School of International Studies

language endangerment, orthography of sociolinguistics, linguistic landscape

With a background in international relations, I came to my research focus on language endangerment over two decades ago during my first position teaching economics English in Japan. Indeed, economic factors largely account for language shift among minority-language communities the world over. I look at the endeavors and challenges involved in boosting languages at risk. Past research has examined the effects of indigenous language academies on revitalization efforts. I now focus on the sociolinguistics of orthography, or how distinctive writing systems and characters — on the page and in public signage (linguistic landscape) — are used as markers of cultural identity. Where appropriate and productive, I like to raise awareness of language issues in my academic English classes.

https://syllabus.kwansei.ac.jp/uniasv2/UnSSOLoginControlFree?REQ_ACTION_DO=/AGA030PLS01Action.do?REQ_FUNCTION_JUMP_START_FLG=1&SLB_LINK_DISP_FLG=689&TCH_NO=236002&REQ_PRFR_FUNC_ID=AGA030