著者
川村 明日香 Kawamura Asuka カワムラ アスカ
出版者
大阪大学言語文化学会
雑誌
大阪大学言語文化学 = Journal of language and culture (ISSN:09181504)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.27, pp.55-68, 2018

The story of the Broadway musical The Lion King is set in a fictional country in Africa. This image is a fantasy; however, audiences feel the reality of Africa represented in it. The present study is undertaken to reveal the mechanisms employed in making the fantasy seem Africa-like. If we regard the whole musical The Lion King as a text, the advertisements and pamphlets included in the production can be defined as paratexts which surround the main text and influence the readers' understanding of the main text. The main text can be classified into two parts; the story and the expression. In the storyline, the only things to make us imagine Africa are the main characters who are African animals. However, in the expression, we can find many things that suggest Africa, for example, the sound of African languages in songs and dialogue, the make-up inspired by African tradition, and the clothing's patterns and colors. These things create a synergy that makes us feel that the stage is an African-like space. However, most of the audience does not know which African language is spoken, and which African tradition is applied to the stage design. Further, although after the translation from English into Japanese the African images of the main text were almost unchanged, there is a substantial difference between the pamphlet of the Broadway production and that of the Japanese production. The former has explanations about the African cultures that are applied to the stage design, makeup, and costumes. In the Broadway production, the pamphlet writer insists that African images in The Lion King have roots to the real Africa. The latter mentions that the Japanese production of The Lion King promotes friendship between Japan and South Africa, but there is not much information about African culture. In the Japanese pamphlet, Africa is presented as a "vast" place with "unique" percussion instruments, and the phrase "a language unfamiliar to audiences" is used to describe as "the African language," Zulu. Thus, many in the Japanese audience imagie Africa as an entity that has a single "African culture." Therefore, at each level of the storyline, the expression and the paratexts different African images are represented. Moreover, in the paratexts, African images in The Lion King are affected by the translation from English to Japanese.
著者
板垣 浩正 Itagaki Hiromasa イタガキ ヒロマサ
出版者
大阪大学言語文化学会
雑誌
大阪大学言語文化学 = Journal of language and culture (ISSN:09181504)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.27, pp.41-53, 2018

In Japanese writing, some expressions occur with a parenthesis like the form "X(Y),"as shown in the phrase "Tokyo Daigaku(To-dai)." This paper investigates an expression that does not contain Y and is used as Internet slang like "Tensai( )," and shows its semantic and functional characteristics(hereafter Null-Parenthesis). First, I introduce some previous research on parenthesis sentences. Research on these expressions began in the field of natural language processing, and has been carried on by theoretical linguistics, such as Relevance Theory or Cognitive Linguistics. This paper empirically shows that schematic descriptions in previous studies are not semantically adequate because of the idiosyncratic features of Null-Parenthesis. This suggests that semantic characteristics of some parenthetical expressions need a lowerlevel(individual)description, rather than an abstract description. This paper observes some behaviors of the Null-Parenthesis associated with several grammatical phenomena. It examines:(i)comparison of the Null-Parenthesis usage with a square-bracket expression;(ii)the acceptability in the interrogative sentence; and(iii) the occurrence position of the usage of the Null-Parenthesis. This examination indicates that the Null-Parenthesis conveys the cynical attitude of the writer on the word(or phrase)immediately before the parenthesis. Further, this paper points out that(iv)the Null-Parenthesis cannot appear in the specific event or action, and(v)when the verb that occurs with the Null-Parenthesis is taken as a possible form [-(rar)eru], the Null- Parenthesis can only be accepted in the attributive possible meaning of the verb. This means that the Null-Parenthesis has a constraint that it cannot express the cynical attitude toward a specific event, but instead toward a property of the thing. Based on that consideration mentioned above, this paper argues that the Null-Parenthesis can be generalized as follows; it conveys the cynical attitude of the writer to the property designated by the preceding word. In addition, this paper looks into the semantic extension of the Null-Parenthesis, such as "Mou shukudai akirameta( )." It presents that this type of usage can also be explained by assuming the semantic generalization mentioned in this paper, and Intersubjectivity proposed by Traugott(2003). In conclusion, even though the Null-Parenthesis is a type of Japanese Internet slang, often regarded as a peripheral expression, this paper argues that this usage is not a vague expression, but rather a "linguistic" phenomenon.
著者
眞崎 睦子
出版者
大阪大学言語文化学会
雑誌
大阪大学言語文化学 (ISSN:09181504)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.7, pp.175-187, 1998

There is only a hundred years' history in immigration from Japan to the United States. However, a great deal of effort has been made on the study of the early Japanese immigrants from many aspects in many fields. My concern is to examine the Japanese immigrants and their community from 1885 to 1924, the early part of the immigrants' history, through guidebooks written by those who experienced different cultures and published in both Japan and the United States Among the many varieties of guidebooks,I focus on booklets and leaflets which were written in simple Japanese words and expressions. Although the rate of literate Japanese immigrants was reportedly very high,it is doubtful that all of them were able to read and understand the complicated guidebooks easily, considering the class most of the immigrants belonged to in their home country. Therefore it could be thought that many of them relied upon such short publications as booklets and leaflets Through this research, I hope to shed new light on certain immigrants and their community which have been neglected in previous studies. The period, 1885-1924, falls roughly into three phases: (1) "the beginning period" when the early immigrants, including government-sponsored contract laborers. crossed the Pacific Ocean for "money on trees". (2) "the peak period" when the immigrants' families including "picture brides." left Japan and the number of immigrants reached its peak; and (3) "The backlash period" when "law" had made the anti-Japanese mood more visible and material and the various rights of the Japanese immigrants were denied by their host society. In each period, the guidebooks, booklets and leaflets provided up-to-date information for the Japanese immigrants and we can observe the actual circumstances of the immigrants clearly. Tobeifujin Kokoroe is one leaflet for "picture brides" and other women immigrants which was published in "the peak period." This is one of historical artifact that tells us how the early Japanese immigrants tried to survive and prosper in their new world and a different culture, without as much information as we have now.