LINGUIST List 27.3921
Tue Oct 04 2016
Diss: The Language of Keitai-mail:The Sociolinguistics of Japanese Mobile E-mail
Editor for this issue: Yue Chen <yuelinguistlist.org>
Date: 25-Sep-2016
From: Noboru Sakai <noboru.sakai
uqconnect.edu.au>
Subject: The Language of Keitai-mail:The Sociolinguistics of Japanese Mobile E-mail
E-mail this message to a friend Institution: The University of Queensland
Program: School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2012
Author: Noboru Sakai
Dissertation Title: The Language of Keitai-mail:The Sociolinguistics of Japanese mobile e-mail
Dissertation URL:
http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:274279 Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics
Dissertation Director:
Yuriko Nagata
Nanette Gottlieb
Michael Harrignton
Dissertation Abstract:
(Full text is available:
http://dx.doi.org/10.14264/uql.2016.690)
Keitai-mail, e-mails exchanged through mobile phones, have become a major communication tool in Japanese daily life. In order to elucidate this aspect of the language and literacy practices of today’s rapidly advancing information technology era, this study explores Japanese Keitai-mail practice among young people (prior to the smart-phone generation) and is the first study to analyse a very large data corpus of raw Keitai-mail texts.
Previous studies can be summarised as showing that Keitai-mail feature influences of 1) the technology itself, i.e., the specifications or physical properties of the communication medium (e.g., Sasahara, 2002; Sasaki & Ishikawa, 2006); 2) the conscious and unconscious motivations of Keitai-mail users in their Keitai-mail communication (e.g., Sugitani, 2007; Tomari, 2004; Uchida, 2004), and 3) language use and creation by young people themselves found in areas not limited to Keitai-mail (e.g., Horasawa, 2000; Kuwamoto, 2000; Senuma, 2005). The present study thus focuses on these three aspects as its baseline of investigation, using both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse its data corpus. For the former, certain criteria from conversation analysis and discourse analysis (Fairclough’s 2003 criteria) are applied.
The study investigates 43,295 Keitai-mail exchanged for the purpose of personal communication by 60 young people aged 18 to 30 who are familiar with Keitai-mail practices. The 1-to-1 ratio of male and female, the participants' domiciles in several big Japanese cities (e.g., Tokyo, Osaka), with a fairly randomised sample which reveals the general trend of language practice among young Japanese people.
These findings characterise Keitai-mail as a context-based literacy practice, in which people actively devise techniques to maximise the effectiveness of communication.
Page Updated: 04-Oct-2016