As casual computer mediated communication across strangers increase, the domains where language and styles can be used have expanded. In new modes of interaction, different registers and styles are mixed to fit the nature of... [ view full abstract ]
As casual computer mediated communication across strangers increase, the domains where language and styles can be used have expanded. In new modes of interaction, different registers and styles are mixed to fit the nature of interaction. This paper examines an unconventional use of Japanese sentence final form ‘nanodesu’ on SNS, mainly on Twitter. ‘Nanodesu’ is originally a copula, used to index an epistemic stance, and is conventionally used in formal and written register of the Japanese language. Often, the speaker uses this to mark that they are conveying information that belongs more to the speaker than the hearer. However, the emerging use takes place in seemingly casual interaction, among SNS users (including towards those they may not know offline), and in an ungrammatical form.
The unconventional nanodesu is now enregistered (Agha 2005) as a part of the fictional characters’ linguistic styles (Kinsui 2003), and thus some SNS users use them to meme in their ‘voices’.
The form socially functions in several ways. It is one of the ways which users index their identity as a game or animation fan, along with their user profile, avatar icon, status, and screenname. It is part of a jargon among some groups of fans of a particular PC game. Some users perform the fictional characters which on Twitter, often based on the game characters that are associated with the excessive use of this form. Also, the form is used to update the users’ current status. Quantitatively, the unconventional clusters of the form comes along with particular verbs such as neru (to sleep) or taberu (to eat), as well as greetings and interactional phrases such as ohayo (Good morning) and arigato (Thank you). Both the verbs and the greetings show how the nanodesu is used in interpersonal interactions on Twitter. For example, when nanodesu is used with ‘to sleep’, it is often used to say ‘Good night’.
Bibliography
Agha, Asif (2005) Voice, footing, enregisterment. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 15 (1). 38–59. Kinsui, Satoshi (2003) Vācharu nihongo: yakuwarigo no nazo, Iwanami Shoten.
