2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Language, sociality, and Japanese popular media in the 21st century
| Project/Area Number |
22K13125
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | sociolinguistics / language in media / media consumption / fan studies / corpus linguistics |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
I have made progress across a wide area of data collection and categorization. First, I acquired data from Twitter concerning several hundred “o-josama clubs,” including bios and tweets across a broad chronological span. I presented the results of the use of “desu wa” in profile bios at NWAV-AP6 at Chulalongkorn University in December, and I will been presenting data on personal justifications behind o-josama use as found in the dataset at IGALA at the University of Queensland in July.
I have also been working on a database of the use of “o-josama” and related terms in the titles of works as a way of tracking the ongoing “o-josama boom.” I presented early results from this analysis at the Kyarachters Symposium sponsored by the Yanai Initiative at UCLA in April.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
My current progress is a little delayed, due in large part to the ongoing user-base and data instability with Twitter. Because users have been leaving the platform, or having their profiles deleted, it has made making contact more difficult than expected, causing a more corpus-based turn in my approach.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
First, I plan to finish cleaning the acquired Twitter data such that it will allow me to easily search for particular topics across multiple accounts and look for linguistic trends. Next, after cleaning the dataset on o-josama related publications, I plan on hiring research assistants to help me collect dialogue from a randomized selection within this dataset. I am also incorporating an exploration into Vtubers who use o-josama kotoba, how their fans interact with them through chat, and how this phenomenon fits into the broader o-josama boom. On the topic of publications, I plan to refine my presentations into journal articles. Finally, I have begun drafting a book on the topic of character language circulation through media consumption, but I expect it will not be complete until after the terms of this grant.
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| Causes of Carryover |
I will be using funds to support my virtual participation in IGALA12 and other events. I will also be hiring research assistants to help collect and sort further data on o-josama kotoba from fictional sources. Finally, there are still textual resources to acquire for data, and those will be funded through the grant.
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