Online Book Launch: Loanwords and Japanese Identity: Inundating or Absorbed?

Dear Colleagues, 

My monograph Loanwords and Japanese Identity: Inundating or Absorbed? just came out and I would like to invite you to the following online book launch event hosted by Tokyo College, University of Tokyo.

Book Launch: Loanwords and Japanese Identity: Inundating or Absorbed?
Date/Time: 19 April 2023 17:00-18:30 (Japan) / 9:00-10:30 (UK) / 10:00-11:30 (Central European Summer Time)
Language: English with Japanese translation
Venue: Online (Zoom webinar)
Lecture: HOSOKAWA Naoko
Commentators: Prof. MURAMOTO Yukiko and Prof. Blai GUARNÉ
Moderator: Prof. HANEDA Masashi

Description:
Is our language inundated by loanwords? Or is it being enriched by absorbing foreign vocabulary? We often hear such discussions in contemporary Japan. But why does this topic attract so much public interest? By criticising or praising the use of loanwords, what values are promoted by participants in this discussion? Grappling with these questions, Loanwords and Japanese Identity: Inundating or Absorbed? provides an in-depth analysis of metalinguistic discourse on lexical borrowing in the Japanese language. In order to explore the relationship between language and identity, it focuses particularly on recurrent wordings in the debates, such as verbs, adjectives, metaphors, and contrasts as well as example loanwords. Examining the evolution of language used to talk about loanwords, the book argues that the debates over the use of loanwords reveal what is valued in the Japanese society as a reflection of the on-going (re-)negotiation of Japanese identity.  

The event is free and open to the public but registration is required. 
More information and registration on the link below: 
https://www.tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ai1ec_event/8891/

Please feel free to circulate the information to anyone who may be interested.

Best wishes,
Naoko HOSOKAWA
Postdoctoral Fellow
Tokyo College, University of Tokyo