The different aspects to learning the Japanese language vary in difficulty, with the syllabaries ... more The different aspects to learning the Japanese language vary in difficulty, with the syllabaries that form part of the Japanese writing system and pronunciation being seen as relatively straightforward elements. Learning Japanese grammar is also considered to be relatively straightforward, but learning the logographic Chinese characters is considered very difficult. Foreign people living in Japan may struggle with these different aspects of learning the Japanese language and, without at least a basic understanding of the Japanese language, will likely find life challenging. Professor Isao Iori, Center for Global Education and Exchange, Hitotsubashi University, Japan, is heading up a project to help long-term foreign residents (LFR) learn Japanese and adequately function in Japanese society. The project covers Japanese language education for children of LFRs and deaf children. A key concept for Iori and the team is Yasashii Nihongo, which refers to easy or plain Japanese and is desig...
In this paper, I closely investigated the teiru and teita forms in Japanese and showed how they c... more In this paper, I closely investigated the teiru and teita forms in Japanese and showed how they can express the subjunctive mood (counterfactual meaning). The investigation shows that the two forms can express the subjunctive mood only when accompanied by a conditional subordinate clause, sharply contrasting them with their English counterparts.
In this paper, I discuss some characteristics of Japanese nouns. First, I point out some syntacti... more In this paper, I discuss some characteristics of Japanese nouns. First, I point out some syntactic phenomena concerning nouns. Second, I insist that they can be explained only by classifying nouns into two types according to the “argument” of nouns. Third, I show how nouns are classified into these two types: 1-place nouns, which take an argument syntactically obligatorily, and 0-place nouns, which take no argument obligatorily. Fourth, I present the argument structure for both noun types. Fifth, I explain the aforementioned phenomena in terms of their argument structure. Sixth and finally, I comment on textual functions of nouns and show that nouns have a potential to create a complete text.
The “wall at the age of nine” is used to refer to the difficulty teaching deaf children Japanese ... more The “wall at the age of nine” is used to refer to the difficulty teaching deaf children Japanese case particles. As existing research has focused on verbs with which subjects and objects are symmetrical or interchangeable, it is difficult to grasp whether the children failed to understand the underlying deep cases or the surface cases (i.e., surface forms or case particles). In this study, we therefore conducted a test asking deaf children to choose the illustration that matched the sentence shown to them in their first language: Japanese Sign Language (JSL). The participants were deaf children aged 6 to 15 from Grade 1 of a deaf Elementary School to Grade 3 of Junior High School in Tokyo. The results show that until Elementary School Grades 3 and 4 (children aged 9‒10), their encyclopedic knowledge and recognition of deep cases were not clearly separate, while older children became able to distinguish between the two. We concluded that deaf children have a fair understanding of dee...
There are about 2. 1 million foreign residents in Japan, comprising 1.8 % of the Japanese populat... more There are about 2. 1 million foreign residents in Japan, comprising 1.8 % of the Japanese population, and they are growing in number. With the country suffering the dual effects of low birth rate and high longevity, it seems incumbent on Japan to encourage immigration; however, the Japanese government has never officially adopted this position. Accordingly, the topic of how to guarantee human rights to the increasing number of foreign residents is gaining importance, in anticipation of immigrants playing a more prominent role in Japanese society in the near future. I am leading our research group in the challenge to address this issue from a linguistic viewpoint, in which yasashii nihongo is a key concept. In this paper, I will provide a detailed introduction to yasashii nihongo, an indispensable concept for Japan to grasp in order to become a sustainable multicultural society.
The different aspects to learning the Japanese language vary in difficulty, with the syllabaries ... more The different aspects to learning the Japanese language vary in difficulty, with the syllabaries that form part of the Japanese writing system and pronunciation being seen as relatively straightforward elements. Learning Japanese grammar is also considered to be relatively straightforward, but learning the logographic Chinese characters is considered very difficult. Foreign people living in Japan may struggle with these different aspects of learning the Japanese language and, without at least a basic understanding of the Japanese language, will likely find life challenging. Professor Isao Iori, Center for Global Education and Exchange, Hitotsubashi University, Japan, is heading up a project to help long-term foreign residents (LFR) learn Japanese and adequately function in Japanese society. The project covers Japanese language education for children of LFRs and deaf children. A key concept for Iori and the team is Yasashii Nihongo, which refers to easy or plain Japanese and is desig...
In this paper, I closely investigated the teiru and teita forms in Japanese and showed how they c... more In this paper, I closely investigated the teiru and teita forms in Japanese and showed how they can express the subjunctive mood (counterfactual meaning). The investigation shows that the two forms can express the subjunctive mood only when accompanied by a conditional subordinate clause, sharply contrasting them with their English counterparts.
In this paper, I discuss some characteristics of Japanese nouns. First, I point out some syntacti... more In this paper, I discuss some characteristics of Japanese nouns. First, I point out some syntactic phenomena concerning nouns. Second, I insist that they can be explained only by classifying nouns into two types according to the “argument” of nouns. Third, I show how nouns are classified into these two types: 1-place nouns, which take an argument syntactically obligatorily, and 0-place nouns, which take no argument obligatorily. Fourth, I present the argument structure for both noun types. Fifth, I explain the aforementioned phenomena in terms of their argument structure. Sixth and finally, I comment on textual functions of nouns and show that nouns have a potential to create a complete text.
The “wall at the age of nine” is used to refer to the difficulty teaching deaf children Japanese ... more The “wall at the age of nine” is used to refer to the difficulty teaching deaf children Japanese case particles. As existing research has focused on verbs with which subjects and objects are symmetrical or interchangeable, it is difficult to grasp whether the children failed to understand the underlying deep cases or the surface cases (i.e., surface forms or case particles). In this study, we therefore conducted a test asking deaf children to choose the illustration that matched the sentence shown to them in their first language: Japanese Sign Language (JSL). The participants were deaf children aged 6 to 15 from Grade 1 of a deaf Elementary School to Grade 3 of Junior High School in Tokyo. The results show that until Elementary School Grades 3 and 4 (children aged 9‒10), their encyclopedic knowledge and recognition of deep cases were not clearly separate, while older children became able to distinguish between the two. We concluded that deaf children have a fair understanding of dee...
There are about 2. 1 million foreign residents in Japan, comprising 1.8 % of the Japanese populat... more There are about 2. 1 million foreign residents in Japan, comprising 1.8 % of the Japanese population, and they are growing in number. With the country suffering the dual effects of low birth rate and high longevity, it seems incumbent on Japan to encourage immigration; however, the Japanese government has never officially adopted this position. Accordingly, the topic of how to guarantee human rights to the increasing number of foreign residents is gaining importance, in anticipation of immigrants playing a more prominent role in Japanese society in the near future. I am leading our research group in the challenge to address this issue from a linguistic viewpoint, in which yasashii nihongo is a key concept. In this paper, I will provide a detailed introduction to yasashii nihongo, an indispensable concept for Japan to grasp in order to become a sustainable multicultural society.
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