Promoting the Use of Okinawan by New Speakers
An Analysis of Honorific Choices in the Family Domain
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5901222 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tomoko Arakaki (Okinawa Christian University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 12 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-26 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Languages (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/languages8010012 |
| OpenAlex | W4312201809 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 5 |
Linguistic insecurity about polite registers constitutes a serious barrier for any new speakers specifically in settings between parents and children or between married couples. Politeness might very well be the register that prevents new speakers from either learning or using their heritage language. This paper examines the current use of honorifics in Okinawan between parents and children, and between married couples. It examines the use and awareness of honorifics in the family domain, paying due attention to situations when honorifics are used without causing communicative and sociolinguistic problems. Two families serve as a case study, including myself and my parents. The results of the analysis of the two families illustrate that the traditional honorific system (use of strict honorifics) has changed to fit modern life and that its accompanying values are characteristic of contemporary Okinawan society. We found that honorifics are rarely used in Okinawan conversations between married couples both by rusty speakers and semi-speaker. The use of honorifics between parents and children (semi-speaker) has been also moderated. If such flexible use of honorifics is adopted at home, there may be a possibility of intergenerational transmission of Okinawan within the family. Lastly, I introduce the opinion of new speakers, all in their 20s, about the use of honorifics. The y do not wish fluent speakers to criticize their mistakes one by one, but they still want fluent speakers to correct crucial errors to master honorifics step by step
Honorific · Linguistics · Politeness · Gender Studies in Language · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |