My name is Wes Robertson, and I’m a senior lecturer in Japanese Studies @ Macquarie University, and chair of the Discipline of Global Cultures & Languages in the School of International Studies. My research applies sociolinguistic perspectives to the study of writing systems, with a focus on Japan. I spend WAY too much time thinking about script use in Japanese.
Check out my work on TikTok or YouTube!
I also have an ethnographic podcast on language use in extreme metal: https://twitter.com/Brutalinguist
Research
My research looks at the sociolinguistic motivations behind styles of variation/play restricted to the written mode, with a particular focus on script use in Japanese. More broadly, I am curious about how different ways of representing written language are involved within the creation of meaning (Silverstein’s “total linguistic fact”), or grow into indexes of stance and/or identity. While generally sociolinguistics has focused on variation inherent to speech (e.g., accent), it is important to remember that some variation is also inherent to writing in ways that have no direct relation to differences that come from speech. For instance, while alternative spellings are often attempts at recreating accent or salient speech styles, font, script, CAPS, etc., are all restricted to writing, and their presence in a text is lost if the text is spoken allowed. By focusing on Japanese writing, where script variation can occur at an incredibly high frequency in almost any written act, I hope to shed light on how differences between our written language practices also become salient social markers of stance and identity.
I am also intrigued by studies regarding any kind of written language play (again, especially when the play cannot be reproduced in speech), the development and reform of writing systems, and how globalized subcultures are affecting translocal language use – especially within the Japanese extreme metal scene.
Books
Robertson, W., & Dahlberg-Dodd, H. (Eds.) (In Progress). Monstrous Language: Othering, Scripted Speech, and (In)humanity. De Gruyter Mouton.
Kruk, J., & Robertson, W. (2025). Peripheral Linguistic Brutality: Metal Language in the Asia Pacific. University of Hawai’i Press.
Robertson, W. (2021). Scripting Japan: Orthography, Variation, and the Creation of Meaning in Written Japanese. Routledge.
Journal Articles & Book Chapters
Robertson, W., & Dahlberg-Dodd, H. (Under Review). The Monsters You Know: Everyday Monstrosity and Linguistic Differentiation in Japanese Manga. In W. Robertson & H. Dahlberg-Dodd (Eds.), Monstrous Language: Othering, Scripted Speech, and (In)humanity. De Gruyter Mouton.
Robertson, W., & Dahlberg-Dodd, H. (Under Review). Introduction. In W. Robertson & H. Dahlberg-Dodd (Eds.), Monstrous Language: Othering, Scripted Speech, and (In)humanity. De Gruyter Mouton.
Robertson, W. (Under Review). [X], the Ancient Japanese Art of [Y]: Linguistic Fantasy in Japanese Focused Self-Help Literature.
Robertson, W. (In Press). Seisa o shimesu honyaku o shiyagatte: The influence of character gender on the translation of vulgarity into Japanese. Gender & Language.
Hiramoto, M., & Robertson, W. (2025). Something’s got to go: Contrasting ideologies of masculinity in discourse around men’s intimate hair removal in Japan. Contrastive Pragmatics. 1-27. *Open Access
Robertson, W. (2025). Orthography, Identity and Ideology: Script Variation as a Social Practice in Japan(ese). In Heinrich, Grosser, & Santalahti (Eds.), Ideologies of Communication in Japan (pp. 99-113). Multilingual Matters.
Robertson, W. (2025). Yokomoji arerugī: Katakana and katakana-go as loci for linguistic ideologies and conflict in contemporary Japan. Japan Forum. *Open Access
Robertson, W., Hambelton, A., & Hiramoto, M. (2024). The beginning of despair: Aggressive Retsuko and the Sanrioization of women’s ‘transgressive rage’. Japan Forum, 36(4), 385-411. *Open Access
Robertson, W. (2024). “Chinese ideographs belong to a childhood age […] but Japan has now become a man”: Graphic ideologies and language reform in The Japan Times. Japan Forum, 36(1), 78-104.
Robertson, W. (2023). Kvetching abovt kvlt: Conflicting social uses of the index ‘kvlt’ in online metal spaces. Metal Music Studies, 9(3), 275 – 291.
Kruk, J., & Robertson. W. (2023). An annotated interview with Beastwars: Language, identity and place in New Zealand metal. Perfect Beat, 22(1), 5-21.
Robertson, W. (2022). Screams of slaughter and samurai: Revisiting Japan’s medieval in contemporary Japanese folk metal. Parergon, 39(1), 79-104.
Robertson, W., & Mihic, T. (2022). Introduction to a special issue on writing-restricted variation in Japanese. Japanese Studies, 42(1), 1-6.
Robertson, W. (2022). ‘Ojisan gokko shiyo! [Let’s pretend to be old men!]’: contested graphic ideologies in Japanese online language play. Japanese Studies, 42(1), 23-42.
Robertson, W. (2021). Register phenomena as international news: Risk, register, and translation in Japanese coverage of the 2020 US Presidential debate. Continuum, 36(3), 448-463.
Birnie-Smith, J. & Robertson, W. (2021). Superdiversity and translocal brutality in Asian extreme metal lyrics. Language & Communication, 81, 48-63.
Robertson, W. (2020). Unspeakable puns: Kanji-dependent wordplay as a localization strategy in Japanese. Perspectives, 28(4), 606–624.
Robertson, W. (2019). Scripted voices: Script’s role in creating Japanese manga dialogue. Journal of Graphic Novels & Comics, 10(1), 87–105.
Robertson, W. (2019). Why can’t I speak in kanji?: Indexing social identities through marked script use in Japanese manga. Discourse, Context & Media, 30, 1–9.
Robertson, W. (2017). He’s more katakana than kanji: Indexing identity and self-presentation through script in Japanese manga. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 21(4), 497–520.
Robertson, W. (2016). Writing another’s tongue: Orthographic representations of non-fluency in Japanese manga. In S. Pasfield-Neofitou & C. Sell (Eds.), Manga Vision: Cultural and Communicative Perspectives (pp. 161–177). Monash University Press.
Robertson, W. (2015). Orthography, foreigners, and fluency: Indexicality and script selection in Japanese manga. Japanese Studies, 35(2), 205–222.
Book Reviews
Review of Di Martino, E. (2023). Indexing ‘Chav’ on Social Media: Transmodal Performances of Working-Class Subcultures. Palgrave Macmillan Press. In Language in Society, 52(4), 726 – 727.
Review of Nornes, M. (2021). Brushed in Light: Calligraphy in East Asian Cinema. University of Michigan Press. In International Journal of Asian Studies, 20(1), 272 – 276.
Completed Supervision
Weitao, W. (2024). Language Ideologies in the Digital Age: Exploring Chinese Online Perceptions of Japanese Language (Masters).
Genner, E. (2023). Examining Second-Generation Japanese-Australians’ Attitudes Toward Their Heritage Language and Culture (Masters).
Black, W. (2022). A Global Princess Sings Local Virtues: How Disney Translates Good Girls to Spanish and Japanese (Masters).
Teaching
Currently I teach into and/or coordinate the following courses at Macquarie University:
JPNS1010 – Introductory Japanese 1
JPNS1020 – Introductory Japanese 2
INTS1002 – Unlearning Culture: Myths, People, and Change
INTS1301 – Technology & Society
In the past, I have taught and/or lectured for the following units:
JPNS3016 – Intercultural Perspectives: Japanese & English
INTS7000 – Critique in Language, Literature and Culture Studies
JPNS3015 – Japanese Contemporary Culture
INTS3030 – Visualizing Cultures
INTS3020 – Language, Literature, Translation: Intercultural Perspectives
INTS2001 – Language in Use
INTS1000 – Language and Communication: Cultural Contexts
Before working at Macquarie University, I coordinated Introductory Japanese 1/2 and Languages in Asia @ LaTrobe University, and taught Introductory Japanese 1/2 and Research Methods in Applied Linguistics @ Monash University. Outside of university teaching, I taught as an ALT for the JET Programme between 2008 and 2011.
Qualifications
PhD – Monash University
Masters – Monash University
Bachelors – Macalester College
JLPT N1 Certified
Advanced HE Fellow (FHEA)
MQ Faculty of Arts Early Career Teacher Award – 2021
Scripting Japan 