Identities Projected by the Innovative Uses of the Particle Shi in Japanese

Abstract

Change in language use and meanings is one of the topics explored in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology. The notions of indexicality (e.g., Ochs, 1992; Silverstein, 2003) and enregisterment (Agha, 2005) have been used to explore the relationship between a linguistic form and its social meanings, which are inferences that can be drawn based on how language is used in a specific interaction, and how a form gains new social meanings. The indexical and ideological link between linguistic forms and their social meanings can be emerged, strengthened, or weakened through widespread and repeated use of the forms in face-to-face interactions as well as in popular media and social media (e.g., Hiramoto, 2012; Ilbury, 2020; Squires, 2014).The particle shi in Japanese seems to be undergoing a change in its functions and meanings from a connective particle to an utterance-final, interactional particle (McGloin & Konishi, 2010; Ohyama, 2017; Sakakibara, 2008). Moreover, researchers have observed innovative uses of the particle shi in conversations among young people: Question Word + copula da + shi (Sakakibara, 2008; Irie, 2022), verb imperative form + shi (Yamamoto, 2012; Irie, 2022), and verb negative imperative form + shi (Irie, 2022). Although some studies describe these innovative uses of the particle shi as wakamono kotoba (“youth language”), they have been underrepresented in research, particularly concerning social meaning. The present study aims to investigate the identities projected by the innovative uses of the particle shi. Three sets of data were analyzed: 1) interviews with 12 young Japanese native speakers; 2) 1,200 tweets on X that include the innovative uses of the particle shi; and 3) manga and anime characters and their use of innovative shi. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, and tweets were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Moreover, tweets and the innovative shi in manga and anime were analyzed based on discourse analysis and Conversation Analysis, and character analysis was used to analyze the innovative shi users in manga and anime. Findings revealed that the innovative uses of the particle shi are associated with being eccentric; the users of the innovative shi were described as someone who is peculiar. It was also found that the innovative shi was employed to show the speaker’s disaffiliative stance and strong emotions. Furthermore, the analysis of the innovative shi users in manga and anime uncovered that the gender identification of the speaker evokes different identities. When the innovative shi user is male-presenting, the identity of a “popular otaku” is projected, whereas a “self-assertive gyaru” is projected when the speaker is female-presenting. This study offers insight into changes in language use and demonstrates how enregisterment can be investigated using different types of data.