TY - JOUR
T1 - Gentle masculinity in East Asia
T2 - 'Herbivore Men' and interlocutor constructed language
AU - Kroo, Judit
N1 - Funding Information:
I would like to thank my advisor Yoshiko Matsumoto for her careful reading, commentary and correction, which greatly improved the quality of this manuscript. The insights of the audiences at a range of conferences including IGALA 2014, NWAV-AP 2014 and the 2014 Yakuwarigo 'Role Language' were indispensable for tightening the argument of this paper. Presentations at these conferences were possible with the generous support of the Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University and the East Asian Languages and Cultures Department of Stanford University. Thank you also to Rob Podesva, Shiwei Chen, Katherine Hilton, Letitia Wells and Hannah Ball-Brau for their perceptive comments and for endless discussion. All remaining errors and shortcomings are of course my own.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 John Benjamins Publishing Company.
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - This study considers the Japanese phenomenon of sooshokukei-danshi (SKD) 'Herbivore Men' within larger discourses of 'East-Asian gentle masculinity.' Focusing on lexical variation across both scripted and naturalistic data, the current study argues that while use of salient variables by SKD identified speakers in media closely conform to stereotypically gendered usage patterns, use of these variables in naturalistic data is more complex, suggesting speakers' engagement in the performance of a range of gendered stances. Furthermore, data indicate that rather than use of particular lexical items, e.g. a given pragmatic particle, the performance of gendered types emerges through patterns in the use of a range of items and that use of a single item does not by itself signal gendered performance. Concurrently, interlocutors ignore speakers' use of otherwise salient variables when they do not conform to interlocutors' pre-existing images of these speakers, focusing instead on use of those variables that confirm their metalinguistic images of the speaker.
AB - This study considers the Japanese phenomenon of sooshokukei-danshi (SKD) 'Herbivore Men' within larger discourses of 'East-Asian gentle masculinity.' Focusing on lexical variation across both scripted and naturalistic data, the current study argues that while use of salient variables by SKD identified speakers in media closely conform to stereotypically gendered usage patterns, use of these variables in naturalistic data is more complex, suggesting speakers' engagement in the performance of a range of gendered stances. Furthermore, data indicate that rather than use of particular lexical items, e.g. a given pragmatic particle, the performance of gendered types emerges through patterns in the use of a range of items and that use of a single item does not by itself signal gendered performance. Concurrently, interlocutors ignore speakers' use of otherwise salient variables when they do not conform to interlocutors' pre-existing images of these speakers, focusing instead on use of those variables that confirm their metalinguistic images of the speaker.
KW - Character types
KW - Gender performance
KW - Japanese masculinity
KW - Mediatization
KW - Pragmatic particles
KW - Sooshokukei-danshi
KW - Stance construction
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U2 - 10.1075/japc.00012.kro
DO - 10.1075/japc.00012.kro
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85051476570
SN - 0957-6851
VL - 28
SP - 251
EP - 280
JO - Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
JF - Journal of Asian Pacific Communication
IS - 2
ER -