UCLA

This paper employs the theoretical framework of language ideologies to dialect variation in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. Based on pilot ethnography in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, this paper considers discourses of language endangerment and language shift in view of the distribution of symbolic capital and material capital, as well as local metalinguistic awareness. Covert prestige and overt prestige are theorized in terms of register and semiotic capital. Shame and stigma as tied to local language varieties are analyzed, and metalinguistic practices of dialect activism are discussed in terms of their role in language valorization and revalorization.