2020 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Grown children of foreign parents' experiences of minority language loss in Japan
| Project/Area Number |
18K00698
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| Research Institution | Kanagawa University |
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Principal Investigator |
中村 ジェニス 神奈川大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (10622136)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | minority language loss / language regrets / mixed-ethnic youths / bilingual ability / Japanese monolingual / mixed-ethnic identity |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
I investigated minority language (ML) ability and identity in mixed-ethnic youths in Japan. Interviews with mixed-ethnic subjects showed that family relations, parents’ reluctance to speak the ML and the prioritization of English contributed to the non-transmission of the ML. The youths described their lost opportunity to acquire the ML as regretful, indicating its impact their social and emotional well-being. A further survey showed that many mixed-ethnic youths feel closest to their mixed-ethnic identity. However, non-ML-speaking youths tend to associate their mixed-ethnic identity with external factors (e.g., appearances) whereas ML-speaking youths consider intrinsic factors (e.g., ML ability) as their reasons, suggesting that ML ability also affects their identity development.
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Research Products
(1 results)
