An Introduction to The National Language Research Institute: A Sketch of its Achievements
Third Edition(1988)/ HTML Version(1997)

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II.1.14 Sociolinguistic Survey in Tokyo and Osaka- Analysis

(Report 70-1, 1981. 360 pages)

II.1.15 Sociolinguistic Survey in Tokyo and Osaka- Data

(Report 70-2, 1981. 256 pages)
This report gives the results of a survey carried out in Tokyo (the 23 special wards) and Osaka during the 1974 fiscal year. This research continues along the line of sociolinguistic research which has been conducted over the years at the Institute and is the first study of the actual linguistic life (GENGO SEIKATU) of a large number of informants in urban society. This survey described the actual situation of the linguistic life of citizens in two large cities which have a strong influence on the population, economics, culture, etc. of the country. Its main objective was to predict the ways in which the Japanese language will change in the future. In addition, this research combined a variety of goals: to compare the linguistic situation in Japan's western and eastern urban centers, Tokyo and Osaka and to clarify the differences between them, and to establish a methodology for research on the actual situation of language use in large cities. The framework and major contents of the Analysis volume are as follows. Chapter 1 Outline of the Survey: We outlined the survey objectives, methodology, survey conditions, and the analysis of the sociolinguistic background of the informants. We surveyed 1,000 informants in Tokyo and 500 in Osaka, receiving responses from 64% of the former and 72% of the latter. Chapter 2 Social Structure and Linguistic Life: We described the character of the large cities studied and the informants' consciousness of belonging to Tokyo or Osaka. Chapter 3 Linguistic Usage and Consciousness: We analyzed informants' attitudes towards the standard language and dialects, consciousness of relations with neighbors, attitudes towards the differences in male and female speech, images associated with the varieties of language spoken in Yamanote, Sitamati, etc., and the extent of their participation in the linguistic activities of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Chapter 4 Accent: We investigated the degree of conformity of the informants to Tokyo and Kyoto accent and analyzed the correlation between these results and the sociolinguistic background of informants. In addition, we clarified the actual situation regarding the words which were known to have several accent variants in Tokyo and Osaka. Chapter 5 Actual Usage of Vocabulary, Grammar: We analyzed the expressions for ASATTE NO YOKUZITU, 'the day after the day after tomorrow,' SONO YOKUZITU, 'the day after that,' the conditions for the usage of various dialectal vocabulary, potential expressions, the conjugation of the irregular verb SURU, usage of adverbs, etc. Chapter 6 Honorific Expressions: We described the actual usage of first person and second person pronouns, patterns in the usage of honorific expressions, and greeting behaviour in a variety of contexts. Chapter 7 Correlational Analysis: We reanalyzed several of the topics discussed in Chapters 3 and 4 using HAYASI's Theory of Quantification. Chapter 8 Outline of the Results of the Survey The Data volume is composed of five parts. Through the publication of the details of the quantitative results which, to avoid confusion, were not included in the Analysis volume, we have made available data which is relevant for comparison with results obtained in a variety of areas of linguistic and social science research. This survey was planned and designed by research staff at the Institute as well as researchers in linguistics at Iwate University, the University of Tsukuba, University of Tokyo, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies; researchers in sociology at Institute of Journalism and Communication Studies, University of Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitan University, and Osaka City University; and researchers in statistics at the Institute of Statistical Mathematics. In addition, in the actual carrying out of the survey we received the cooperation of researchers and students from a number of universities. Thus, this research was carried out cooperatively with the participation of a large number of researchers. The following 12 people represented the others during the writing of the report in the Analysis volume: NOMOTO Kikuo, EGAWA Kiyosi, YONEDA Masato, WATANABE Tomosuke, HAYASI Siro~, MINAMI Huzio, SUGITO Miyoko, SATO Ryo~iti, SAWAKI Motoei, SANADA Sin'zi, HIDA Yosihumi, and IITOYO Kiiti.

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