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This book examines the ways in which English is conceptualised as a global language in Japan, and considers how the resultant language ideologies – drawn in part from universal discourses; in part from context-specific trends in social history – inform the relationships that people in Japan have towards the language. The book analyses the specific nature of the language’s symbolic meaning in Japan, and how this meaning is expressed and negotiated in society. It also discusses how the ideologies of English that exist in Japan might have implications for the more general concept of ‘English as a global language’. To this end it considers the question of what constitutes a ‘global’ language, and how, if at all, a balance can be struck between the universal and the historically-contingent when it comes to formulating a theory of English within the world.
The idea of English in Japan is the first book-length treatment of globalization and ideology of English in Japan. Seargeant critically analyzes English both as a language to be communicated in and as a concept to be symbolized and reflected in non-linguistic practices in the society. The book is a must-read not only for scholars of English in Japan but also for anyone who is interested in theorizing English as a global language from linguistic and ideological perspectives.
Philip Seargeant is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics in the Centre for Language and Communication, The Open University. He is author of The Idea of English in Japan (Multilingual Matters, 2009) and Exploring World Englishes (Routledge), and editor of English in Japan in the Era of Globalization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and English in the World: History, Diversity, Change (Routledge, 2012, with Joan Swann).
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Concept of English as a Global Language
Chapter 3: Language Ideology and Global English
Chapter 4: English in Japan: The Current Shape of the Debate
Chapter 5: Globalisation – ‘Enriching Japanese Culture Through Contact with Other Cultures’
Chapter 6: Authenticity – ‘More English than England Itself’
Chapter 7: Aspiration – ‘Enhancing Lifestyles and Living out Dreams’
Chapter 8: The Unknown Language
Chapter 9: Rival Ideologies in Applied Linguistics
References