Abstract

This thesis will investigate the Japanese first-person that a character in the manga, 『放浪息子』Wandering Son, uses. In understanding the pragmatic use of Japanese first-person pronouns, the metapragmatic function of first-person pronouns can be documented. As the source material thesis is a manga, the fact that the first-person pronouns that are used by characters are the writer’s interpretations of reality, and therefore not reality itself. In conclusion, the gender identity of the main character investigated is found to have used the traditionally masculine first-person pronoun, 僕・boku as both a young boy and then later as how a young, modern woman.

Keywords: Gender, Japanese Language, First-person Pronoun, Pragmatics, Metapragmatics