki Jittai to Kinou no Bunka. Housou Kenkyuu to Chousa63(1). 72–73.Search in Google Scholar
Harner, Stephen. 2012. Can Rakuten maverick CEO Mikitani’s new organization change Japan? Retrieved 2013-11-20, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenharner/2012/10/10/can-rakuten-maverick-ceo-mikitanis-new-organization-change-japan/Search in Google Scholar
Hill, Jane. 1993. Hasta La Vista, Baby: Anglo Spanish in the American Southwest. Critique of Anthropology13(2). 145–176.Search in Google Scholar
Hill, Jane. 1995. Mock Spanish: A site for the indexical reproduction of racism in American English. Language & Culture: Symposium 2. Retrieved 2013-11-14, from http://language-culture.binghamton.edu/symposia/2/part1/index.htmlSearch in Google Scholar
Hiramoto, Mie. 2013. English vs. English conversation: Language teaching in modern Japan. In LionelWee, Robbie B. H.Goh & LisaLim (eds.), The politics of English: South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific, 228–248. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/wlp.4.16hirSearch in Google Scholar
Holliday, Adrian. 2006. Native-speakerism. ELT Journal60(4). 385–387.10.1093/elt/ccl030Search in Google Scholar
Honna, Nobuyuki. 1995. English in Japanese society: Language within language. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development16(1&2). 45–62.10.1080/01434632.1995.9994592Search in Google Scholar
Irvine, Judith T. & SusanGal. 2000. Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In Paul V.Kroskrity (ed.), Regimes of language: Ideologies, politics, and identities, Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press.Search in Google Scholar
Jacoby, Sally & ElinorOchs. 1995. Co-construction: An introduction. Research on Language and Social Interaction28(3). 171–183.10.1207/s15327973rlsi2803_1Search in Google Scholar
Jefferson, Gail. 1973. A case of precision timing in ordinary conversation: Overlapped tag-positioned address terms in closing sequences. Semiotica9(1). 47–96.10.1515/semi.1973.9.1.47Search in Google Scholar
Kubota, Ryuko. 2002. Impact of globalization on language teaching in Japan. In DavidBlock & DeborahCameron (eds.), Globalization and language teaching, 13–28. London: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Kubota, Ryuko & Sandra L.McKay. 2009. Globalization and language learning in rural Japan: The role of English in the local linguistic ecology. TESOL Quarterly43(4). 593–619.10.1002/j.1545-7249.2009.tb00188.xSearch in Google Scholar
Matsuda, Aya. 2003. The ownership of English in Japanese secondary schools. World Englishes22(4). 483–496.10.1111/j.1467-971X.2003.00314.xSearch in Google Scholar
Mikitani, Hiroshi. 2013. Marketplace 3.0: rewriting the rules of borderless business. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.Search in Google Scholar
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. 2013. Shougakkou Gaikokugo Katsudou ni Tsuite. Shougakkou Gaikokugo Katsudou Saito. Retrieved 2013-11-7, from http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shotou/gaikokugo/indexSearch in Google Scholar
Moody, Andrew. 2006. English in Japanese popular culture and J-Pop music. World Englishes25(2). 209–222.10.1111/j.0083-2919.2006.00460.xSearch in Google Scholar
Mooney, Sean. 2000. 5,110 days in Tokyo and everything’s hunky-dory: The marketer’s guide to advertising in Japan. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.Search in Google Scholar
Ochs, Elinor. 1992. Indexing gender. In AlessandroDuranti & CharlesGoodwin (eds.), Rethinking context: Language as an interactive phenomenon, 335–358. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
O’Hagan, Minako. 2010. Japanese TV entertainment: Framing humour with open caption telop. In DeliaCharo (ed.), Translation, HUMOUR, AND THE MEDIA, 70–88. London: Continuum.Search in Google Scholar
Park, Joseph S. Y. 2009a. Illegitimate speakers of English: Negotiation of linguistic identity among Korean international students. In AngelaReyes & AdrienneLo (eds.), Beyond yellow English: Toward a linguistic anthropology of Asian Pacific America, 195–212. New York: Oxford University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Park, Joseph S. Y. 2009b. Regimenting languages on Korean television: Subtitles and institutional authority. Text & Talk29(5). 547–570.10.1515/TEXT.2009.029Search in Google Scholar
Pennycook, Alastair. 2003. Global Englishes, Rip Slyme, and performativity. Journal of Sociolinguistics7(4). 513–533.Search in Google Scholar
Rampton, Ben. 1995. Language crossing and the problematisation of ethnicity and socialisation. Pragmatics5(4). 485–513.10.1075/prag.5.4.04ramSearch in Google Scholar
Riney, Timothy J., NaoyukiTakagi, KaoriOta & YokoUchida. 2007. The intermediate degree of VOT in Japanese initial voiceless stops. Journal of Phonetics35. 439–443.10.1016/j.wocn.2006.01.002Search in Google Scholar
Seargeant, Philip. 2005. “More English Than England itself”: The simulation of authenticity in foreign language practice in Japan. International Journal of Applied Linguistics15(3). 326–345.10.1111/j.1473-4192.2005.00094.xSearch in Google Scholar
Seargeant, Philip. 2009. The idea of English in Japan: Ideology and the evolution of a global language. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781847692030Search in Google Scholar
Silverstein, Michael. 1976. Shifters, linguistic categories, and cultural description. In Keith H.Basso & Henry A.Selby (eds.), Meaning and anthropology, 11–55. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico.Search in Google Scholar
Silverstein, Michael. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language & Communication23. 193–229.10.1016/S0271-5309(03)00013-2Search in Google Scholar
Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove. 1988. Multilingualism and the education of minority children. In ToveSkutnabb-Kangas & JimCummins (eds.), Minority education: From shame to struggle, 9–44. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Search in Google Scholar
Tanaka, Lidia. 2004. Gender, language and culture: A study of Japanese television interview discourse. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company.10.1075/slcs.69Search in Google Scholar
Video Research Limited. (1997–2014). Puraimutaimu. Retrieved 2014-7-10, from Video Research Ltd.: http://www.videor.co.jp/about-vr/terms/prime-time.htmSearch in Google Scholar
©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Insults or Acts of Identity? The Role of Stylization in Multilingual Discourse
- “Mista, Are You in a Good Mood?”: Stylization to Negotiate Interaction in an Urban Hawai’i Classroom
- Talking with Abuelo: Performing Authenticity in a Multicultural, Multisited Family
- Stylizing Voices, Stances, and Identities Related to Medium of Education in India
- Stylizing Dialects and Restructuring the Nation of Nepal in Stand-Up Comedy
- “Cool” English: Stylized Native-Speaker English in Japanese Television Shows
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Insults or Acts of Identity? The Role of Stylization in Multilingual Discourse
- “Mista, Are You in a Good Mood?”: Stylization to Negotiate Interaction in an Urban Hawai’i Classroom
- Talking with Abuelo: Performing Authenticity in a Multicultural, Multisited Family
- Stylizing Voices, Stances, and Identities Related to Medium of Education in India
- Stylizing Dialects and Restructuring the Nation of Nepal in Stand-Up Comedy
- “Cool” English: Stylized Native-Speaker English in Japanese Television Shows