| Popis: |
Evaluative attitudes towards languages and their varieties are often capitalized on in popular media, including music. This practice can provide valuable insights into underlying language ideologies. Attitudes towards the English language seem to be particularly conflicted in Japan. However, previous research on how English is used in Japanese music has failed to provide a reliable empirical overview, and has disregarded crucial factors like type of English and whether a song is associated with Japanese animation.This paper quantitatively examines the use of English in Japanese popular music (J-pop) across seven years. The results show that, while most hit songs do include English, they usually just include a few words each, and significantly fewer words when they are associated with animation. Words are less likely to be nativized. In addition, men use significantly more English than women, and the use of English has been increasing over the years. I discuss some potential explanations for the findings from phonological theory, literary stylistics, and research on language ideology and cultural identity. |
