What are the seven colors of the rainbow?
Ever since I was little, I couldn't see the seven colors of the rainbow. I have an extremely weak memory, so I couldn't remember the seven colors (even now), and even if I tried to remember, the rainbow would disappear in a short time. From here to here, I couldn't "distinguish" something like "orange". I was envious of people who could do that.
After reading Mr. Suzuki's work, I learned that the number of colors in the rainbow is "different" depending on the language (country, culture). In addition, the book is full of interesting cultural anthropological topics such as the color of apples and the difference in meaning of shoes (bare feet) for British people.
About this book
Nihongo to Gaigogo was published in 1990, and Nihongo Kyo no Susume was published in 2009. Therefore, although there is a time lag of 19 years and the author's research has deepened during that time, the basic content is the same.
The author's major is Wikipedia says "Sociology of Language", specializing in the relationship between culture and language.
What I admire about the author is not only his research, but also his naming sense. He expresses his theories very well, such as "television-type language/radio-type language", "tennis-type/squash-type", and "semi-permeable membrane effect in the Sea of Japan".
"Japanese language teaching" is one of them, but this is neither "Japanese supremacy" nor "Japan supremacy". I can't say for sure that there is no such aspect, but the true meaning is that the international spread of Japanese is neither cultural invasion nor Japanese imperialism, but rather that Japan will flourish today. It is an expression of gratitude for what was possible, and a heartfelt thank you. ("Nihongo Kyo no Susume", hereinafter referred to as "su" from the same book. P.241)
However, as a linguist, I would rather say that since the Meiji era, Japanese intellectuals have believed The view that ``Japanese is a backward and imperfect language'' has lost its scientific basis today, and ``Western European languages represent the ultimate stage of human language development.'' I would like to point out that it was nothing more than a prejudice based mainly on the social evolutionary linguistic view advocated by Westerners in the latter half of the nineteenth century. No matter how different the forms of human language may be, there is no difference in value, and there is no difference in basic expressiveness. It is common knowledge in linguistics. (Su, P.249-250)
Personality
This is one of the grounds for saying that Japanese is "logically inferior". is the absence of the "subject" (it is the same if the subject is replaced with the nominative, or the topical pronoun). This absence of subject is related to the essence of grammatical theory, and even the essence of language is questioned.
Japan has a long history of linguistics (Kokugaku). There is a scholarly tradition of claiming uniqueness.
Since the subject is the person or thing that performs the predicate (action), things and animals are sometimes the subject, but the most important subject is the human being, and the parts of speech are proper nouns and personal pronouns. The personal pronouns we learn at school are ``I/us'' as the first person, ``you'' as the second person, and ``he/she/that/them/her/them'' as the third person. It is said that each corresponds to "I, we, you, he, she, it, they" in English. However, there are many things that are said to be the first person in Japanese, such as "I, boku, atai, midomo, susa". Does this mean that there are many personal pronouns in Japanese?
However, according to my research, it is completely wrong to describe it this way. You should. (Su, P.174)
Also, it is relatively rare to say "I, you" in Japanese. It is common for children to call their parents "father" and "mother", and for parents to call their children by name. Parents also call themselves "Dad, Mom", and children often call themselves by name.
However, at that time, from what angle you look at the relationship between yourself and the other person and how you express it is completely different depending on the language. (Su, P.174)
That's why in languages where the inflection of verbs can indicate the person, such as Latin and Spanish, personal pronouns are not used unless there is a special emphasis. And in a language like Japanese, there are no personal pronouns in the first place. (S, P.175)
Why is that?
In other words, unlike European languages, Japanese avoids using words to refer directly to the person you are speaking to, and instead refers to that person's social status, family relationship with you, and that person's relationship. By saying the location and direction of the person, you indirectly indicate that you are the other person. This feeling that it is better to have a gentle and indirect relationship with the other person than a bare direct one, is rude to look directly at the other person's face when talking to people in the old Japanese manners. Also, it can be seen that you should avoid looking directly into the other person's eyes. (S, P.180-181)
"Kanojo, would you like some tea?" is correct Japanese (laughs).
In other words, the Japanese language is a culture of not speaking as the subject. It's not a culture that uses first person pronouns like "I love you" or "We are the world". It can be said that it is natural to feel uncomfortable with the words "I am" in election speeches and "we are" in agitation.
This problem of person in Japanese is the author's "Language and Culture” (Iwanami Shinsho, 1973).
Japanese foreign language learning
The study of the Japanese language began with the reading of Chinese characters (Kanji) as Japanese, along with the importation of Chinese characters (Kanji). seems to have started. In a kind of translation where Chinese sentences and Chinese characters written by Japanese (including Manyo-gana) are read "as Japanese" (for example, read-out sentences), the difference between Japanese and Chinese becomes clear, and it is the Japanese It reveals the peculiarities of words. Decoding the foreign language of Chinese by its "meaning" rather than its "sound" became the method of importing foreign culture into Japan.
As a result, Japanese people's Chinese ability is mainly to decipher and interpret the original written text, and they are able to converse with the other party and write Chinese sentences to Chinese people. Practical aspects such as reading were not developed very much (This is an irregular foreign language learning that understands and incorporates foreign cultural materials through reading foreign language literature without considering conversational ability as an issue. This pattern was almost exactly repeated in Western language education centering on English starting with the Meiji Restoration.The reason is that Japan's modernization was exactly the same as Japan's Sinicization in ancient times, and other Asian countries. (This is because it was not the result of direct conquest and occupation by a foreign country, as in ). (S, P.26)
And learning "dead languages" such as ancient Greek and old Chinese sentences means that
The purpose of learning a dead language is to derive useful information, intellectual and emotional stimulation, and pleasure from it. I can say
In fact, Japanese people have consistently learned foreign languages for a long time. It was a unilateral learning without a partner. (Su, P.221-222)
Therefore, foreign languages that are usually learned from practical needs in any country are also widely learned at the level of ordinary people who come into direct contact with foreigners on a daily basis. However, in the case of Japan, only those who belonged to the upper echelons of society learned foreign languages as academic subjects, and the common people were completely unfamiliar with foreign languages. it shows. (Su, P.222)
On-yomi and Kun-yomi
The “sound” of kanji is the Chinese pronunciation (this varies by era and region). increase). However, Kanji itself is an ideogram, so it has a meaning of its own. The meaning is pronounced in the original Japanese language (maybe Yamato-kotoba) in ``kun''. For example, for "fear of heights", apart from whether you can pronounce "kosho kyofusho" or know the meaning, if you know the meaning of the kanji "takai, tokoro, fear, yamai", It somehow makes sense. The English word "acrophobia" doesn't immediately make sense, even if you can pronounce it. The author says that Japanese is a "TV-style language" because it has "a small number of phonemes," so there are many "homonyms," and the visual meaning of kanji is used to help.
In other words, Japanese today is the type of language that can no longer stand on its own without taking into account the written form. (“Nihongo to Gaigogo”, hereinafter quoted from the same book as “outside”. P.195)
I can't help but feel like I'm keeping the standard language in my head. Including dialects, the number of phonemes is large, and in the first place, the number of phonemes is determined by the pronunciation of speech in the culture and the recognition ability of the listener, and it can change as much as you like. I don't think the author thinks that Japanese people can only vocalize a small number of phonemes, or that they can distinguish only a small number of phonemes.
I think that kanji readings have the advantages the author mentions. Also, I often think of kanji in my head when I hear the audio. And on TV, my eyes go to the telop. There are many times when I laugh at telops with decorations and movement. In that sense, Japanese today is a "language that relies on writing."
But languages based on letters are no longer natural languages, and children speak Japanese before they learn letters. I think the literacy rate was low before the war, or before the Meiji era. Therefore, I think that character dependence is a one-sided view of Japanese.
The linguistics of written text creates the illusion that words and letters are the same. If we have an understanding of what letters are, I think we will be able to see how Japanese culture has changed since the Meiji era, and whether it is still changing.
Even if Japanese is a "language that relies on writing," it doesn't mean that Japanese people live without a notepad. The author's linguistics is "linguistics of the eyes", which is not a good way to put it, but it seems to be "linguistics of the able-bodied".
Culture and Language
As I always think, human eyes and ears are different from cameras and tape recorders. We have a strong tendency to bend and interpret things in a way that makes it difficult for us to notice new things. (Outside, P.39-40)
In other words, what is the same and what is differentIdentity This is the difference in the mechanism seen in the recognition of . (External, P.3)
In this way, the mechanism of object recognition inherent in one's own language is somehow universal, and one expects it to apply to other languages as well. It's very difficult to avoid. (Outside, P.50)
It can be said that culture determines language, and language determines culture (the structure of words affects grammar (syntax)). give and vice versa). Climate determines culture and language. At least, there are no words for what you don't need (and every language has functions that are necessary for life. Also, since language is part of culture, things outside language complement a lot. ). Where there are no cows, there is no language or culture about cows. From where to where to say "red" is determined by the range required by the culture, and the perception of "red" is also determined by the culture (Of course, it depends on individuality, personal experiences, feelings, and moods. ).
In calling something, for example, the reality (existence) of a "cat" as a "cat", conceptualization, generalization, abstraction, and idealization have already occurred. Language always tends to move away from the individual and the concrete. I believe that culture is what gives language its "meaning" and restrains it from decisively deviating from reality (existence) as an individual thing or a concrete thing.
I think that the decisive separation is "character", that is, "civilization". Words become independent of individual objects and come to assume "ideas of cats" in addition to individual cats. Based on this idea, the specific identity between 'this cat' and 'that cat' can be discussed. This process is the philosophical flow of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and later Western science.
Nowadays, as education spreads in every country, so-called scientific thinking, a way of thinking about the world in a unified way, has become stronger. (Outside, P.24)
Assuming the idea of a cat, calling the same idea ``cat'' or ``cat'' is a ``difference in expression methods'' between languages. It creates the illusion that If there is something, a thing, or an emotion (that is, something like an idea), and language is used to express it, then it is assumed that universal grammar exists there.
To make “language” the “object” of consideration, or to make “cat”, “red” or “god” the “object” of consideration, It means setting the subject (subject) to consider (“I think, therefore I am”). In order to objectify words, it is necessary to convert words into external existence, that is, "characters" (visualization, materialization). In linguistics fieldwork, we begin by translating words into phonetic symbols based on listening and recording. This is what "language is objectified", and based on that, it becomes possible to "recognise (grasp) the object" and study it. . By doing this, it is possible to fix the constantly changing existence (reality) and to "identify" it. All you have to do is spend some time thinking about it. This is the reason why the Literary (universal) principle is possible.
Is the written (drawn) cat a "cat (existence/reality)"? It's not. In order to grasp the existence (reality) of cats, it is necessary to analyze, classify, and describe the subject. Science is becoming more and more subdivided. The premise of this is the idea that the total of the subdivided descriptions is the existence (reality) (approaching). The idea that "the whole is a set of parts" or "the whole can be divided into parts" is the so-called "reductionism[wiki(JP)]".
This is also a causal theory that can separate cause and effect. If you make a mechanism as a cause, an action will occur as a result. Even if you make it exactly as it is, it may fail). In addition, the "utility theory" such as "I survived because it is advantageous for survival" is also born here. The same is true of the West's law of the law, enlightenment, and colonialism.
No matter how cute an idol is, no matter how many photobooks, CDs, or DVDs you have about her, how much information (data) about her date of birth, background, etc. can be obtained. Even if you do, it's completely different from actually going to a live venue. Furthermore, it's a "handshake event", and it's completely different to hear her voice and shake hands without going through a microphone or speaker. And I think classmates at school and colleagues at work are closer to "existence (real existence)" than idols. Reality is not information (data), and it is not something that can be perceived only by sight.
However, how she sees her classmates and colleagues is important. If we look at them as “objects” like idols, we can only touch their reality as “others” by judging superiority, controlling, ruling, and owning them. lose.
A culture that does not see others as objects, that is, does not set itself as the subject. I believe that there lies the characteristic and potential of the Japanese language that is being lost.
Cultural Change
Human beings are made to think that only the world where their mother tongue distinguishes and names is correct at any time and place. Therefore, it is not easy to be freed from this enormous limitation of mother tongue. (S, P.95-96)
I think it's closer to "impossible" than "difficult". Because it is tantamount to saying that it is possible to live without culture.
Ilyich distinguishes between "vernacular speech" and "taught mother tongue". "One can blame parents and society for the 'assigned' gender roles and the mother tongues one is taught, but one cannot complain about vernacular speech or gender." ("Gender" Iwanami Gendai Sensho, p.171). It's hard for me to understand the true meaning of this, but Illichi has been living in a variety of cultures, such as Latin American countries, and has learned the language that is spoken locally and the language that children are taught at school. I think you have in mind the difference between Even in Japan, there are dialects (or traditions) that are being lost and the "standard language" that is taught in schools. The Japanese taught in schools is, in a sense, ``created Japanese'' based on ``the linguistics of Europe and the United States, which were originally developed with European languages as the object of study'' (see p.203). Educationalization and the spread of mass media represented by television have not only "unified" the Japanese language, but also "westernized" people's thinking.
In the more than half a century that I have lived, Japanese culture has changed and is being forgotten more and more. Nearly 80 years have passed since the end of the war, and almost no one knows about the facts of comfort women, forced labor (forced labor), and the Nanjing Massacre (they were familiar to me when I was young). Now that kimono is no longer worn, the number of people who know loincloths and hips has decreased. It is only recently that women wear underwear such as bras. "Menstrual poverty" became a hot topic, but when I asked my mother what women did during their period when there were no tampons or pads, I could not get a clear answer.
In today's Japan, women's breasts are not a part of the body that should be shown to others. In weekly magazines, etc., we often see pictures showing off large breasts and the word "big breasts", but in fact, this sense of breasts is a very new thing in history, born out of the influence of post-war American culture. . (Su, P.109)
However, when Japan lost the war with the United States and American customs and culture began to flow into the country, things that were absolutely forbidden in prewar Japan, such as walking In no time at all, it became commonplace to eat while eating, and it became common to see people walking around like Americans, licking soft serve ice cream and chewing gum. On the other hand, traditional manners and customs, which had never been questioned for a long time, disappeared under various plausible theories because they were basically un-Western. One example is the custom of women carrying infants on their backs when they go out.
Traditional Japanese culture did not promote women's breasts or large breasts in a sexual sense. One of the reasons for this is that when wearing a kimono, if you have large breasts, you may not be able to tie the sash belt properly. Therefore, when the breasts were too large, it was even necessary to wrap the body with bleach to adjust the figure. However, after the war, Japanese people began to see the style of American women, which boldly emphasized the lines of the body, as fresh, and at the same time began to praise the shape and size of their breasts. Even the Western view of the breast as a body part with sexual connotations, the aphrodisiac, was adopted. This new trend led to the emergence of women's underwear called brassieres, which had never existed before in Japan. This new type of undergarment, aimed at shaping and enlarging the breasts, spread quickly and is now commonplace even for small children who don't need it. (S, P.110-111)
When I was little, I often saw mothers feeding their babies on trains and buses. Nowadays, it is rare to see a baby drinking milk from a baby bottle. It's probably psychologically difficult to get on public transport with a baby.
The way you carry your child and the way you feed your child are also vernacular. How men look at women's breasts and how women themselves feel are part of the culture. It is also culture to distinguish it as "big breasts" and "small breasts". However, that culture is a culture that sees boobs as an "external thing" and "object". In that culture (to borrow Ilyich's words) gender resolves into sex.
The term “gender equality” rather than “men and women equality” is making headlines in the mass media. “The contrastive complementarity between genders is both asymmetrical and ambiguous.” (Illichi, supra, p.157) I think it's the same as saying that a sewing machine and a bat umbrella are equal.
The complementary between genders is both asymmetric and ambiguous. (Ivan Illich, "GENDER" Open Forum MARION BOYARS London, 1983, P.75)
European languages and American cultures are not universal, but an academic framework that can easily handle the languages and cultures of Europe, Japan, or even all countries, and give each place a place is the universality of humankind. The time has come for us Japanese to seriously think about what is worthy of the name (universal). (Outside, P.203)
The framework of “academics,” “humanity,” and “universality” is originally Western. In order to consider the universality of humankind (human beings), it is necessary to "define (conceptualize)" what is called "human beings (human beings)". It can be "Western" or "Caucasian", "Male" or "Adult" or "Germanic (ethnic)".
Hitler's tragedy is a tragedy of "objectification". And it is approaching the Japanese as well. I really want people to read the author's books because I believe that "there is a need to deepen awareness of particularity" (outside, p.241) rather than seeking universality.