Abstract:
This thesis aims to explore the notion of identity in relation to Japanese
speakers as reflected in their use of first-person pronouns, given that the
first-person pronoun in Japanese has several varying forms (watashi, boku,
ore, atashi, etc.). I begin with a presentation of traditional and
prescriptivist accounts that treat these pronouns as having shared, common
meanings and use. I then present some recent ethnographic studies that
show pronoun use that often contradicts traditional accounts. These
contradictions pose questions concerning the nature of meaning: in what
ways is it shared and common and how does it relate to normative
behavior or expectations of normative behavior. These pronouns present a
nice case study for considering recent frameworks in sociolinguistics and
emergence theory. I argue that in order to understand the underlying
pragmatics of first-person pronoun use in Japanese it is necessary to
interpret the dynamics of various linguistic communities in the way they
shape and are shaped by language use. Identity, individual and group, and
the linguistic variation that indexes it, are argued to be emergent
phenomena that arise from negotiation and interaction between various
linguistic communities and subcultures.
