Language Ideologies and L2 Speaker Legitimacy Native Speaker Bias in Japan

This book examines dilemmas faced by second language (L2) Japanese speakers as a result of persistent challenges to their legitimacy as speakers of Japanese. Based on an ethnographic interview study with L2-Japanese speakers and their L1-Japanese-speaking friends, co-workers and significant others, the book examines ideologies linked to three core speech styles of Japanese - keigo or polite language, gendered language and regional dialects - to show how such ideologies impact L2-Japanese speakers. The author demonstrates that speaker legitimacy is often tenuous for L2 speakers and argues that, despite increasing numbers of Japanese-speaking foreign residents in Japan, native speaker bias remains a persistent issue for L2-Japanese speakers living and working in Japan. This book extends the discussion of native speaker bias beyond educational contexts, and in the process reveals tensions between how L2 speakers aspire to speak and how L1 speakers expect them to speak.

About the author

Jae DiBello Takeuchi is Assistant Professor of Japanese and Director of the Language and International Business Program in the Department of Languages, Clemson University, South Carolina, USA. Her research interests include Japanese sociolinguistics and language variation, second language acquisition, foreign language pedagogy, native speaker bias and speaker legitimacy.

Product details

• Authors: Jae DiBello Takeuchi
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Content: Book
• Product form: Paperback / Softback
• Publication date: 16.09.2025
• Subject: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Other languages / Other literatures
• EAN: 9781800414631
• ISBN: 978-1-80041-463-1
• Dimensions (packing): 15.6 x 23.4 x 1 cm
• Weight (packing): 290 g
• Series: Multilingual Matters
• Subjects: SOCIAL SCIENCE / Emigration & Immigration, Japanese, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Study & Teaching, Migration, immigration & emigration, Migration, immigration and emigration, Language teaching and learning, Bilingualism & multilingualism, East & Southeast Asian languages, Language teaching & learning (other than ELT), Bilingualism and multilingualism, Language Ideologies, gendered language, Dialect, Japanese as a second language, Japanese sociolinguistics, Regional Dialects, L2 Japanese speakers, native speaker bias, second language Japanese speakers, L2 speakers in Japan, Japanese-speaking foreign residents, L2-Japanese speakers, speaker legitimacy, keigo