The portrayal of the Osaka dialect and its speakers in contemporary Japanese prose: challenging or perpetuating linguistic stereotypes? (AAM)

Abstract

The representation of dialects in fictional texts often reflects real language attitudes and ideologies towards non-standard varieties (Hodson 2012). This paper focuses on the representation of the Osaka dialect in contemporary Japanese literature. It is based on a qualitative analysis of ten Japanese prose texts, written between 1980 and 2023. First, it was determined how the overall image of the Osaka dialect is created within the text through the narration, stylistic devices and metalinguistic comments. Next, the characterization of fictional dialect speakers was examined with particular attention to socio-demographic factors, such as their place of origin, social class, age and gender. Given Eckert’s (2008) claim that linguistic variants are context-dependent rather than tied to fixed social categories, the indexical field framework was used to examine the situational use of the Osaka dialect. The study determined that the traditional stereotypes highlighted by Kinsui (2003) are no longer dominant, due to the fact Osaka dialect is not associated with any particular social group, and its use can imply different social meanings depending on the situation. Nevertheless, these representations are still firmly rooted in existing linguistic ideologies, such as the standard language ideology.