Language Regimes in Transformation: Future Prospects for German and Japanese in Science, Economy, and Politics (Contributions to the Sociology of Language 93)

228 Pages·2007·0.82 MB·English

by  Florian Coulmas

Language Regimes in Transformation
≥
Contributions to the Sociology of Language
93
Editor
Joshua A. Fishman
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
Language Regimes
in Transformation
Future Prospects for German
and Japanese in Science, Economy,
and Politics
edited by
Florian Coulmas
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague)
is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.
앪앝 Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines
of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Language regimes in transformation : future prospects for German
and Japanese in science, economy, and politics / edited by Florian
Coulmas.
p. cm. ⫺ (Contributions to the sociology of language ; 93)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-3-11-019158-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 3-11-019158-X (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Multilingualism. 2. Language policy. 3. Globalization.
I. Coulmas, Florian.
P115.L363 2007
4041.2⫺dc22
2006037137
ISBN 978-3-11-019158-5
ISSN 1861-0676
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet
at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
” Copyright 2007 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this
book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
Printed in Germany.
This book is dedicated to ࡀ ࠙ࠬవ↢, George, JiĜí V. Neustupný, a
pioneer of language planning research, who should have been there.
Preface
Over the past half-century international relations have intensified. Eco-
nomic relations, commercial exchange, scientific cooperation, university
partnerships, student exchange programmes have increased steadily. At the
same time, however, the interest in foreign languages has been stagnant if
not dwindling for some time, being eclipsed by the overwhelming impor-
tance of English. A significant driving force of globalization, English has
been instrumental in the commercialisation and marketisation of the
world’s languages. As a result, English is becoming the only foreign lan-
guage learnt and taught.
This is an issue concerning not only the shaping of international rela-
tions but the future of a number of fully developed languages such as Ger-
man and Japanese. At this time, both languages belong to the select group
of the world’s languages that are suitable for scientific communication and,
more generally, can be used in all communication domains. However, it is
not clear that German and Japanese can sustain their full functional poten-
tial if their own speakers are using them in certain domains with lesser fre-
quency. The diverging prerogatives of borderless communication in a sin-
gle language, on one hand, and maintaining highly cultivated all-purpose
languages, on the other, are obvious. Whether there are any feasible an-
swers to the question of how to reconcile them is not. This volume docu-
ments in a precise, cross-disciplinary and international way the impact,
particularly in science and technology, of the massive expansion of English
medium delivery of higher education, and the increasing conceptualisation
and organisation of the science and economy domains of public life accord-
ing to categories and systems derived from English. Since these issues con-
cern not just sociologists of language who study changing functional do-
main allocations of languages, the present volume brings together experts
from a variety of fields, sociolinguistics, pedagogy, philosophy und politi-
cal science. This breadth of perspective helped to reveal the multifaceted
nature of the ongoing adjustment of language regimes to today’s demand
for international communication, the permeability of national borders, the
fate of minorities, immigration and the consequent pluralisation of the so-
cial fabric.
It is not as clear as it would seem whether English as the international
lingua franca of science and economic transactions should or shouldn’t be
viii Preface
welcomed. This book is meant as a contribution to the ongoing debate scru-
tinizing and carefully weighing arguments from both points of view.
Acknowledgements
First drafts of the chapters of this book were presented at a symposium on
“Language Regimes in Transformation” convened in late summer of 2005
on the beautiful campus of Gakushuin University in Tokyo. We owe a debt
of gratitude to the Faculty of Law of Gakushuin University for acting as our
hosts. One of its members, Takao Katsuragi, was involved in the planning
of the symposium from the beginning. Thanks are also due to the discuss-
ants who provided inspiring and insightful comments on our work after the
presentations which contributed substantially to the finished product. They
were Andrew Horvat, Goro Kimura and Daniel Long. That Joshua Fishman
accepted this volume for inclusion in his prestigious “CSL” series is a mat-
ter of great satisfaction to which three reviewers have contributed their
share. The symposium was supported with a generous grant by the Japan
Foundation which is gratefully acknowledged. Special thanks go to Peter
Backhaus who provided logistic support during the conference.
Florian Coulmas
Tokyo, 5 June 2006
vi
Contents
Preface vii
Notes on the contributors xi
On language policy in the age of globalization with good governance 1
Takao Katsuragi
Thrifty monolingualism and luxuriating plurilingualism? 19
Konrad Ehlich
Challenges for language policy in today’s Japan 33
Nanette Gottlieb
Is the promotion of languages such as German and Japanese 53
abroad still appropriate today?
Ulrich Ammon
Japanese and German language education in the UK: 71
problems, parallels, and prospects
Tessa Carroll
Changing economic values of German and Japanese 95
Fumio Inoue
The debate on English as an official language in Japan 115
Patrick Heinrich
x Contents
Remains of the day: language orphans and the decline of
German as a medical lingua franca in Japan 141
John Maher
The case for choice – language preferences in Japanese 155
academic publishing
Florian Coulmas
Tokio or Tokyo? Dschudo or Judo? On writing foreign names 173
Elmar Holenstein
Effects of globalization on minority languages in Europe – 191
focusing on Celtic languages
Kiyoshi Hara
Index 207
2