‘If we say English, that means America’: Japanese students’ perceptions of varieties of English

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a survey of 101 Japanese university students’ perceptions of different varieties of English using an open-ended questionnaire. Participants indicated their first impressions of varieties of English that they had named. This methodology allows participants themselves to provide the specific varieties as well as the evaluative categories and avoids problems associated with using voice stimuli while capturing the stereotypes of the countries they name, a method of research well-established in perceptual dialectology. There were consistent patterns of evaluation of Englishes not found in similar research such as characterisations of US English as authentic, the default variety, a familiar or easy variety. Typically, when evaluating varieties of English, respondents attribute higher status to UK English than US English. Capturing the attitudes of non-native speakers to varieties of English provides understanding of the influences on the shape of English as a global language as attitudes are known to be a powerful influence on the usage and perceptions of language varieties.

Keywords:

• attitudes
• English
• language attitudes
• language awareness
• language ideology
• perceptions

Acknowledgements

The research for this paper was part of a larger project on Language and Global Communication, funded by The Leverhulme Trust (Grant No. FIOO 407/D) conducted at the Centre for Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University. Thanks to Hiroshi Ota for assistance with data collection and Kazuhiko Namba for data translation from Japanese, Angie Williams and Peter Garrett for their part in research design and data collection, and to the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful feedback.

Notes

1. We use the term ‘variety’ here very broadly to refer to language variation at all linguistic levels.

2. It is acknowledged that this convenience sample of a student population may not reflect attitudes of the general population. The research for this paper was collected in 2002 as part of a larger project on Language and Global Communication at the Centre for Language and Communication Research, Cardiff University.

3. After careful consideration of the contexts, ‘kirei’ is translated as ‘beautiful’ here. Another expression ‘hakkitishita’ is translated as ‘clear’ and attributed to the Superiority category as it refers to speaking competence rather than aesthetic quality.

4. While kokusaika refers to scholarly discourse about the need to compete globally and is often linked to the need to maintain national identity (‘nihonjinron’), it seems unlikely that the lay population who use the term are aware of the aspect of ‘nihonjinron’ associated with kokusaika. Space prohibits a wider discussion of kokusaika; for more, see Goodman (2007), Kubota (1998), and Ike (1995).