Abstract

Studies in Japanese Bilingualism helps dissolve the myth of Japanese homogeneity by explaining the history of this construct and offering twelve empirical studies on different facets of language contact in Japan, including Ainu revitalisation, Korean language maintenance, creative use of Ryukyuan languages in Okinawa, English immersion, and language use by Nikkei immigrants, Chinese "War Orphans" and bicultural children, as well as codeswitching and language attrition in Japanese contexts.

Mary Goebel Noguchi is a Professor of English in the College of Law at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. In addition to research and translation in the field of Japanese studies, she has taken an interest in the development of bilingualism by bicultural children in Japan and Japanese returnees. In 1995 she helped found the Japan Journal of Multilingualism and Multiculturalism and has since served as its editor.

Sandra S. Fotos is a Professor of English at Senshu University, Tokyo, Japan. Her research interests include bilingualism and the effects of formal instruction on second language acquisition. She has published in journals such as Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, ELT-Journal and TESOL Quarterly. She is editor of the JALT Journal, published by the Japan Association for Language Teaching.