Kiri Lee

Nominative case-marker deletion in spoken Japanese: an analysis from the perspective of information structure

Abstract Usually in Japanese, each NP in an argument position must be accompanied by an appropriate case-marker; however, in spontaneous spoken Japanese, the NPs often appear without case-markers (see e.g., Kuno, Susumu, 1973a. Nihon bunpoo kenkyuu. Taishukan Shoten, Tokyo; Kuno, Susumu, 1973b. The Structure of the Japanese Language. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.; Tsutsui, Michio, 1984. Particle Ellipsis in Japanese. PhD dissertation, University of Illinois; Masunaga, Kiyoko, 1987. Non-thematic Positions and Discourse Anaphora. PhD dissertation, Harvard University; Ono, Tsuyoshi, Thompson, S.A. and Suzuki, R., 2000. Discourse Studies 2, 55–84). This study particularly focuses on the deletion of the nominative case-marker ga from the perspective of information structure. The framework of information structure assumed here is not the binary frameworks such as ‘given/new’, or ‘discourse-old/discourse-new’ (see e.g., Chafe, Wallace, 1976. In: Li, C. (Ed.), Subject and Topic. Academic Press, New York, pp. 25–55, Prince, Ellen, 1981. In: Cole, P. (Ed.), Radical Pragmatics. Academic Press, New York, pp. 223–255; Prince, Ellen, 1992. In: Mann, W.C., Thompson, S.A. (Eds.), Discourse Description: Diverse Linguistic Analysis of a Fund-raising Text. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia, pp. 295–325), but the framework in which degrees of importance are recognized as a continuum (see e.g., Kuno, Susumo, 1982. Journal of Semantics 1, 120–154). It is demonstrated that the binary frameworks cannot distinguish the entire subject NP deletion from just the nominative case-marker deletion. The most relevant notion for the nominative case-marker deletion in Japanese is the notion of ‘Semiactive’ information proposed by Chafe (Chafe, Wallace, 1994. Discourse, Consciousness and Time: The Flow and Displacement of Conscious Experience in Speaking and Writing. Chicago University Press, Chicago). The generalization proposed in the present study is that when the information status of the subject NP is ‘Inactive’, no element can be deleted from the NP- ga ; when it is ‘Semiactive’, ga can be deleted; and when it is predictable, hence ‘Active’, the entire subject NP- ga can be deleted.

Constructing the heritage language learner : knowledge, power, and new subjectivities

Though often treated as an objective category, heritage language learner is a social construct contested by researchers, government officials, school administrators, and students themselves. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at a Japanese language school in the US, the book examines the construction of the heritage language learner, viewing the notion as a site of negotiation regarding the legitimate knowledge of language and ways of belonging.

INHERITING “JAPANESE-NESS” DIVERSELY

The late twentieth century saw a rise of global discourse about heritage. Research on heritage politics, however, has shed little light on heritage practices in schools, especially regarding language, that is, how heritage language is constructed and how it is “inherited” by students of various backgrounds. Heritage language education is often viewed as a means to empower heritage language speakers or to address the diverse needs of students in language classes. In existing works, the individual’s link to “heritage” is assumed as given and stable. More recent works show that the processes and effects of heritage language education are complex and nuanced due to diverse personal backgrounds and changing political economy and cultural politics. The role of schooling in the process of “inheriting” language, however, has not attracted much attention: how students are grouped or tracked into a particular class, for example. After ethnographically investigating various views and practices at a weekend Japanese language school in the northeastern United States throughout 2007 and 2008, the authors of this article argue that heritage language school is not merely a place to reproduce “heritage” by passing it on to students, but it is also a productive site where ways to imagine “heritage” and “inherit” it proliferate. The article analyzes the processes by which what would be considered as merely “speaking Japanese” and “being Japanese” outside heritage language school are differentiated into diverse ways of being Japanese. It suggests a need to investigate school as a site of heritage politics as well as a need for researchers and practitioners to view heritage language education not only as a way to teach language but also as a means to gain an understanding of heritage politics.

‘Drop-outs’ or ‘heritage learners’? Competing mentalities of governmentality and invested meanings at a weekend Japanese language school in the USA

Based on fieldwork at a weekend Japanese language school in the USA in 2007–2009, this article illustrates the ways in which different regimes of government arise from an activity depending on meanings individuals invest in it. We examine how two students in the same classroom experienced two different regimes of government: one of a low-track class for ‘native speakers’ and the other of a heritage language class for bilingual speakers. Building on Mitchell Deans reworking of Foucault, we suggest a new approach to ethnographically studying governmentality which focuses on invested meanings.

Unmarked Plurality and Specificity in Korean and Japanese Plural Nouns: A Preliminary Study

This study examines the plural suffixes of Korean –tul and Japanese –tachi. In the two languages, countable nouns do not have to be obligatorily marked for plurality despite the existence of plural markers. It is well documented that when nouns occur with these plural markers, they not only mark plurality but also denote an added meaning. After careful examination of occurrences/non-occurrences of these suffixes, we challenge previous claims that “Definiteness” is at work in the marked reading, and instead, propose that the marked reading of such nouns are [+specific] for both Korean and Japanese, following the definitions of “Specificity” and “Definiteness” given by Ioni, Ko and Wexler. Furthermore, we claim that the “associative” reading that is only available to Japanese –tachi is responsible for the strong tendency of the Japanese plural suffix to be construed as a marked reading rather than a mere plural reading.

Heritage Language Education Without Inheriting Hegemonic Ideologies: Shifting Perspectives on “Korea” in a Weekend Japanese-Language School in the United States

ABSTRACT Learning a heritage language can be celebrated to enhance marginalized groups’ self-esteem, but a heritage can also encompass ideologies prevalent in the groups’ original homeland. Based on ethnographic fieldwork (2007–2011) at a weekend Japanese-language school in the United States, this article investigates how ideologies on race politics within a heritage language community’s homeland are reproduced or subverted through heritage language education. We analyze treatment of Korea–Japan power relations at school by focusing on the practice of guiding students (not) to shift their perspectives in three cases involving (a) discrimination against Resident Koreans in Japan, (b) gender-specific abortion in South Korea, and (c) South Korea and Japan’s dispute over possession of Tokdo/Takeshima. While social analyses of heritage language education tend to focus on a minority group’s place in mainstream society, this article suggests investigating the reproduction of ideologies from its homeland via heritage language education.

Homeland Education in a New Home

As of July 2014, there were eighty weekend Japanese language schools in the United States. They are called supplementary instruction schools (hoshū jugyō kō), and their main purpose is to serve Japanese children overseas by providing them with instruction in the Japanese language arts.