The Idea of English in Japan ― Ideology and the Evolution of a Global Language

If ideas about language always reflect the ideas we have about ourselves as social beings, as argues Seargeant (applied linguistics, The Open U., UK), then "the idea of English as a global language is an idea also of a globalized world and the idea of the challenges this ushers in for contemporary society." He analyzes the way English is conceptualized in contemporary Japanese society in terms of discourse about the language and presentation of the language within the sociocultural environment. He seeks to identify the ideological frameworks involving English through understanding its symbolic meaning in Japan and how this meaning is expressed and negotiated in society. This discussion is also placed in context of debates over what actually constitutes a "global language" and the relationship between the universal and the historically contingent in understanding language use in the world. Distributed in the US by UTP Distribution. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Philip Seargeant is Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics in the Centre for Language and Communication, The Open University. He is author of The Idea of English in Japan (Multilingual Matters, 2009) and Exploring World Englishes (Routledge), and editor of English in Japan in the Era of Globalization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and English in the World: History, Diversity, Change (Routledge, 2012, with Joan Swann).