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Japanese Pronoun Adventure: a Japanese Language Learner's Exploration of His Japanese Gender Pronoun
ORCID
N/A
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Japanese
Degree Type
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Year Degree Awarded
2016
Month Degree Awarded
September
Abstract
In Japanese, there are various kinds of first-person pronouns, and some of them express the referent’s gender identity. Gender-neutral pronouns are made in English- speaking world day by day, but there is not any common first-person pronoun which indicates the gender identity that positions the referent’s gender somewhere between masculine and feminine. The present paper conducted a life story research on the “Japanese life” of an advanced learner of Japanese at a university in the United States who has been exploring his gender identity by coining and using a new Japanese first- person pronoun 㛪 ore, which indicates “in the middle between masculine and feminine.” This new Japanese gender pronoun has enabled the research participant to express his gender identity as he desires to be, and brought the gender non-binary view to the Japanese-speaking world. His invention and usage of the new pronoun has been achieved between two languages, Japanese and Chinese, with the help of his friends. The study also shows the influence of the ideology of gender binary view in the society, which made a gap between his preferred gender expression and actual expression that occurs when he speaks Japanese. Finally, the present study suggests teachers and educational institutions of Japanese to provide students with environments where they can try out different identities and expressions before asking them what kind of language user they aspire to be.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/9054699
First Advisor
Yuki Yoshimura
Second Advisor
Stephen Miller
Recommended Citation
Nakano, Takumi, "Japanese Pronoun Adventure: a Japanese Language Learner's Exploration of His Japanese Gender Pronoun" (2016). Masters Theses. 438.
https://doi.org/10.7275/9054699
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/438
Included in
Education Commons, Japanese Studies Commons, Modern Languages Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons