Thesis and Dissertation Writing in a Second Language: a handbook for Supervisors

particle. In the present study, however, I will refer to them as sentence final
particles as they are found most typically at the sentence final position and
behave in the same way as other sentence final particles.
●
Gender: Whereas sex is a biological term which refers to biological differ-
ences between male and female, gender is socially constructed in a given
culture – the division of maleness and femaleness which is expected to
coincide with the biological division. It also refers to psychological
attributes of each division.

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171
●
Femininity: This comprises attributes that society expects women to have
and demonstrate through appearance and behaviour. The term also refers
to ‘the other’ as opposed to the norm, which is represented by masculin-
ity. Lisa Tuttle (1987) explains this as the result of patriarchal tradition.
As society has placed the male at the centre and made women outsiders,
‘femininity is in opposition to whatever is considered to be important
civilisation’. The present study is mainly concerned with the former
aspect. It will, however, refer to the latter where appropriate.
●
Masculinity: This comprises attributes that society expects men to have
and demonstrate through appearance and behaviour. 
Research methodology
1
Analysis of gender differences in created conversations such as those that
appear in fiction, film scripts and drama scripts.
2
Investigation of Japanese people’s overt views towards women’s language
through literature.
3
Analysis of natural conversations. The conversations will be recorded in
Japan, mainly in the Tokyo area, in order to focus on language use in
standard Japanese. As the interest of the study is in the current use of sen-
tence final particles, not traditional or innovative use, the subjects will be
aged between 20 and 40.
Anticipated problems and limitations
There are many variations in both oral and written forms of Japanese lan-
guage according to the region, generation, education and so on. Since it is not
realistic to cover all variations, this study is limited to the language use of
working women and men in Tokyo, whose age is between 20 and 40.
However, other variables such as occupation, position at work, and family
background may affect the data.
Significance of the research
The present study proposes to analyse the use of particles in natural conver-
sations, with the role in the discourse and the context taken into
consideration. Previous studies, regardless of their approach, lack the view-
point of discourse and the context in which each sentence is uttered. A
language form that indicates the speaker’s attitude should not be discussed
only at sentence level. Another problem is the source of the data. In some
studies, the sentences discussed are written by the researchers themselves. In
other words, the researcher’s judgment reflects their stereotype. Other stud-
ies use conversations from works of fiction as the subject of study. Written

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Appendix
conversations will not be dealt with as if they were natural conversations
because there is no real interaction involved and, again, the writer’s stereo-
type plays a big role.
Ethical considerations
As recordings of natural conversations will be involved, informed consent
needs to be obtained. Both oral and written explanation of the study will be
given to the informants before the recording. A written form will be signed
by the informant to allow the researcher to use the data.