Overview

This volume invites the reader into the world of pragmatic and discourse studies in Japanese popular culture. Through “character-speak”, the book analyzes quoted speech in light (graphic) novels, the effeminate onee kotoba in talk shows, narrative character in keetai (mobile phone) novels, floating whispers in manga, and fictionalized dialects in television drama series. Explorations into conversational interaction, internal monologue, rhetorical figures, intertextuality, and the semiotic mediation between verbal and visual signs reveal how speakers manipulate language in performing playful “characters” and “characteristics”. Most prominent in the discourse of Japanese popular culture is its “fluid orality”. We find the essential oral nature in and across genres of Japanese popular culture, and observe seamless transitions among styles and speech variations. This fluidity is understood as a feature of polyphonic speech initiated not by the so-called ideal singular speaker, but by a multiple and often shifting interplay of one’s speaking selves performing as various characters. Challenging traditional (Western) linguistic theories founded on the concept of the autonomous speaker, this study ventures into open and embracing pragmatic and discourse studies that inquire into the very nature of our speaking selves.

Full Product Details

Author:   Senko K. Maynard (Rutgers University)
Publisher:   John Benjamins Publishing Co
Imprint:   John Benjamins Publishing Co
Volume:   263
Weight:   0.750kg
ISBN:  

9789027256683

ISBN 10:   9027256683
Pages:   344
Publication Date:   31 March 2016
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

1. Acknowledgements; 2. Chapter 1. Introduction; 3. Chapter 2. Fluid orality; 4. Chapter 3. Character and character-speak; 5. Chapter 4. Light novels: Character-speak and variation in quoted speech; 6. Chapter 5. Talk shows: Fluid orality in gender-evoking variation; 7. Chapter 6. Keetai novels: Narrator's character-speak in conversational narration; 8. Chapter 7. Manga: Fluidity of multilayered speech in floating whispers; 9. Chapter 8. Drama: Fluid orality in place-evoking fictionalized variations; 10. Chapter 9. Reflections and aspirations; 11. Appendix: Presentation of data in Japanese orthography; 12. References; 13. Data references; 14. Author index; 15. Subject index

Reviews

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

No review item found!

Add your own review!

Countries Available

All regions