Dialects, data, and dialogue: A summer of sociolinguistics in Japan
This summer, Associate Professor Jae DiBello Takeuchi was a visiting research fellow at Ehime University in Matsuyama City, Japan. Her long-standing research on the linguistic experiences of foreign residents in Ehime led to a collaboration with an applied linguist at the university. “Being on the Ehime University campus was a great opportunity for me to expand my research agenda and connect with the faculty and students there,” she said.
While in residence, Takeuchi conducted fieldwork for several ongoing projects, including a study on beliefs about foreign-accented Japanese. She also launched a new initiative examining language change and regional dialects in Ehime. “Japanese language is well-known for its regional dialects,” she explained, “but language standardization is ongoing, and one question linguists have is which aspects of dialect are disappearing, and which remain an active part of contemporary usage.”
Her research also explores how foreign residents navigate local dialects, and what value speakers place on preserving these linguistic forms. “Foreign residents who live and work in Ehime need to understand the local dialect, which can be challenging,” she noted. “An additional aspect I am examining is what linguistic benefit speakers see in preserving their local dialects.”
Takeuchi was invited to deliver the plenary address at the annual meeting of the Japanese Society for Language Sciences (JSLS), hosted this year by Ehime University. Her talk, “L2-Japanese Speakers and the Sociolinguistics of Ehime Dialects,” highlighted her extensive research on regional language variation.
“I have been conducting research on the dialects of Ehime for a number of years,” she said, “so it was a unique opportunity to be able to present my research on Ehime dialects in Ehime.”
She also gave a public lecture for the university community titled “The Impact of Meta-Talk: Using Sociolinguistics to Understand Talk about Talk.”
Beyond her research presentations, Takeuchi visited classes and met regularly with students, discussing their interests, approaches to learning English, and perspectives on generative AI. Conversations with faculty revealed differing attitudes toward AI’s impact on education. “Like faculty at IU, many Ehime U. faculty discussed the importance of guiding students in the use of AI,” she said. “But I was surprised to learn that few faculty were actively concerned about negative impacts on students from AI.”
One instructor explained that because students do so much in-class work, over-reliance on AI would not significantly affect grades or raise concerns about academic integrity. Reflecting on these conversations, Takeuchi added, “As the discussion of AI at IU progresses and more of us incorporate it into our teaching, I felt we have a lot to learn from our colleagues in Japan.”
Students interested in Japanese linguistics, sociolinguistics, or language variation are encouraged to enroll in Professor Takeuchi’s courses and explore the many other outstanding language and culture offerings available through the Hamilton Lugar School. These programs provide rich opportunities to engage with global perspectives and deepen understanding of the connections between language, identity, and society.