SOCIAL MEANINGS OF ENGLISH IN JAPANESE TELEVISION DRAMAS

Abstract

This thesis investigates the social meanings of English in Japan by analysing the indexicalities of English, the identities that are constructed through the use of English, and the language ideologies reflected in the scripted English dialogue of Japanese television dramas. Despite the country being considered monolingual, English is often used in mass media in Japan as English and English-derived words have become loaded with indexical meaning, making it a valuable resource for popular culture to tap on to index various social values and identities in creative ways, which can both challenge or reinforce existing language ideologies. Television dramas are an important mass media vehicle that shapes and reflects dominant perspectives on language users. The English language can be used as a resource for constructing the identities of fictional characters by drawing on these indexicalities. Through the framework of fictionalisation (Stamou 2018b), the thesis analyses how the use of English constructs the identities of the powerful, sophisticated social elite, but is ultimately relegated to being an ‘Othered’ language unsuited for private conversation outside the workplace and inaccessible to the ordinary Japanese person. The thesis reveals how these television dramas reinforce the dominant language ideology of native-speakerism (Holliday 2006), which is characterised by the belief that only the English-speaking West can have legitimate ownership over English, that contributes to the paradoxical intense fervour for but lack of actual fluency in English among many Japanese people.