Asano-Cavanagh, Yuko (2017). Kawaii discourse: The semantics of a Japanese cultural keyword and its social elaboration. In Carsten Levisen & Sophia Waters (Eds.), Cultural keywords in discourse (pp. 211-234). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
DOI: 10.1075/pbns.277.09asa
Abstract:
Taking its starting point in the Japanese cultural key word kawaii (roughly, ‘cute’), this chapter explores contemporary Japanese social discourse. Using NSM to explicate kawaii, the two kawaii compounds ita-kawaii and otona-kawaii and the related cultural key words itai and otona, it breaks new ground and increases our understanding of the conceptual basis of kawaii and its elaborations in discourse. A view on Japanese socialization and gendered discourse is simultaneously developed, and the value of ‘being kawaii’ is being scrutinized through the stability and innovations of kawaii in discourse.
Rating:
Research carried out by one or more experienced NSM practitioners
