First Advisor

Karen Curtin

Term of Graduation

Spring 2026

Date of Publication

6-1-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.) in Japanese

Department

World Languages and Literatures

Language

English

Subjects

Japanese, Sociolinguistics, Speech styles

Physical Description

1 online resource (viii, 145 pages)

Abstract

This study explores to what extent Japanese as a Target Language (JTL, henceforth) learners use mixed-speech styles. "Mixed-speech styles" refers to the phenomenon that occurs when speakers shift speech styles during the course of an interaction. The three primary speech styles are (1) the desu/masu forms, which are generally considered formal speech-level markers, (2) the non-desu/masu forms, considered informal speech-level markers, and (3) the Chūto shūryō-gata, which I translate to unfinished utterances that do not contain a clear style-marker.

The studies examined naturally occurring conversation point out that Japanese speakers often strategically manipulate and mix these speech styles to create various stances, identities and communicative moves. With respect to JTL learners, however, Wetzel (2004) explains that English speakers generally do not face the complexities of language use that Japanese speakers encounter, as there is no equivalent system in English designed to reflect the social relationships between speakers. Therefore, learners of Japanese may struggle to mix their speech styles in a culturally appropriate way.

To analyze when and how often Japanese learners use mixed-speech styles, data were collected through role-play activities and follow-up interviews. Each roleplay targeted specific use of mixed-speech styles based on prior research findings. Participants included a total of 10 JTL learners and 10 native speakers of Japanese (J1), all of whom were college students in Nagoya City, Japan.

The overall analysis revealed that both native-speakers and JTL learners employed mixed-speech styles within the flow of interaction. In other words, none of the participants were a "single-speech style speaker." The student participants appeared to recognize (whether doing so consciously or not) that style shifts can occur even when speaking to the same interlocutor. When it came to matching the stated hypotheses, however, results were varied. Certainly, there were participants in all groups that used mixed-speech styles as predicted in the hypotheses, but there were many–both native and learner–who did not.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

Text in English and Japanese.

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/44829

Download

Included in

Linguistics Commons

Share

COinS