New developments in Variation Theory and Multifaceted Analysis of the Japanese Language

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25284082
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Linguistics
• Research Institution: Kobe Shoin Women's University
• Principal Investigator: Matsuda Kenjiro 神戸松蔭女子学院大学, 文学部, 教授 (40263636)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): Ota Ichiro 鹿児島大学, 法文学部, 教授 (60203783) ; Hirano Keiko 北九州市立大学, 外国語学部, 教授 (60341286) ; Takano Shoji 北星学園大学, 文学部, 教授 (00285503) ; Sano Shin-ichiro 慶應義塾大学, 商学部, 准教授 (30609615)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): Hibiya Junko 国際基督教大学, 教養学部, 教授 (70199016)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 変異理論 / 音調の変異 / 連濁 / 社会的ネットワーク / 国会会議録 / 漢語の読み / 実時間パネル調査 / メディアの影響

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The real-time study group published an article on the relative frequencies of noun, verb and pronoun, and made a presentation on the methodological problems of real-time studies of language change. The analysis of the standardization process in _Yamahana, Sapporo found that no lifespan change is observed, and the language ideology has an effect on the process. The mixed-effect model group looked at the discourse of English-native English teachers in Japan, and found that the use of the standard accent shows a correlation with the self-assessment of the Japanese proficiency and the network with other English teachers. The linguistic theory group showed the phonetic conditioning of the rendaku process in a quantitative manner. The sociophonetic group demonstrated that, in the intonation alternation phenomenon in the Kagoshima Type-II accentuation system, an LHL pattern is best described as a dedialectization process, whereas an LHH pattern should be seen as a destandardization process.

Free Research Field

社会言語学