This collaborative research project is an examination of how minoritized languages, including dialects and other nonstandard language varieties, find use in various forms of popular and consumer media, and what this means for their perception and conservation in everyday life. In Japan, regional dialects experienced a surge in awareness in the 1980s after nearly a century of active suppression. This shift in public opinion was observable in many places, including on mainstream television shows and advertisements. Linguistic homogenization efforts that are then followed by renewed interest in nonstandard forms of the language are not unique to Japan, and indeed, the United Kingdom and Germany, among many other nations, have seen similar efforts.
With such commonalities across international borders in the background, this project takes a joint qualitative and quantitative approach that draws on theory from dialect studies, media studies, sociolinguistics, tourism studies, and other related fields, as well as the digital resources available in the Tohoku University Digital Archive, in order to examine the use of minoritized linguistic varieties, including dialects, as a thing for consumption. What does it mean for a minoritized language to serve as a selling point for a particular television show? Does the use of minoritized languages on regional souvenirs increase their marketability, and how are they perceived by users of those languages? Moreover, where in daily life do we see minoritized language usage, and where is it noticeably absent? With Tohoku as its nexus, this project will examine such questions with both local and international examples in order to interrogate the boundaries between linguistic commodification, consumption, and conservation, culminating in multiple research symposia and an edited volume.
