Linguistic diversity is part of the heritage of Japan: an archipelago of over 3,000 islands from the 'new territories' of Hokkaido in the north to the southern Ryukyu islands. This book presents a new outlook on the language situation in Japan. It provides a sociolinguistic profile of the language situation of the older mother tongues such as Ryukyuan and Ainu, community languages such as Korean, English and Chinese and presents issues such as bilingual families and 'returnee' language maintenance. The book rejects the oft-repeated stereotyping of Japan as a 'linguistically homogeneous nation with a difficult language' particularly in the English-language literature and challenges the post-Meiji period endeavour to establish Japanese 'identity' in terms of monolingual integrity. Through the perspective of these studies, Japan may be viewed as being multilingual and as linguistically complex as many other regions of the world.
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Channel View Publications Ltd
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Für Beruf und Forschung
Maße
Höhe: 210 mm
Breite: 148 mm
Dicke: 15 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-85359-287-4 (9781853592874)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
John C. Maher is Associate Professor at the International Christian University, Tokyo. His publications include 60 entries in the International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (Pergamon-Elsevier, 1994), Bilingualism in Japan with K. Yashiro (Kenkyusha, 1991), English as an International Language of Medical Communication (University of Michigan Press, 1992), Towards a New Order: Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Japan with N. Honna (Kokusai Shoin, 1993) and Linguistic Theory in Language Teaching (Bonjinsha, 1993). His research interests include multilingualism in Japan, Ainu, language and psychoanalysis. Kyoko Yashiro is Associate Professor at Reitaku University, Japan and Vice-Chairperson of the SIETAR Japan (Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research). Her interests are Intercultural Education, Bilingualism and Biculturalism and Applied Linguistics. Her publications include Team Teaching in English Classrooms (Kairyudo, 1990), Bilingualism in Japan with J. Maher (Kenkyusha, 1991) and Study Hardback Abroad (Kenkyusha, 1993).
John C. Maher and Kyoko Yashiro: Multilingual Japan: An Introduction
Akiko Matsumori: Ryukyuan: Past, Present and Future
Nobuyuki Honna: English in Japanese Society: Language within Language
Masayo Yamamoto: Bilingualism in International Families
John C. Maher and Yumiko Kawanishi: On Being There: Korean in Japan
Joseph DeChicchis: The Current State of the Ainu Language
John C. Maher: The Kakyo: Chinese in Japan
Kyoko Yashiro: Japan's Returnees
