Use of first person pronouns in Japanese: the case of junior and senior high school students in Ishikawa prefecture

First-person pronouns in Japanese represent an often discussed topic, especially in the field of sociolinguistics. A great amount of new papers study in detail language behaviour of specific population groups. However, general understanding of these pronominal forms is still based on stereotypical structures. These structures are not valid for non- representative demographic groups which nonetheless represent a big part of the population. The first part of the thesis introduces the reader into the problematics of first- person pronouns in Japanese and presents the results of previous relevant research. That is to a certain point used to interpret the results of the research presented in the second part. The goal of this thesis is to discover what first-person pronouns students of junior high and senior high schools in Ishikawa prefecture use to refer to themselves in different situations. It is further researched what first-person pronouns are considered by the target group as suitable for men and women of different age groups. These "suitable" expressions for the age group of focus are then compared to the expressions they actually use. Key words Japanese, first-person pronouns, language varieties, Ishikawa prefectur