The Depiction of Female Kyoto Dialect Speaker in Japanese Fiction (Kyoto Dialect Fictional Speaker’s Stereotype in Japanese Manga, Anime and Video Games)

Authors

  • Hardianto Rahardjo

Abstract

Being the capital city of Japan before being moved to Tokyo (Edo), Kyoto is one of several
prefectures of the Kansai Region, also known as Kinki Region. The Kyoto dialect, a unique and distinctive
regional dialect mainly used in Kyoto region. Often described as a dialect that give an image of “high-class”,
“elegant” and “gentle” for female speaker, this linguistic stereotypes have been utilized by fiction writer
such as the Japanese manga, anime, novel and video games to impose said images based on its stereotypes to
give or strengthen a character’s personality and unique traits. Nevertheless, said stereotyped images applies
only for fictional characters while they are depicted as being in other place or location outside Kyoto, such
as other prefectures in Japan like Tokyo, or even in other world or dimension where Japan does not even
exist. This phenomenon signifies how non-Kyoto people stereotypes Kyoto dialect speakers.

Published

2020-04-30

Issue

Section

Articles