The use of Yakuwarigo in English-Japanese translations of media texts

Abstract

This research focuses on the use of yakuwarigo in interview articles translated from English to Japanese. Yakuwarigo is translated literary as role language in English. By using yakuwarigo, it connotates speakers’ characteristics such as age, gender and profession. Yakuwarigo is often seen in Japanese fiction, however, it is also used in translated texts. This research analyzes how and to whom yakuwarigo is employed in Japanese translation and how it reflects various stereotypes, focusing on the use of pronouns and expressions which are seen at the end of a sentence.

A total 113 articles that are translated from English to Japanese are collected from 1 October 2021 to 31 December 2021 for the analysis. The articles are classified as whether they employ a polite style or employ gendered pronouns and expressions which are seen at the end of a sentence. To answer the research questions, the metadata of interview articles is analyzed. In addition, this research draws on the methods employed by Ōta (2009), who analyzed yakuwarigo use in sports broadcasting. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is also employed for the part of the analysis.

The results suggest that the interviewee’s age, gender, and the topics of the interview could affect the use of yakuwarigo. It also shows how the use of yakuwarigo in translation imposes certain stereotypes by using pronouns and expressions which are seen at the end of a sentence. Furthermore, this research reveals that translations that employ sentence final expressions tend to be gender binary. Considering these analyses, this research suggests more inclusive language use in the translated interview articles by employing a gender neutral pronoun and a style of polite speech.