Prosodic levelling during language shift: Okinawan approximations of Japanese pitch‐accent1

This article demonstrates how the language death process potentially contributes to the emergence of a new dialect. A sociolinguistic survey of the prosodic phonology of Japanese spoken in Yaeyama, Okinawa shows that the obsolescence process of Okinawan has resulted in a new dialect of Japanese. First, Okinawan is undergoing processes typical of language death, including increased variability and the elimination of phonological contrasts at the prosodic level. These processes are also occurring in the incoming language, Japanese. Second, these processes have influenced the acquisition of the prosody of Standard Japanese, resulting in a new prosodic system. Third, a positive attitude towards the local variant of Japanese is prevalent among the younger members of the community, particularly the working‐class males. These results suggest that a local prosodic system is emerging, resulting in a new dialect of Japanese.     

Constructing identity with L2: Pronunciation and attitudes among Norwegian learners of English1

This study investigates L2 pronunciation and evaluation of American and British varieties of English among Norwegian adolescent learners. By integrating quantitative sociolinguistics and L2 acquisition, the article investigates stylistic practice in an L2 context. Results from an auditory analysis of four phonological variables and a matched‐guise test are interpreted with reference to speaker commentary. Learners’ self‐expressed accent aims correlate significantly with accent use, but American English is the dominant pronunciation. Results show that both L1 and L2 speakers of English varieties are socially evaluated by the learners; British English is considered the most prestigious model of pronunciation, while American English is associated with informality. These evaluations seem to motivate learners’ pronunciation choices. The data indicate blended use of the English varieties. Learners seem to exploit linguistic resources from English, and reshape and adapt the social meaning of the variables to a local construction of identity.     

Freighting English law: interpreting maritime spaces,law and the Armenian strategies in the Indian Ocean

In this article, I examine the formation of the English East India Company's legal regime in the Indian Ocean between the mid‐eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. I look at how this process affected maritime trade and space from the vantage point of Armenian merchants' interactions with the colonial regime in the courts of law. The productive tensions arising from the colonial regime's new protocols and the merchants' leveraging tactics make for a complex story of Anglo‐Armenian dialogue. I argue that indigenous agency in the colonial courts complicated the binary colonial/indigenous structure. The idea of legal pluralism that emerges from the article suggests that the identity of an imperial subject or the definition of law was neither a given nor simply imposed through colonial coercion but was a complex product of a long‐term dialogue and rationalization.     

Power,policy and paperwork: The bureaucratic representation of interests

This article compares how five government documents evaluate a proposed dam in Central Arizona. One of the consequences of this dam would be to force a small Native American community from their ancestral land. Spanning almost forty years, these documents illustrate changes in how a federal agency legitimated these projects and their negative social impacts to different audiences. These records are used here to argue for the importance of careful textual analysis of bureaucratic paperwork, as an additional form of understanding the multiple dimensions of social, economic, and political power over disempowered groups.     

The common-sense model of illness representation: Theoretical and practical considerations

This article focuses on several areas. After reviewing the most commonly used approaches in the study of health behaviors, (e.g., the medical model, the health belief model, and the theory of reasoned action) the common-sense model is presented as an alternative. By presenting evidence across a wide range of illness domains, we demonstrate the usefulness of the common-sense, self-regulatory approach. We then discuss the importance of the common-sense model for health research among minorities. We conclude the article with examples of the operationalization of illness representations in past research and directions for future research.     

Socialization and Work in Japan: The Meaning of Adulthood of Men and Women in a Business Context

Abstract  The Japanese term, shakaijin, refers to becoming a social adult, and locates the transition to adulthood in leaving school/university and entering an employment relation. In this paper we explore the role of company socialization in producing social adults. Company socialization is explored through a case study of a securities company, and an additional study of a large bank. New employee training programs are a central socializing event, and bridge the transition from school/university-to-work. In this study, events prior to and subsequent to new employee training arc also shown to play key roles in company socialization. Recruitment practices socialize as well as screen job applicants. Regular personal assessments continue socialization throughout the working life cycle. Based on the analyses of socialization in recruitment, training and assessment, two aspects of company socialization in Japan are emphasized. First, company socialization involves gender socialization. Male employees are the main subjects of company socialization, and their induction to social adulthood seeks to generate commitment and social integration to company life. Social adulthood of female employees is defined in connection with future familial roles rather than commitment to work. Second, the meaning of social adulthood for men is fused with acceptance of management goals. Company socialization attempts to align individual attitudes and behaviors with company goals.     

"Occupation" and the Movement of People within the Japanese Empire: An Exploration of Migration between the Japanese Southern Frontier and Colonial Taiwan, the 1920s−1930s

Abstract:  Although there have been few studies on Yaeyama (the southern end of Ryukyu Archipelago) locals' migration during the pre Asia-Pacific period, a significant number of people went from there to colonial Taiwan, in particular during the 1920s and 1930s. In this paper, I discuss why many locals of Yaeyama worked in colonial Taiwan by analysing narratives of former migrants in autobiographies and my own interview research. First, this paper demonstrates how Yaeyama locals' attitudes to "work" and "occupation" were converted into more modern attitudes between the 1900s and the 1920s. Yaeyama locals often mention there being "no jobs" in their home islands, which justified their decision to go to Taiwan; but the discourse of "unemployment" should not be understood as a mere reflection of Yaeyama's economic condition, but also as a mark of change in people's attitude to the world. Since "work" and "occupation" are not just a matter of economic necessity, it could be said that Yaeyama locals searched for jobs in Taiwan not strictly in terms of economic profitability. Yaeyama locals went to colonial Taiwan, in search of "employment"; this action was closely associated with a financial motive, but it also implies development of self-worth as a social being. Although Yaeyama locals in Taiwan sometimes suffered ethnic discrimination from Japan proper, they were usually treated better than Taiwanese; Colonial Taiwan was an attractive destination to Yaeyama locals not only because Taiwan was more affluent and modernized, but also there were more opportunities for them to achieve social promotion in the context of the Japanese Empire.     

The voices people read: Orthography and the representation of non-standard speech

Combining features of matched guise tests with sociolinguistic interviewing and oral performance, this study investigates the social meanings carried by non-standard orthographies. Participant evaluations of the personas represented by non-standard orthographies showed that people connected orthography to social identities. Specifically, we found that people uncritically and spontaneously read non-standard orthographies as indices of low socioeconomic status. When we asked participants to read texts out loud, we found marked shifts in their reading performances of texts in standard versus non-standard orthographies. Through a case study analysis of participants' readings and attitudes, we identify two kinds of stances taken by participants towards stigmatized identities indexed by non-standard orthographies. Finally, we use these case studies to argue for the necessity of contextually rich qualitative research methods for the study of language attitudes.     

Participation in biodiversity conservation: Motivations and barriers of Australian landholders

Biodiversity conservation programs that appeal to landholders’ motivations and minimise their barriers to participation may result in both increased uptake rates and improved ecological outcomes. To understand their motivations and barriers to conserve biodiversity, qualitative interviews were conducted with 45 landholders who had participated in one of three different programs in Queensland, Australia. The results revealed that the landholders’ decisions to participate depended on the level of formal biodiversity protection offered by the program, potential changes to their property rights, personal benefits of participation, and the program objectives. Landholders’ motivations related to conservation, production, financial and experimental imperatives. Common barriers to participation were lost productivity, different interpretations of what constituted “conservation”, and limits to future development and land use options. Voluntary and economic policy instruments can be used to stimulate participation and overcome barriers, but must be applied with care to reduce the creation of perverse ecological outcomes, such as slippage and low additionality.     

Urban wildlife ecology and conservation:A brief history of the discipline

Urban wildlife ecology and conservation is a discipline worldwide in scope. Although some attention was given the subject in the early to mid-1900s, most activity in the field is of more recent origin. Many European countries have active programs and activities, including the United Kingdom-Man and the Biosphere (UK-MAB) Urban Forum and The Wildlife Trusts of England, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's MAB Program, and urban ecology research in Germany and Poland. The Netherlands' concept of “ecological landscapes” introduced a new approach to design of urban open space. Durban, South Africa followed with “D'MOSS,” a metropolitan open space system founded on the principles of island biogeography theory. The park connector network of Singapore combines principles of conservation biology and landscape planning. Urban wildlife programs and activities exist in the United States at the federal, state, and local levels as well as in private conservation organizations. The Wildlife Society established an Urban Affairs and Regional Planning Committee in the mid-1970s that later became the Urban Wildlife Committee and then evolved into the Urban Wildlife Working Group. Urban wildlife research is providing knowledge of wildlife and plant populations and communities in urban areas that hopefully will lead to better understanding and greater sustainability of urban ecosystems.     

The green leaves of love: Japanese romantic heroines,authentic femininity,and dialect1

How is ‘authentic’ linguistic femininity in Japan manifested in popular texts? We analyze the dialogue of female characters in Wakaba, a 2005 Japanese drama set in two very different parts of ‘regional’ Japan – Miyazaki and Kobe. Through this analysis, we examine two contradictory discourses circulated through popular media. The first is that linguistic femininity is based in Standard Japanese – a surprisingly persistent ideology despite a current trend to examine cases in which language ideology and practice do not match. Other studies reflect another dominant discourse, that of the ‘authentic’ dialect speaker, who expresses local alignment by using dialect forms outside the bounds of ideologically modern linguistic forms. The tension between acting linguistically feminine and ‘authentically’ local raises some interesting questions for Japanese language and gender studies, including studies of gendered representations: are women who are speakers of regional dialects authentically ‘feminine’? Can they be? Do some dialects express femininity better than others?     

Towards the strategies of modern societies: systems and social processes

While several sociological theories have traditionally dealt with rational action by human actors, little attention has been devoted to the possibilities for rational steering of the entire subsystems of functionally differentiated modern societies in the context of their increasing complexity. Although rational intentional action is clearly limited at the macro-level by the complexity emphasized by Luhmann's social systems theory, strategies are required to approach the normative ideal of active society as defined by Etzioni. Understanding the strategic processes requires micro–macro and agency–structure connections. A possible solution to understanding strategy as a social process in this respect is found in the adaptation of the three-level – individuality, reality and totality – approach of Sztompka's theory of social becoming.     

Framing the Other: cosmopolitanism and the representation of difference in overseas gap year narratives

This paper engages with debates surrounding contemporary cosmopolitanism and the outcomes of cultural encounters. It considers if overseas gap years, often put forward in the UK as a way of becoming a global citizen, enable young Britons to ‘broaden their mind’. I explore representations of the people and places encountered during these periods of time out through an analysis of young people's travel blogs. Four key themes are highlighted in these narratives: the exotic place; feeling ‘out of place’; the importance and outcomes of local interaction; and the historical legacies that are implicated in constructing places as ‘different’. Gappers display a willingness to interact with and gain knowledge about their host communities. Yet as gap years are designed to be distinct from the normal course of things, they also demonstrate the ‘difference’ of places. This can often result in the reproduction of established ways of representing the Other in order to frame them as meaningful. There is a tension in the narratives between ‘globally reflexive’ and ‘globally reproductive’ representations of difference, and I suggest that we might question the development of cosmopolitan attitudes and competencies through undertaking a gap year.     

The democratic interface: technology,political organization,and diverging patterns of electoral representation

Democracies are experiencing historic disruptions affecting how people engage with core institutions such as the press, civil society organizations, parties, and elections. These processes of citizen interaction with institutions operate as a democratic interface shaping self-government and the quality of public life. The electoral dimension of the interface is important, as its operation can affect all others. This analysis explores a growing left-right imbalance in the electoral connection between citizens, parties, elections, and government. This imbalance is due, in part, to divergent left-right preferences for political engagement, organization, and communication. Support on the right for clearer social rules and simpler moral, racial and nationalist agendas are compatible with hierarchical, leader-centered party organizations that compete more effectively in elections. Parties on the left currently face greater challenges engaging citizens due to the popular meta-ideology of diversity and inclusiveness and demands for direct or deliberative democracy. What we term connective parties are developing technologies to perform core organizational functions, and some have achieved electoral success. However, when connective parties on the left try to develop shared authority processes, online and offline, they face significant challenges competing with more conventionally organized parties on the right.     

Cultural sensitivity in the delivery of disability services to children: A case study of Japanese education and socialization

This ethnographic study examined beliefs about disability and related socialization and educational practices at a Japanese elementary school. Disability is a universal issue affecting child welfare and educational systems around the world. Yet, relatively little sociocultural research has focused on non-Western children with disabilities. This limitation restricts our understanding of the extent to which and how cultures vary in their responses to disability, and the impact of these variations on children's development. Public schools in Japan recently implemented formal special education services for children with “developmental disabilities,” a new category used by educators to refer to “milder” difficulties in children's acquisition of social and academic skills, for example, learning disabilities, ADHD and Asperger's syndrome. This transition created a dilemma for educators: blending new requirements of providing individualized support with traditional Japanese socialization and educational practices of raising and educating children within peer groups. Participant observation, in-depth interviews, and longitudinal case studies of children with developmental disabilities addressed culturally- and developmentally-sensitive practices employed by educators. Educators were sensitive to stigma, involved peers in supporting one another, created home-like classrooms, guided children towards voluntary cooperation, and provided support and guidance to parents. Broad implications for the design of culturally-sensitive disability services are discussed.     

Maya cosmopolitans: engaging tactics and strategies in the performance of tourism

Maya heritage is embraced throughout Yucatán as a crucial component of tourism promotions. This, coupled with an emphasis on multiculturalism, makes the state itself a local actor in the marketing of Maya identity through the creation and funding of community-based tourism projects. This article discusses the shifting role of the state in shaping these communities, referencing a Maya village in the Mexican state of Yucatán as the context. The aim is an understanding of the articulation of local tactics to conceal cosmopolitanism while remaining competent in the eyes of funding agencies and the strategies employed by the state that reinforce the importance of performance for tourists. The desire on the part of state creates situations in which individuals are expected to exist in concurrent states of authenticity and modernity, as both traditional and cosmopolitan.     

Of bodies captured: the visual representation of the Paarl march and Poqo in apartheid South Africa

This article examines the visual representation of the violent march on the Western Cape town of Paarl in November 1962, and the place of photographs as employed by the media, a state-appointed commission of inquiry, and a series of judicial trials in the making of this event and its subjects. It is particularly concerned with a file of photographs of men accused of participating in the march, as a means to potentially enabling more complex and nuanced readings of the uprising than those provided by the textual archive surrounding the event. It considers the ways in which these photographs were used and why, while seemingly meant to give a face to a united Poqo organisation they never take on an altogether-public life. Clearly photographic occasions which were not as rigidly controlled as one would expect from police photographs, these photographs reference a multiplicity of genres. Yet at the same time, as the products of police surveillance, they remain deeply complicit in discourses of power and subjectification.     

Biodiversity conservation in the Brazilian social sciences: an analysis of epistemological paths and conditions of possibility

This article aims to present the analysis of a carefully chosen literature in social sciences on the subject of biodiversity conservation. The purpose was to recognize some of the methods and epistemological conceptions which underlie the arguments published in the main academic journals of Sociology, Anthropology and Political Sciences. The analysis is based on a confrontation of Foucault’s concept of “conditions of possibility” with the discursive practices present in the survey. This exercise enabled us to demonstrate that even though we specifically targeted the social sciences, it is possible to recognize the presence of different conditions possibility that are not necessarily compatible and can be critic of each other. These criticisms arise in a context in which the objectivist view was widely accessed in order to corroborate restrictive and punitive actions on biodiversity conservation. This mapping can thus contribute to problematize the dialogue between disciplines in a scenario where each science has a particular political weight.