English Produced by Japanese L2 Users (eBook)

This book discusses eight grammatical items, with main focus on prepositions and plural nouns, to illustrate the structure of Japanese English or the English spoken by 32 Japanese nationals who are the L2 users of English. Adopting an inductive, theory-neutral, analysis of empirical data collected from recordings of presentational talks, the author demonstrates how standard and nonstandard grammatical forms are distributed, and categorizes these based largely on functional factors. The book describes grammatical forms as a fundamental aspect of linguistic study and adopts a corpus-driven approach to qualify structural features characterizing usage data. This formalization of language usage patterns also facilitates the development of 'locally' relevant norms and thus presents alternatives to the normative varieties traditionally adopted. It examines the effects of multicompetence and unpacks the grammar of Japanese English. The book is of interest to researchers, educators, and students concerned with issues related to World Englishes, English as a lingua franca, English language teaching, and multilingualism, this text is vital to studies in global English language use.

Toshiko Yamaguchi formerly taught at the Department of English Language at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She holds a PhD in Japanese linguistics from Essex University, UK (1992-1999). She also holds two MAs: a MA in Applied Linguistics from NUS, Singapore (2005-2007) and a Magister Artium in English and German Studies from Heidelberg University, Germany (1987-1992). Before coming to Malaysia, she taught at the Department of Japanese Studies at NUS (1999-2003) and Center for Language Studies (2005-2007). Her current research interest is the analysis of Japanese English as an international language. In her earlier academic work, her focus was on the investigation of the Japanese language in terms of its synchronic and diachronic aspects. She has published two single-authored books (both in 2007) and co-authored edited volumes on Malaysian English (2016) and voices in in texts and contexts (2021).

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This book discusses ten grammatical items, with main focus on prepositions and plural nouns, to illustrate the structure of Japanese English or the English spoken by 32 Japanese nationals who are the L2 users of English. Adopting an inductive, theory-neutral, analysis of empirical data collected from recordings of presentational talks, the author demonstrates how standard and nonstandard grammatical forms are distributed, and categorizes these based largely on functional factors. The book describes grammatical forms as a fundamental aspect of linguistic study and adopts a corpus-driven approach to qualify structural features characterizing usage data. This formalization of language usage patterns also facilitates the development of 'locally' relevant norms and thus presents alternatives to the normative varieties traditionally adopted. It examines the effects of multicompetence and unpacks the grammar of Japanese English. The book is of interest to researchers, educators, and studentsconcerned with issues related to World Englishes, English as a lingua franca, English language teaching, and multilingualism, this text is vital to studies in global English language use.