国際児の社会化

言語的社会化と兄弟姉妹差を中心に

抄録

A recent characteristic of “international marriages” in Japan is that more Japanese men marry foreign women than vice versa. As this type of marriage increases, so does the number of children with Japanese fathers and foreign mothers. The purpose of this paper is to examine socialization issues of these international children who have Japanese fathers and foreign mothers.
Within the family, parents are faced with the issue of linguistic socialization as to what language they are to use interacting with the child. Most parents studied wanted their children to be bilingual. This is reflected in the fact that approximately 90% of their children are bilingual of some type. Differences in bilingual ability among siblings and issues related to linguistic socialization are discussed.
Outside the family, when the “international child” reaches school age, the issue of what school he or she is to attend arises. The overwhelming majority of the children studied go to Japanese schools, public and private. The choice is based on economic and practical reasons. At school, many “international children” experienceijime (bullying). Differences among siblings with regard to the effects ofijimeand other issues are examined.
One common feature between children' s bilingual ability andijimeexperiences is that the bilingual ability and the emotional impact ofijimevary among siblings. Implications and suggestions for future studies are also discussed.