JAPANESE LINGUISTICS

In this course students are familiarized about the linguistic diversity in contemporary Japan, and learn what this diversity implies for speakers. Language is a tool (a) to communicate, (b) to do things and (c) to be someone. Diversity and variation in language has profound effects on these three issues. Success interaction in Japanese society requires insights into these issues. This course an important companion to Japanese language education, because speaking Japanese in real-life contexts requires meta-knowledge on language and society.

Students learn to distinguish between the main levels of linguistic description (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics), and they learn to conduct basic analytic steps on these levels for the Japanese language. They learn that language is system of symbolic conventions, that interaction is symbolic, and that symbolic interaction also includes processes of symbolic domination and violence. Language diversity and variation are intricately linked to these phenomena.

Students taking part this course must have at least intermediate proficiency in Japanese and must actively participate in classroom discussions and group work.

Part I: Symbolic representations
(1) Variation and orders of indexicality
(2) Speaking, texting, writing
(3) Phonetics and phonology
(4) Morphosyntax
(5) Semantics

Part II: Symbolic interaction
(6) Construction of social hierarchies via language
(7) Language, sex and gender
(8) Linguistic landscape and economy
(9) Language accommodation and foreigner talk
(10) Language, identity and transgressions

Part III: Symbolic domination
(11) Elite and folk bilingualism
(12) Legitimate speech, hypercorrection and silence
(13) Dialect vitality, complex and leveling
(14) Language shift and language revitalization
(15) Linguistic discrimination and language rights

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Backhaus, Peter (2007) Linguistic Landscapes. A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Gottlieb, Nanette (2012) Language and Citizenship in Japan. London: Routledge.
Heinrich, Patrick (2012) The Making of Monolingual Japan. Language Ideology and Japanese Modernity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Heinrich, Patrick & Christian Galan (eds) (2011) Language Life in Japan. Transformation and Prospects. London: Routledge.
Heinrich, Patrick & Yumiko Ohara (eds) (2018) The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Sociolinguistics. London: Routledge.
Inoue, Miyako (2006) Vicarious Language. Gender and Linguistic Modernity in Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Kanno, Yasuko (2008) Language and Education. Unequal Access to Bilingualism. Basingstoke: Plagrave Macmillan.
Nakane, Ikuko, Emi Otsuji and Willaim S. Armour (2015) Languages and Identities in a Transitional Japan. London: Routledge.
Okamoto, Shigeko & Janet S. Shibamoto-Smith (2016) The Social Life of Japanese Language. Cultural Discourses and Situated Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wetzel, Patricia (2004) Keigo in Modern Japan. Polite Language from Meiji to Present. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Each lesson lesson starts with a brief revision of the lesson of the last week. The contents of the individual lessons are built on one another, that is to say, the learned content must be applied and transferred to the next sessions. There is sufficient time for discussion in the classroom to make ensure that the content is understood by all.

There are lectures of 45-60 minutes each week, followed by group work of linguistic analysis and discussion. Students have at times to read a text before the lesson.

Italian

I expect students to be intellectually alert, critical and motivated. Since everybody in this course speaks Japanese, everyone should have something to say. In the course of this class you will learn to express and account for your own linguistic experiences and knowledge in scholarly terms.

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This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development