Waka Aoyama (The University of Tokyo)
View Working Paper [PDF] – Prologue – published December 2024
View Working Paper [PDF] – Chapter 1 – published January 2025
Abstract: These essays are the first drafts of the chapters for an autoethnographic fiction titled Fustuno Maruchiringaru (An Ordinary Multilingual), scheduled for publication in 2027. From June 2024 to February 2027, approximately 20 chapters, including a prologue and an epilogue, are planned to be written in Japanese. The work is based on the author’s personal experiences and follows a character named Alice, born and raised in Japan, whose first language is Japanese. The story portrays Alice’s everyday use of multiple languages. While Japan is often misunderstood as a “monolingual society,” the work shows that it is, in fact, a “multilingual society,” and it challenges the concepts of “ordinary” and “equality” in postwar Japan from the perspective of language use. Themes such as diversity, coexistence, colonial and wartime aggression, and the power of language are explored, with a narrative of homeland loss and regeneration. The work encourages critical reflection on our unawareness of the privilege of “Japanese” and “English” and the linguistic hierarchies we live with, aiming to bring out the reader’s own “language stories.” Grounded in critical metalinguistic awareness, it seeks to explore the possibilities of creating a socially just world. In order to prepare for the publication of a future English edition and to explore the impossibility of translation, English translations of all chapters are included.
Keywords: Multilingual Japan, Language Use, Being Ordinary/Normal and Egalitarianism, Colonial and Wartime Aggression, Critical Metalinguistic Awareness
要約: これらのエッセイは、2027 年度に出版予定の『ふつうのマルチリンガル』とい う⾃伝的⺠族誌的フィクション作品の各章の初稿である。2024年6⽉から2027年2⽉ にかけて、プロローグ、エピローグを含む約20 章が⽇本語で執筆される予定である。 本作では、著者⾃⾝の経験に基づき、⽇本⽣まれ⽇本育ち、⺟語が「⽇本語」であるア リスという⼈物が、⽇常的に多⾔語を使う様⼦を描く。⽇本が「モノリンガル社会」と 誤解されがちである⼀⽅、実際には「マルチリンガル社会」であることを⽰し、戦後⽇ 本における「ふつう」や「平等主義」を⾔語使⽤の観点から問い直す。多様性、共⽣、 歴史的加害性、⾔葉の⼒をテーマに、故郷喪失と再⽣を描く。とくに「⽇本語」や「英 語」の特権性や⾔語的ヒエラルキーに無⾃覚なわたしたちに対する批判的反省を促し、 読者⾃⾝の「⾔語の物語」を引き出すことを⽬指す。批判的メタ⾔語意識を軸に、社会 的公正な世界への可能性を探る⼀冊である。将来の英語版の出版に備えるために、また 翻訳不可能性を探るために、全章の英訳を付す。
キーワード: マルチリンガル社会としての⽇本、⾔語使⽤、ふつうと平等主義、歴史 的加害性、批判的メタ⾔語意識
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