Library book. I'm not good at foreign languages and I have a language complex.
A two-page essay on 90 languages, including Japanese.
Since this is just an essay, there is no unsophisticated content such as "What is language?"
The study of individual languages is inseparably linked to linguistics. However, this book is not an introduction to linguistics. I have already published "Hajimete no linguistics" (Kodansha Gendai Shinsho) about it. If you are interested, please take a look at them.
I hope that this book will serve as an introduction to individual languages as a practical version of "Linguistics for Beginners". I can't say how persuasive the essay is, but if reading it makes you want to learn a foreign language, that's enough for me as an author. (Introduction)
There are some words I have never heard of, and just reading them makes me feel like I am traveling abroad.
Each language is in alphabetical order, and under each item heading (language name), the system of the language and the main area of use are written (column "Language Families" p. 188-190). Japanese is "unknown system (Japan)". By the way, the Ainu language is "system unknown (Japan)". There is no "Ryukyu language". Chinese and Cantonese are separate items.
What is the difference between Tohoku dialect, Kagoshima dialect, and JK words? Or is it the same "Japanese"? I think only Japanese people can think that "it's Japanese because it's spoken in Japan" is simple.
Westerners have loved classification since Aristotle. It seems to me that a scholar's job is to classify. By categorizing (dividing and grouping), you can create the illusion that you have understood and mislead others (laughter).
It is said that native speakers of Tsugaru dialect (?) can tell the person's hometown within a range of several kilometers (maybe?). I'm sure JK words will be different for each school. That may be the identity of belonging to the school. Words are what you tell others. And it is language (communication) until it is confirmed that it has been transmitted. Will my feelings be conveyed to you in the first place?