Monolinguistic Assumptions under Pressure

Perspectives on the languages of Tokyo from the points of view of the economics of language and social psychology

Abstract

Japan is a country with a traditionally strong monolingual self-image. In the last decades, however, linguistic heterogeneity has been steadily increasing. This is especially true for Tokyo, where about 40% of all resident foreigners in Japan live. The different languages of the capital will therefore be in the focus of our interest. Research will be conducted on the basis of two methodological approaches developed, respectively, in the economics of language and social psychology. The one will look at the language market in Tokyo, i.e. the different languages spoken there and their respective value in terms of supply and demand as reflected, e.g., in the local language industry. The other will investigate the language attitudes of the receiving end of immigration, the Japanese host community in Tokyo. Questions to be approached are such as how the Japanese think about other languages; how language attitudes are affected by Japan's incipient multilingualism; and how increasing linguistic pluralism is perceived in the Japanese community.