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Language Socialization in Japanese Communities

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Language Socialization

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

Abstract

This chapter reviews the major research on Japanese language socialization across the lifespan, involving child first-language (L1) speakers and adult second-language (L2) learners. It begins by discussing research in Japanese language socialization starting in the mid-1980s and the early influences on this research from psychology and anthropology, and then discusses major contributions from the 1990s to the present. In relation to L1 socialization, the discussion deals with affect, honorifics and politeness, gender, narrative and literacy, and participation in classroom interaction; in relation to L2 socialization it primarily deals with pragmatic particles, speech styles (honorifics), and identity. The chapter also points out problems and difficulties in conducting Japanese language socialization and offers some solutions. The final section discusses potential directions for future research in this area.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The third party can be co-present participants, those who are not present in the speech context, and/or even society in general (seken).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hawai’i, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Haruko Minegishi Cook

  2. Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Matthew Burdelski

Authors
  1. Haruko Minegishi Cook
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  2. Matthew Burdelski
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Correspondence to Haruko Minegishi Cook .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

    Patricia A. Duff

  2. Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Stephen May

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Cook, H.M., Burdelski, M. (2017). Language Socialization in Japanese Communities. In: Duff, P., May, S. (eds) Language Socialization. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02255-0_22

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