Register Analysis on High School Students’ Language in Japanese Manga and Anime

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the use of registers in the language of high school students in Japan based on three elements of situation, namely: field; tenor; and mode. This descriptive qualitative study used daily conversations of high school students taken from the first 10 episodes of anime and manga titled Haikyuu season 1 as the research data. This study used Halliday's (1989) theory about register as a framework. The results showed that there were 35 data indicating registers. The use of registers which were influenced by the field factor showed the speaker's feelings and indicated the place while the use of registers against the interlocutors were found in tenor, such as in situations of apologizing, thanking, or calling the other person. Later, registers that depended on the way of which the speakers speak were found in mode. These findings demonstrated that the use of registers in the community of high school students in Japan were strongly influenced by who they were talking to. However, the use of registers was not limited to members of the community.