The Idea of English in Japan

Ideology and the Evolution of a Global Language
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-1-84769-202-3
Verlag: Multilingual Matters Limited

Buch, Englisch, 208 Seiten, Format (B × H): 149 mm x 210 mm, Gewicht: 395 g

This book examines the ways in which English is conceptualised as a global language in Japan, and considers how the resultant language ideologies – drawn in part from universal discourses; in part from context-specific trends in social history – inform the relationships that people in Japan have towards the language. The book analyses the specific nature of the language’s symbolic meaning in Japan, and how this meaning is expressed and negotiated in society. It also discusses how the ideologies of English that exist in Japan might have implications for the more general concept of ‘English as a global language’. To this end it considers the question of what constitutes a ‘global’ language, and how, if at all, a balance can be struck between the universal and the historically-contingent when it comes to formulating a theory of English within the world.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Seargeant, Philip

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Soziolinguistik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

List of Figures

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: The Concept of English as a Global Language

Chapter 3: Language Ideology and Global English

Chapter 4: English in Japan: The Current Shape of the Debate

Chapter 5: Globalisation – ‘Enriching Japanese Culture Through Contact with Other Cultures’

Chapter 6: Authenticity – ‘More English than England Itself’

Chapter 7: Aspiration – ‘Enhancing Lifestyles and Living out Dreams’

Chapter 8: The Unknown Language

Chapter 9: Rival Ideologies in Applied Linguistics

References

Über Autor(innen)

Seargeant, Philip
Philip Seargeant is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the Open University, UK, where he teaches and researches language and communication. He is the author of The Art of Political Storytelling (2020, Bloomsbury) and has published widely on topics ranging from World Englishes, language and social media, to language and creativity. He is a frequent contributor to publications including Wired, The New European, Prospect, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post and The Independent.

Philip Seargeant is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics in the Centre for Language and Communication, The Open University. He is author of The Idea of English in Japan (Multilingual Matters, 2009) and Exploring World Englishes (Routledge), and editor of English in Japan in the Era of Globalization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and English in the World: History, Diversity, Change (Routledge, 2012, with Joan Swann).