Language Policy in Japan: The Challenge of Change PDF
Preview Language Policy in Japan: The Challenge of Change
LanguagePolicyinJapan TheChallengeofChange Overthelastthirtyyears,twosocialdevelopmentshaveoccurredthathave ledtoaneedforchangeinlanguagepolicyinJapan.Oneistheincreasein thenumberofmigrantsneedingopportunitiestolearnJapaneseasasecond language, the other is the influence of electronic technologies on the way Japaneseiswritten.Thisbooklooksattheimpactofthesedevelopmentson linguistic behaviour and language management and policy, and at the role of language ideology in the way they have been addressed. Immigration- induced demographic changes confront long-cherished notions of national monolingualism, and technological advances in electronic text production haveledtotextualpracticeswithramificationsforscriptuseandforliteracy ingeneral.Thebookwillbewelcomedbyresearchersandprofessionalsin languagepolicyandmanagement,andbythoseworkinginJapaneseStudies. nanettegottliebisProfessorofJapaneseStudiesintheJapanProgramof theSchoolofLanguagesandComparativeCulturalStudiesattheUniversity ofQueensland.Shehaspublishedwidelyininternationaljournalsintheareas oflanguagemodernisation,scriptreform,scriptpolicyandtheimpactofword processingtechnologyinJapan.HerrecentpublicationsincludeLanguageand SocietyinJapan(Cambridge,2005)andLinguisticStereotypingandMinority GroupsinJapan(2006). Language Policy in Japan The Challenge of Change NanetteGottlieb TheUniversityofQueensland cambridgeuniversitypress Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown, Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity CambridgeUniversityPress TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107007161 (cid:2)c NanetteGottlieb2012 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2012 PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata Gottlieb,Nanette,1948– LanguagepolicyinJapan:thechallengeofchange/NanetteGottlieb. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-1-107-00716-1(hardback) 1.Secondlanguageacquisition–Japan. 2.Linguistics–Studyandteaching–Japan. 3.Languageandculture–Japan. 4.Citizenship–Japan. 5.Japan–Languages. 6.Languagepolicy–Japan. 7.Japaneselanguage–Politicalaspects. I.Title. P57.J3L37 2012 306.44(cid:3)952–dc23 2011033047 ISBN978-1-107-00716-1Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Idedicatethisbook to thememory ofmy dearfriend, KobayashiYo¯ko. (cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:2)(cid:4)(cid:5) Contents Preface pageix Acknowledgments xiv 1 Languageideology,planningandpolicy 1 2 Thelanguageneedsofimmigrants 33 3 ForeignlanguagesotherthanEnglishineducationand thecommunity 64 4 Technologyandlanguagepolicychange 98 5 Nationallanguagepolicyandaninternationalising community 123 Conclusion 161 Notestothetext 167 References 180 Index 205 vii Preface ThisbookexaminestwolanguageissuesinJapantodaywhichhavearisenfrom significantdevelopmentsinthesocialenvironmentoverthelastthreedecades andhavepointedtoaneedforachangeinlanguagepolicy.Oneistheincrease inthenumberofmigrantsneedingopportunitiestolearnJapaneseasasecond language(JSL),theotheristheinfluenceofelectronictechnologiesontheway Japaneseiswritten.Immigration-induceddemographicchangesconfrontlong- cherishednotionsofnationalmonolingualism,andtechnologicaladvancesin electronic text production have led to textual practices with ramifications for script use and for literacy in general. My central concern is to show whether and how language policy authorities in Japan are moving to accommodate thesesocialandculturalchanges.Boththeintegrationofimmigrantsandnew practices affecting literacy are important to the social fabric; it is essential, therefore, that expectations about language in these areas are clear and that policy addresses the realities of the present rather than harking back to an earliersocialcontext. Inoneofthesetwoareas,anationalpolicyalreadyexists;intheother,itdoes not.Inoneoftheseareas,thenationalpolicyhasbeenrevisedtoacknowledge change;intheother,nonational-levelpolicyhasyetbeendeveloped.Inthearea ofkanjipolicy,deeplyrootedinJapaneselanguageideologyandimportantto ethnicmainstreamJapanesecitizensasitis,thewidespreaduptakeofelectronic text production has been viewed as necessitating a revision of the List of CharactersforGeneralUse,whichhasjustbeenexpandedtoacknowledgethat largernumbersofkanjiarenowroutinelyusedthanwasthecasewhenwriting by hand alone. In the second, more contentious area, that of providing JSL instructionformigrantstoJapanatanationalratherthanlocallevel,nopolicy currently exists, in large part because such a move goes against deep-seated nationallanguageideologiesofmonoethnicityandmonolingualism.Itisonly veryrecentlythatthenationalgovernment–incontrasttolocalgovernments, which have been active in this area for years – has begun to make sporadic provision for language training in certain clearly defined areas relating to employment. ix
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