There are two distinct styles of predicates in Japanese: the long form and the short form. The former is associated with politeness/formality, while the latter is reserved for more intimate social settings. It is expected that when the relationship of the speakers and the setting remains the same, speakers will use one form. However, studies on native speakers show mixing of the two forms, known as style shifting, occurs even when the factors mentioned earlier remain constant. This study examines short and long form usage and style shifting in conversations between native and non-native speakers. Similar to native speakers, the majority of native/non-native dyads shared a dominant speech style, and all speakers (including the non-native speakers) engaged in style shifting. A closer look at individual conversations showed the non-native speakers' awareness of what forms they were using, and evidence of style shifting serving specific discourse functions.

This innovative and interdisciplinary book on style shifting in Japanese brings together a wide range of perspectives and methodologies—including discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, and functional linguistics—to look at a variety of types of style shifting in both spoken and written Japanese discourse. Though diverse in approach, the contributions all reflect the belief that language use is inextricably linked to both context and language structure in mutually constitutive relationships. Topics covered include shifting between "polite" and "plain" styles, the emergence of a "semi-polite" style, speakers' strategic use of gendered styles or regional dialects, shifting between different deictic expressions, and prosodic shifting. This careful and detailed examination advances our understanding of the complex phenomenon of style shifting not only in Japanese, but also more generally, and will be of interest to researchers and students in fields such as linguistics, linguistic anthropology, communication studies, and second language acquisition and teaching.

This study examines style shift between formal and informal styles in first- encounter conversations between Japanese native speakers and demonstrates how the speakers shifted the speech style in the context. Many researchers have studied this type of style shift and demonstrated that style shifts occur within a single speech context where social factors, such as differences in age, status, and formalness remain constant (e.g., Cook, 2008; Geyer, 2008; Ikuta, 1983; Maynard, 1991; Okamoto, 1999). This study contributed support to these previous studies. In this study, both quantitative and qualitative analyses focusing on Japanese native speakers' use of style shifting in first-encounter conversations were conducted.

This innovative and interdisciplinary book on style shifting in Japanese brings together a wide range of perspectives and methodologies—including discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, and functional linguistics—to look at a variety of types of style shifting in both spoken and written Japanese discourse. Though diverse in approach, the contributions all reflect the belief that language use is inextricably linked to both context and language structure in mutually constitutive relationships. Topics covered include shifting between "polite" and "plain" styles, the emergence of a "semi-polite" style, speakers' strategic use of gendered styles or regional dialects, shifting between different deictic expressions, and prosodic shifting. This careful and detailed examination advances our understanding of the complex phenomenon of style shifting not only in Japanese, but also more generally, and will be of interest to researchers and students in fields such as linguistics, linguistic anthropology, communication studies, and second language acquisition and teaching.

Drawing on the perspective of language socialization and a theory of indexicality, this book examines dinnertime talk in a homestay context and explores ways in which learners of Japanese as a foreign language and their Japanese host families socialize their identities through speech style.