Burikko in Taiwanese - A Semantic-Pragmatic Analysis

• Main Authors: Chen, Yinchu, 陳胤竹
• Other Authors: Daniel. Z. Kadar
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/62521475578775122779

碩士 === 亞洲大學 === 外國語文學系碩士班 === 100 === This Master’s degree thesis reports a project dedicated to the exploration of the way in which the linguistic practices of the Japanese burikko phenomenon are adopted in the language used by Taiwanese urban dwellers. Burikko refers to the phenomenon of ‘staged’ and often intentionally overdone feminine behavior in Japan; that is situations in which female behavior – including their language usage – is produced in an overtly feminine way. Due to the popularity of Japanese popular culture in Taiwan, burikko behavior has been adopted by a large number of young Taiwanese, in particular in the larger urban centers. However, so far no study has analyzed this phenomenon and the aim of this paper is to fill this knowledge gap by exploring Taiwanese burikko behavior through semantic (and partly lexical) as well as socio-pragmatic approaches. Apart from contributing to linguistics in a narrow sense, some of the present work's findings are relevant to anthropological inquiries. For instance, it will be shown that in Taiwan, unlike in Japan, the use of burikko behavior is not limited to women and homosexuals, but also to feminine males.