Members

I specialise in sociolinguistics, a field that studies how relationships between us and the society are established through language, with a particular focus on the language ideologies of regional dialects in Japan. In my doctoral research, I used ethnographic methods to investigate people who acquire the Kansai dialect (especially Osaka dialect) as a second dialect. I explored the language ideologies associated with Kansai dialect (i.e., all kinds of thoughts and beliefs about language) and how these ideologies spread and impact language diffusion in the context of the dialect. Specifically, I examined the issue of language ownership reflected in the criticism towards people wish to speak in Kansai dialect but are not originally from Kansai, particularly using the phrase Ese-Kansai-ben ‘Pseudo Kansai dialect’.
As a member of the Hakubi Project, I will investigate the linguistic commodities of regional dialects in contemporary Japan (Known as Dialect Goods), the language ideologies associated with them, and the images of these dialects conveyed through the commodity design. I will also investigate the changes in language ideologies that occur during the process of commodification.