Gendered Language Use in the Japanese Game Streaming Community

Abstract: The aim of this study is to examine Japanese gendered language use in online game streaming, and the differences in gendered language use between male and female streamers. The main aim of this thesis is to examine how, and to what extent, young Japanese adults use gendered language when broadcasting gaming streams online. I will examine how pronounced the differences in gendered language use are between male and female streamers, and see if the major theories about gendered language apply in the Japanese streaming community. To collect the data, I looked at 20 game streamers, with each stream lasting 15-30 minutes. I transcribed the streamers’ commentary, and examined the frequency of certain sentence ending particles, personal pronouns, and polite speech/word choice. The streamers were chosen with regards given to certain criteria to prevent skewed results, and to control the independent variables to a certain extent. For example, the streamers must be playing alone to ensure that the streamer is the only person speaking. I analyzed the results using a qualitative method, which indicated that the greater gender differences are found in the use of personal pronouns, but not as much in the use of sentence ending particles or politeness level.