ISANA

Anita Perkins

Abstract:  The main aim of this paper is to investigate the ways in which language is used in the
discursive construction of national identities. Specifically, the object of analysis is interview
data in which six international students from Germany and Japan enact their early study
abroad experiences to a young (mid-twenties) New Zealand researcher. It has been found that
the students often construct their experience in terms of perceived sociocultural differences
between their “home country”, Japan or Germany, and chosen place of exchange, New
Zealand. The way in which participants of this study position themselves as a member of a
social, cultural, and/or linguistic ‘Other’, or perceived outsider (cf. Bucholtz & Hall, 2005, p.
586) is discursively underscored by the use of “extreme” language. In conversation analysis
this language is referred to as Extreme Case Formulations or ECF’s, expressions such as ‘no
one’, ‘never’, ‘absolutely’, which are used to justify or defend a position (see Pomerantz,
1986; Edwards, 2000). Although there exists a wide range of scholarship on linguistic
constructions of national identity (e.g. Miller 2000; Yamaguchi 2004), it is the author’s
contention that few (if any) studies have specifically addressed the current research context,
viz. comparing the perceptions of Japanese and German students who are studying in New
Zealand, while employing a combination of conversation analysis and other discourse
analytic techniques in the analysis of data.

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