TY - JOUR
T1 - Linguistic landscape of immigrants in Japan
T2 - a case study of Japanese Brazilian communities
AU - Nambu, Satoshi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021/11/16
Y1 - 2021/11/16
N2 - To have a better understanding of the sociolinguistic surroundings of Japanese Brazilians as return migrants in Japan, this study investigates language use in their communities from a perspective of linguistic landscape (LL), paying particular attention to their ethnic identity as to how they are viewed by the host society, including language policies, and how they view themselves in Japan. Although it has been said in the literature that they are ‘socially invisible’, the results revealed a certain level of social interactions with the host society that are materialised as LL items, including ideologically charged signs representing social inclusion as community members. In terms of ethnic identity, the observed signs, such as those installed by the host society reflecting the language policies in response to cultural differences and those installed by Japanese Brazilians representing active manifestation and construction of identity, encapsulate the discussion in the literature regarding the shift in ethnic identity from the previously maintained Japaneseness to Brazilianness through their transnational experiences and practices. In addition, such ethnic identity expressed by Japanese Brazilians is emphasised in its further use for ethnic commodification by the host society.
AB - To have a better understanding of the sociolinguistic surroundings of Japanese Brazilians as return migrants in Japan, this study investigates language use in their communities from a perspective of linguistic landscape (LL), paying particular attention to their ethnic identity as to how they are viewed by the host society, including language policies, and how they view themselves in Japan. Although it has been said in the literature that they are ‘socially invisible’, the results revealed a certain level of social interactions with the host society that are materialised as LL items, including ideologically charged signs representing social inclusion as community members. In terms of ethnic identity, the observed signs, such as those installed by the host society reflecting the language policies in response to cultural differences and those installed by Japanese Brazilians representing active manifestation and construction of identity, encapsulate the discussion in the literature regarding the shift in ethnic identity from the previously maintained Japaneseness to Brazilianness through their transnational experiences and practices. In addition, such ethnic identity expressed by Japanese Brazilians is emphasised in its further use for ethnic commodification by the host society.
KW - ethnic identity
KW - Japanese Brazilians
KW - linguistic landscape
KW - minority language
KW - return migrants
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119380356&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01434632.2021.2006200
DO - 10.1080/01434632.2021.2006200
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85119380356
JO - Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
JF - Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
SN - 0143-4632
ER -