Many Japanese learners use dictionary applications and internet-based dictionaries on their smartphones, tablets, and personal computers. In this study, we asked 110 learners of Japanese from various regions of the world to record the vocabulary searches on their devices in their daily lives. The recordings were analyzed in terms of input language, input method, resources used for search, search process, and success or failure of search behavior. We found that Japanese language learners ingeniously search for vocabulary by combining and applying their previously learned knowledge. However, it became clear that there are many situations in which learners take a long time to search or are unable to find the information they want due to errors in their Japanese or in their search methods. The environment of vocabulary search for learners of Japanese is undergoing dramatic change due to ever-evolving technology. We would like to explore the possibility of new support for vocabulary search behavior based on the accumulation of analysis of individual cases like those seen in this study.

This study explores the relationship between Japanese transgender people’s (especially transgender women) gender identities and their linguistic practices. This study rejects the essentialist view of gender and suggests the validity of a poststructuralist view of gender as a social construct through transgender people’s own words. It explores how transgender people’s fluid self-embodiment and a self-construction of identity can be observed through their performative linguistic experiences.

In this paper, we investigate the structure of the “connection between gender, dignity and grace” presented in Sadanobu (2011) and the “neutralization of gender differences by power” observed in Jin (2016). Using politeness theory as the main theoretical framework, the neutralization of gender difference by power is explained from the “principle of face risk consideration.” We also set out the “principle of grace preservation in female speech,” and argue that this has the effect of undermining the power of female speech.

Recently, against the backdrop of various social incidents, studies in language education in North America have paid increased attention to social justice, especially to issues of race. Based upon the conceptual frameworks of race and racism, this paper focuses on the intersectionality of race and language in Japan. Looking at the content of recently published fiction novels, it examines how the intersectionality of race and other individual attributes of Japanese language users of non-Japanese heritage affects lived experiences. The analysis revealed that the varied experiences of the characters in the novels are shaped by raciolinguistic ideologies and stereotyping, as well as the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status, which positions them within a hierarchy of power. Even though they share the same background as being Japanese language users of non-Japanese origin, the experiences they encounter are vastly different. In particular, invisibly privileged whiteness and Japaneseness function as ideologies that, coupled with intersectionality, construct complex power relations between these characters and Japanese people. Language education needs to promote anti-racism, anti-discrimination, and anti-normativity that affirm individual human dignity.

This paper analyzes the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, from the perspective of a “language war” within an intermedia society. The term “intermedia” refers to a comprehensive media environment in which diverse media intervene with each other in a multilayered manner. The term “language war” refers to the manner in which the struggle for supremacy (war) is generated and determined by “language” in a broad sense, or rather, by “descriptions of situations”.

Can people in today’s world hear the voice of God? If they can, how is it possible? Focusing on the Catholic Church in Japan, this study attempts to answer these questions. In the Old Testament and in modern novels, scenes in which God and humans exchange words have been repeatedly depicted. However, according to the Bible, official documents of the Catholic Church, and writings of Catholic priests, people living today cannot hear God’s voice as physical sounds. The Church considers the Bible to be written by the Holy Spirit, and when it is read at Mass it is considered to be the living God speaking directly to the congregation. The Church and priests endeavour to help believers understand the Bible, especially the Gospels and one way priests do this is by delivering sermons. In addition to sermons, priests carry out roles such as the undertaking of consecration at Mass and the sacrament of forgiveness. All of these are seen as actions which play the role of mediating communication between God and laymen. This study suggests that because of these factors, priests need to be aware of their authority.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the history and contemporary changes in Fiji (an) Sign Language (FJSL) from the perspective of “governmentality”, and to identify how/what languages and subjects are formed in the action of various powers. “Government” can be defined as something that “conducts the conduct” of people and acts as a power that shapes specific knowledge, subjects, and objects. From the perspective of governmentality, an overview of the history of sign languages and the deaf community in Fiji shows that various people, institutions and discourses have been involved in the formation of these languages and community, and that they have dynamically changed over time. In recent years, young deaf people who have traveled abroad have taken initiatives to make FJSL an official language, which have resulted in the monolingualization of FJSL and its joining with national ideology, mainly in the public sphere. This paper uses ethnographic data to examine the changes that are occurring under the influence of various governmental powers.

This paper clarifies the effect hearers have on friendship building when they change the intimacy expression of their utterances in a dynamically symmetrical/asymmetrical manner with the speaker’s expressions during first meeting conversations. Hearers’ utterances were classified into the following types of responses: “responsive interjections,” “lexical reactive expressions,” “assessments,” “repetitions,” and “completions.” Changes in intimacy were evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively in terms of hearers’ and speakers’ speech levels. We analyzed twelve recorded 10-minute dyadic conversations between eight women aged 70 years or older who had never met before. The results showed that: (1) speaker’s utterances tended to be based on polite form, while hearer’s utterances tended to be based on normal form; (2) hearer’s lexical reactive expressions that appear at the end of the narrative tended to be polite forms; (3) hearers may intentionally deviate from the sociality that constrains the first meeting and downshift the speech level to normal; and (4) during a speaker’s speech, the hearer may dynamically upshift or downshift the speech level of a “responsive interjection.” These results suggest by dynamically changing their intimacy expressions, hearers adjust emotional distance to become closer in first meetings.

Language impairment is not the responsibility of individuals, but also of the society that takes existing language operations for granted. Taking such understanding into consideration, this paper describes and attempts to visualize the difficulties that are found in the language lives of people who are deaf and hard of hearing. In this study, linguistic phenomena derived from fieldnotes obtained from real life situations were analyzed from the perspective of the “modality” and “quality” of language. The results showed that in the lives of deaf and hard of hearing people, sound and voice communication may be disadvantageous, but counter strategies exist. In addition, current Japanese language, which is based on the assumption that people can hear, has factors that make it difficult for people who cannot hear to use. These factors were summarized. Finally, from the viewpoint of the social model of language phenomena, the importance of conceptualizing Japanese language so that it is easy to understand for the deaf and hard of hearing was discussed.

This study aims to clarify how power is exercised in discourse by utilizing concepts of critical discourse studies. Exercising power in discourse is enabled through ideology, which makes an act of coercion to others “commonsensical,” creating consent and tacit approval. This analysis of cosmetic brand advertisements found that ideologies regarding the importance of skincare and the gender ideology that women should seek outer beauty, are taken for granted. In addition, brands were seen to present an image supporting the reader of the advertisement and demonstrating scientific research which provides a sense of security. Such ideologies and images, matched with the factor of consumerism, can be interpreted as being useful in exercising power through consent. This study revealed one aspect of how image advertisements connotatively create ideological power in discourse.

This paper presents a case study investigating the relationship between language and cultural identity of children with Ukrainian roots raised in Japan. It focuses on the interplay of language and problems Ukrainian youth (2 males and 2 females) face in maintaining their home culture while embracing their host culture, and how these problems shape their sense of self and the formation of their cultural identity. The study explores the relationship between the participants’ identities, language use and relations of power deployed particularly in a Japanese school environment, and demonstrates how knowledge of the language of the Japanese majority empowers Ukrainian minority children to become members of Japanese society. In addition, the study documents the experience of these Ukrainian youth who switched their language use at home after moving to Japan, illustrating how ethnic identity is constructed through language use within the family.

In this paper, I explore the issue of mobility and identity by analyzing the narratives of a second-generation immigrant. The concept of chronotope is applied in order to conceptualize space, time, and personhood as interrelated within narratives. I clarify the process in which the narrator gives meaning to his experience and constructs/presents his identity. This analysis demonstrates the effectiveness of the concept of chronotope when analyzing narratives and sheds light on some problematic aspects of contemporary multiculturalism.

This study is a case study on the mobility and language of Koreans in Dalian, China. It is well-known that Koreans in China are bilingual in Chinese and Korean and have active mobility. However, almost no sociolinguistic studies have clarified the dynamics between these features. This paper explores the dynamics between the mobility and language of Koreans in Dalian, an area which has recently become their home. Based on the current social situation and research trends, an online interview survey was carried out. The results confirmed mobility over generations and flexible language attitudes that integrate tools and symbols, and that both of these influence each other.

This paper examined how Japanese parents use enactment toward their 0–4-year-old children in the context of joint picture book reading. The use of enactments/utterances and dialogues created for emulating a fictional character has not been sufficiently studied in the context of parent-child joint picture book reading. In this study Japanese parent–child dyads (children’s age=0;2–4;11, n=105) were video-recorded while the parents read a picture book to their children in Japanese. The results showed that enactments can be further divided into three categories, namely action, sensation, and conversation, each of which is employed differently and tailored to the child’s age. Furthermore, the parents of pre-verbal children were found to immerse their children in rich enactment, whereas the parents of older children tended to scale back the use of enactments as their children matured. Based on the content of the enactments, in conjunction with the quantitative results, this study suggests that the use of enactments during shared book reading by Japanese parents may be a form of scaffolding for the formation of empathy and the acquisition of social routines that begin in infancy and end when children are about four years old.

Research on daycare centers in Japan has found that daycare teachers aim to encourage empathy in children and that teachers intervene in conflicts between children more frequently than in the past. This paper provides a multimodal conversation analysis of interaction between teachers and two/three-year-old children in a daycare center in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. It compares two cases of intervention and illustrates important differences in what the teachers are doing through their utterances and bodily resources when they intervene in a conflict between children during play time. Examining their utterances and bodily resources, it also attempts to describe how the teachers orient differently to the socialization of morality. The paper showed that one of the teachers completed her intervention successfully, thereby achieving the socialization of morality in situ, when she treated children as agents who are morally responsible for their own actions, and when she made use of her design of utterances, gaze, and body positioning.

Many studies have been conducted on compliment behavior from various perspectives. However, there is no research investigating the response of the speaker after an initial compliment has been rejected. In this study, I analyzed spontaneous compliment discourse using the methodology of conversation analysis and found that after an initial compliment was rejected, the speaker did not simply re-compliment, but rather used strategies such as “confirmation of compliment target” or “addition of compliment evidence.” Furthermore, this study utilized the concept of “face” to clarify what kind of action the speaker is trying to accomplish via such a response. The results revealed that when the compliment was rejected, the speaker’s response was related to the “face” of both the speaker and the recipient, and the dilemma may arise as to whether to continue with the compliment or not. In such situations, the speaker was seen to cope with the dilemma by using one of the two strategies, that is, “confirmation of compliment target” or “addition of compliment evidence,” showing consideration of the “face” of both the speaker and the recipient.

In question-answer sequences of multi-party conversations in Japanese, the answerer often solicits a third party’s intervention. A third-party participant is someone who is present during the conversation but has not been selected as the next speaker by the questioner. This paper describes third-party participant intervention methods in question-answer sequences, using videotaped group discussions between Japanese and international university students. Question-answer sequences that began with questions about a country’s situation were collected for the research. Careful analysis revealed that while an answerer produces their answer, they seek a third-party’s intervention in the middle of the turn construction, using resources like gaze shift, distributed knowledge among participants, and the projectability of a turn construction unit. As a result, three types of third-party participant interventions were observed: a mere approval of an answer being produced, a continuation of a syntactic unit begun by the answerer, and the production of an independent answer. Furthermore, by soliciting a third-party intervention, answerers were seen to produce a collective-level answer on a country’s situation, which demonstrated shared knowledge among participants. Interculturality was observed to be locally achieved in the sequences.