Sunday, March 01, 2009

New Journal: Writing Systems Research

There is a new journal on writing systems coming up.

新しい文字・表記体系の専門誌が発行されます。


Description/紹介:
Writing Systems Research will provide an invaluable source of information for anyone involved in writing systems research, providing a unique selection of the latest developments in all relevant disciplines. For instance, informing psychologists about the latest thinking in linguistic analysis of writing systems, educators about the latest findings on the cognitive consequences of different writing systems, and linguists about developments in the neurolinguistics of reading and writing. In particular, the journal will reflect the range of writing systems across the globe in a balanced way. [Quoted from the publisher's website]

Details/詳細:
Writing Systems Research


[via LINGUIST List]

Restarting Posting/更新再開

It's a shame I've been away from this blog for 10 months, missing out lots of interesting stuff related to writing systems. I'll try to get back on track and perhaps write a few posts about past events that are too significant to let go unmentioned. Many thanks to the readers.

気が付けば10ヶ月もの間ブログの更新を怠っていました。この間、たくさんの文字・表記に関する興味深い話題を取り逃してしまい、情けない気持ちでいっぱいです。今日から更新を再開し、できれば過去数ヶ月にあった関連深い出来事についても取り上げたいと考えています。今後とも当ブログをよろしくお願いいたします。

Monday, May 05, 2008

The National Museum of Languages

The National Museum of Languages, a new museum specialising in languages of the world, opened on Saturday, May 3. According to its website, the mission of this museum to to enhance understanding of all aspects of language in history, contemporary affairs, and the future. The first exhibition, "Writing Language: Passing It On", features various writing systems such as Arabic, Hebrew, Ge'ez, Chinese, Japanese and Cherokee. The museum is located in College Park, Maryland.

世界の言語に特化した新しい美術館The National Museum of Languagesが5月3日にオープンしました。公式ウェブサイトによると、この美術館は過去・現在・未来における言語のあらゆる側面に関する理解の促進を目標に創立されました。第一回目の特別展示会はWriting Langauge: Passing It Onと題し、アラビア文字、ヘブライ文字、ゲエズ文字、漢字、日本の文字、チェロキー文字など、さまざまな文字に関する特集が組まれるとのことです。The National Museum of LanguagesはアメリカMaryland州のCollege Parkにあります。

[via LINGUIST List]

Sunday, April 27, 2008

UPDATE: A Symposium on Kanji Culture and the Future of the Japanese Language/漢字文化と日本語の未来

I have updated the article on the symposium, which will be held on May 17, 2008. For more information, see the symposium's official website.

2008年5月17日に開催されるシンポジウムに関する記事を更新しました。詳細はシンポジウムのウェブサイトをご覧ください。

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Written Language and Literacy, 10(2)

Journal Title/雑誌タイトル:
Written Language and Literacy

Volume/巻号:
Vol. 10, No. 2 (Special issue: Constraints on Spelling Changes)

Publisher/出版社:
John Benjamins Publishing Company

TOC/目次:
Available from the publisher's website.

Details/詳細:
Click here.

New Book: Analyses of Script

Book Title/書籍タイトル:
Analyses of Script: Properties of Characters and Writing Systems

Series Title/シリーズ・タイトル:
Quantitative Linguistics, 63

Editors/編者:
Gabriel Altmann & Fan Fengxiang

Publisher/出版社:
Mouton de Gruyter

TOC/目次:
Available from the publisher's website.

Abstract/要旨:
This volume presents 12 papers on a new approach to the analysis of writing systems. For the first time, quantitative methods are introduced into this area of research in a systematic way. The individual contributions give an overview about quantitative properties of symbols and of writing systems, introduce methods of analysis, study individual writing systems as used for different languages, set up an explanatory model of phenomena connected to script development/evolution, and give a perspective to a general theory of writing systems. [Quoted from the publisher's website]


[via LINGUIST List]

Friday, April 25, 2008

Correction: Breton Orthographies and Dialects

In yesterday's article on the new book "Breton Orthographies and Dialects", I mistakenly cited Christian Bieri as the author, who had announced the publication on LINGUIST List. The author of this book is Iwan Wmffre. My sincere apologies for the incorrect information.

新刊"Breton Orthographies and Dialects"に関する昨日の記事の中で、誤って著者をChristian Bieri氏とお伝えしてしまいましたが、氏はLINGUIST Listで出版情報を通知された方でした。この本の実際の著者はIwan Wmffre氏です。不正確な情報を掲載してしまい、誠に申し訳ございません。

Thursday, April 24, 2008

New Book: Breton Orthographies and Dialects

Book Title/書籍タイトル:
Breton Orthographies and Dialects: The Twentieth-Century Orthography War in Brittany

Series Title/書籍タイトル:
Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics, 18 & 19

Author/著者:
Wmffre, Iwan

Publisher/出版社:
Peter Lang Publishing Group

TOC/目次:
Available from the publisher's website.

Abstract/要旨:

This work is for comparative linguists and celticists who are keen to study Breton but may be too daunted to undertake such a venture by the wide variety of orthographical conventions which exist in Breton.
The chronological development of the Breton orthographical debates during the twentieth century is charted along with an attempt to discern the ideological, political and personal motivations which lay behind those debates. Based on a substantial corpus of hitherto unpublished original documents and personal interviews, the research throws new light on the nature of the political, ideological and linguistic divisions of the Breton movement of that period (not least the events that occurred during the 1939-45 war).
The historical and societal background of the language is succinctly delineated and points of orthographical contention are discussed, each in turn, so that their correlation to the spoken varieties of Breton can be judged by the reader.
The work should dispel once and for all the notion - boosted by the existing orthographical instability and variety - that Breton is too dialectally fragmented to be studied profitably without an inordinate amount of effort. [Quoted from the publisher's website]


[via LINGUIST List]

Sunday, April 20, 2008

A Feature Article on the Origin of the Alphabet

The May 2008 issue of the Japanese science magazine Newton has a feature article on the origin of the alphabet. The magazine has an established reputation for the quality of articles on a wide range of scientific topics, written in an accessible langauge and illustrated with rich graphic materials.

科学雑誌『Newton』の2008年5月号に「アルファベットのルーツ」と題する特集記事が掲載されています。本誌は、平明なことばで書かれ、美しい写真やイラストで飾られた、科学の様々な分野に関する質の高い記事を掲載することで知られています。

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

A Symposium on Kanji Culture and the Future of the Japanese Language/漢字文化と日本語の未来

Event title/イベントタイトル:
「漢字文化と日本語の未来」(日本語学会2008年度春季大会シンポジウム)
English title not announced (Trans.: A symposium on Kanji culture and the future of the Japanese language)

Aim/趣旨:
諸メディアの発展に伴い情報化時代を迎えた現在、かな漢字変換辞書を通して打ち出されるJIS漢字が日本語表記に大きな役割を果たしている。一方、JIS 漢字の改正、表外漢字字体表の答申、人名用漢字の追加に加え、常用漢字表の見直しも進められるなど施策を巡る動きも活性化してきた。こうした状況の中で、日本人や日本語学習者にとっての漢字について、過去を見据え、未来を展望するべく種々の観点から検討を加えたい。 [from the symposium's website]
Date/日時:
May 17 (Saturday), 2008, 14:00 - 17:00

Place/会場:
Nihon University (Tokyo, Japan) /日本大学 百周年記念館国際会議場(A会場)

Details/詳細:
Click here.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Journal of Research in Reading, 31(1)

Journal title/雑誌タイトル:
Journal of Research in Reading

Volume/巻号:
Volume 31, No. 1

Publisher/出版社:
Blackwell

Table of contents/目次:
Click here.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Journal of Research in Reading, 30(4)

Journal title/雑誌タイトル:
Journal of Research in Reading

Volume/巻号:
Volume 30, No. 4

Publisher/出版社:
Blackwell

Table of contents/目次:
Click here.

Reading and Writing, 20(6-9)

Journal title/雑誌タイトル:
Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Volume/巻号:
Volume 20, Nos. 6-9

Table of contents/目次:
Click here.

New Book: Planning Chinese Characters

Book Title/書籍タイトル:
Planning Chinese Characters: Reaction, Evolution or Revolution?

Series Title/シリーズ・タイトル:
Language Policy, 9

Authors/著者
:
Shouhui Zhao & Richard B. Jr. Baldauf

Publisher/出版社
:
Springer

TOC/目次:
Available from the publisher's website.

Abstract/要旨:
The whole world has been watching the vast changes that are currently occurring in China, but few people are aware that at the same time, to ensure the writing system serves these changes well, Chinese characters have also undergone significant reform. While focusing on current problems, developments and possible solutions, this book also details the major implementation of language planning programs for the modernization of the Chinese writing system that have occurred over the last century.

The volume provides a broad and in-depth analysis of the conflict between one of the world’s oldest surviving script systems and the latest developments in communication technology. Comprehensive in coverage, interdisciplinary in structure, with copious references to assist readers in locating a wide range of resources, this book offers an analytic discussion of character planning that will prove of great value to language policymakers and those who are interested in China/East Asian studies and sinology. [Quoted from the publishers website]

Details/詳細:
Click here.

New Book: Remembering the Kanji 3 (Second Edition)

Book Title/書籍タイトル:
Remembering the Kanji 3: Writing and Reading Japanese Characters for Upper-Level Proficiency (Second Edition)

Authors/著者
:
James W. Heisig & Tanya Sienko

Publisher/出版社:
University of Hawai`i Press

TOC/目次:
Available from the publisher's website.

Abstract/要旨:
Students who have learned to read and write the basic 2,000 characters run into the same difficulty that university students in Japan face: The government-approved list of basic educational kanji is not sufficient for advanced reading and writing. Although each academic specialization requires supplementary kanji of its own, a large number of these kanji overlap. With that in mind, the same methods employed in volumes 1 and 2 of Remembering the Kanji have been applied to 1,000 additional characters determined as useful for upper-level proficiency, and the results published as the third volume in the series. [Quoted from the publisher's website]

Details/詳細:
Click here.

New Book: Remembering the Kanji 2 (Third Edition)

Book Title/書籍タイトル:
Remembering the Kanji 2: A systematic Guide to Reading the Japanese Characters (Third Edition)

Author/著者
:
James W. Heisig

Publisher/出版社
:
University of Hawai`i Press

TOC/目次:
Available from the publisher's website.

Abstract/要旨:

Following the first volume of Remembering the Kanji, the present work takes up the pronunciation of characters and provides students with helpful tools for memorizing them. Behind the notorious inconsistencies in the way the Japanese language has come to pronounce the characters it received from China lie several coherent patterns. Identifying these patterns and arranging them in logical order can reduce dramatically the amount of time spent in the brute memorization of sounds unrelated to written forms. [Quoted from the publisher's website]

Details/詳細:

Click here.

UPDATE: Nihongo Kutoho Kenkyukai/日本語句読法研究会

The first meeting of the study group 日本語句読法研究会 (Nihongo Kutoho Kenkyukai) was held on January 12. For reviews, click on the links below.

日本語句読法研究会の第一回研究会が1月12日に開催されました。以下のリンクから出席者による報告をご覧になれます。

Writing Systems Syllabi (via LINGUIST List)

Peter T. Daniels, co-editor of The World's Writing Systems (1996), has posted the following message on LINGUIST List (19.261):

World's Writing Systems (1996) の編著者の一人であるPeter T. Daniels氏が、LINGUIST List (19.261) に以下のメッセージを投稿されています:

Subject: Writing Systems Syllabi

I have been a scholar of writing systems for 20+ years, but I am not a teacher. The opportunity has arisen to perhaps submit a proposal for a textbook on writing systems, so I would appreciate the opportunity of examining syllabi for one-semester (or one-quarter) courses on writing systems that have been taught by linguists, and I am not aware of any repository of such syllabi.

Thus: I would appreciate receiving any syllabus -- the more detailed the better -- that has been used for a course in writing systems.

Thank you.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Call for Papers: The 136th Meeting of the Linguistic Society of Japan/日本言語学会

The 136th Meeting of the Linguistic Society of Japan will be held at Gakushuin University (Tokyo, Japan) from June 21 to 22, 2008. Deadline for papers is March 20, 2008.
For details, click here.

日本言語学界の2008年春季大会(第136回大会)が2008年6月21と22日の両日に学習院大学(東京都)にて開催されます。発表申し込みの締め切りは2008年3月20日となっています。
詳細はこちらをご覧ください。

New Feature: CALENDAR

Today I added the CALENDAR feature to the side bar so that I can list upcoming events and call deadlines. By clicking the links you can jump to the relevant pages.

本日サイドバーにCALENDARを追加しました。ここには学会などの各種イベントの開催日や締め切りなどの予定を掲載していきます。リンクをクリックすると関連ページにジャンプします。

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Nihongo Kutoho Kenkyukai/日本語句読法研究会

I received a notice about a new study group called 日本語句読法研究会 (Nihongo Kutoho Kenkyukai), which will focus on issues related to the Japanese punctuation system. According to their web page, the first meeting will be held on Saturday, January 12, 2008, starting from 3 p.m. The place for the meeting is to be confirmed.

For details, click here.


日本語の句読法について研究する「日本語句読法研究会」が発足したそうです。会のページによれば、第一回研究会は2008年1月12日(土)15時より開催されるとのことです。なお、会場は未定とのことです。

詳しくはこちらをご覧ください。

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Written Language and Literacy, 10(1)

The latest issue of Written Language and Literacy (Vol. 10, No. 1) has been published. For the table of contents and other information, click here.


Written Language and Literacy』の最新号(10巻1号)が出版されました。目次などの情報はこちらをご覧ください。

Friday, November 02, 2007

Call for Papers: The 6th Workshop on Writing Systems

A call for papers has been published on LINGUIST List (18.3200) for The Sixth Workshop on Writing Systems, which will take place from September 18 to 19, 2008, at University of Braunschweig in Germany. The topic for the present workshop is Typology of Writing Systems. Submission deadline is May 2, 2008.

The invited speakers are William J. Poser (University of British Columbia/Yinka Dene Language Institute) and Rebecca Treiman (Washington University).

For details, click here.


2008年9月18日から19日の二日間に渡りドイツのUniversity of Braunschweigで開催されるThe Sixth Workshop on Writing Systemsの発表者募集がLINGUIST List (18.3200) を通じて通知されました。今回のワークショップのテーマはTypology of Writing Systems(文字・表記体系の類型論)となっています。LINGUIST Listの通知によれば、発表希望者は2008年5月2日までに要旨を提出することになっています。

なお、このワークショップでは、William J. Poser氏(University of British Columbia/Yinka Dene Language Institute)とRebecca Treiman氏(Washington University)による基調講演も予定されているそうです。

詳細はこちらをご覧ください。

Friday, July 20, 2007

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Reading and Writing

A call for papers has been published on LINGUIST List for a special issue of Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal. The subtitle for the special issues is Acquiring Reading in Two Languages: Linguistic and Orthographic Factors. Call deadline is February 1, 2008.

For details, click here.


Reading and Writing』特別号への投稿募集がLINGUIST Listで通知されました。特別号のサブタイトルはAcquiring Reading in Two Languages: Linguistic and Orthographic Factorsとなっています。募集締め切りは2008年2月1日です。

詳細はこちらをご覧ください。

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

BBC on Simplified English Spelling

Should we simplify spelling? - BBC News (July 10, 2007)

This article revisits the old and never-ending debate on English spelling reform. It features a series of emails exchanged between Ms. Masha Bell, a member of the Simplified Spelling Society, and Prof. Vivian Cook of Newcastle University. Ms. Bell argues that the current spelling system needs to be simplified to facilitate children's learning to read. Prof. Cook opposes her view from a linguistic standpoint, stressing that spelling is just one of various factors related to literacy.

Reading and Writing, 20(1-5)

Information on the latest issues of Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal (Vol. 20, Nos. 1-5) is now available from the publisher's website.


Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal』の最新号(20巻1-5号)に関する情報が出版社のウェブサイトで公開されました。

Update: CAASL-2

Programme and other information on the Second Workshop on Computational Approaches to Arabic Script-based Languages (CAASL-2) is now available from the workshop's homepage.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Workshop on Writing Systems and the Linguistic Structure

This workshop will be held in conjunction with the 18th International Congress of Linguistics (CIL 18).

According to the meeting description, centre to this workshop will be the following questions, although papers on other topics are also encouraged:

  • What kinds of formal constraints constrain the mapping between language and
    writing?
  • What effects do properties of writing systems have on conscious (or
    unconscious) knowledge of language among literate speakers.
  • Are properties of scripts and writing systems -- e.g. such overt properties
    as script directionality -- related to what kind of information is encoded?

For those who are interested in giving a presentation, the deadline for submitting the abstract is August 31, 2007. For details, visit the official website shown above.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

The Role of Phonology in Reading Acquisition

A workshop entitled The Role of Phonology in Reading Acquisition
will be held at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS).

Date: February 28-29, 2008
Place: Bamberg, Germany
Website: http://www.uni-bamberg.de/en/guk/tagungen/dgfs2008/program/panel_sessions/

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Journal of Research in Reading, 30(2)

Information on the latest issue of Journal of Research in Reading (Vol. 30, No. 2) is now available from the publisher's website.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

The Asahi Shimbun on Kokuji

漢字にも「方言」 早大教授が100以上の地域文字発見 (Google cache) - The Asahi Shimbun (April 16, 2007)

This article focuses on Japanese kokuji (国字), Siniform characters constituting a subclass of the kanji script. The kokuji characters were created in Japan using the organisational principles of the kanji characters, which had been originally developed in and adopted from China. While some of the kokuji characters encode such basic lexemes as 'farming field' and '(to) work', others represent more vernacular ones such as family names, place names and local commodities. The article introduces the reader to a survey conducted by Professor Hiroyuki Sasahara (笹原 宏之) of Waseda University, in which he has collected more than 100 vernacular characters from communities across Japan. Until now these characters were virtually unattested because they had been known only to particular members of the individual communities. According to Professor Sasahara, kokuji reflect the culture and history of the people's struggle to write their own words.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Your Feedback

Please leave your feedback here. Your comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!
フィードバックはこちらからどうぞ。ご意見やご指摘などいただけましたら幸いです。

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Written Language and Literacy, 9(2)

The latest issue of the journal Written Language and Literacy (Vol. 9, No. 2) has been published. See details.

Typology of Writing Systems

Typology of Writing Systems
Date: September, 2008 (date not yet announced)
Place: University of Braunschweig, Brunswick, Germany
URL: http://www.ru.nl/WrittenLanguage/workshops.html

Friday, April 13, 2007

A Chinese Signboard Written in the Jawi Script

I went on a short trip to Johor, Malaysia, in October 2006. It was quite fascinating to see lots of signs written in the Jawi script, an Arabic-derived script devised to represent the Malay language. One of the most exciting moments was when I saw this signboard at a Chinese-owned bank called Hong Leong Bank (豊隆銀行), which was written in Chinese, Latin and Jawi characters. The Jawi part would be transliterated as something like hong lyong bengk, with the notable ε-shaped velar nasal character - 'ayn with three dots on it - which is not found in the original Arabic script.
I found this particularly interesting because it was an actual example of the Jawi script used to write a Chinese name. While there are similar cases attested in historical texts, I am not certain if such usage is still wide-spread in Malaysia today. My impression is that the use of Jawi is on the rise among the Malays especially in the southern part of the country, where I met several people who would write their names in this script.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Origins of Early Writing System

Origins of Early Writing System
Date: October 5-7, 2007
Place: Institute of Ancient Near Easter Language and Civilizations, Peking University, Beijing, China
URL: www.caeno.org/origins/home.html

A Workshop On Scripts, Non-scripts and (Pseudo)decipherment

A Workshop On Scripts, Non-scripts and (Pseudo)decipherment
Date: July 11, 2007
Place: Department of Linguistics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Website: http://compling.ai.uiuc.edu/2007Workshop/
Programme: http://serrano.ai.uiuc.edu/2007Workshop/abstracts.html

CAASL-2

The Second Workshop on Computational Approaches to Arabic Scipt-based Languages (CAASL-2)
Date: July 21-22, 2007
Place: Department of Linguistics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
URL: http://www.zoorna.org/CAASL2/

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Welcome to K's Writing System Research Blog!

I am a postgraduate student doing research on the Japanese writing system from a linguistic perspective. I started this blog to collect (and, hopefully, provide) information about research on the world's writing systems.

In the past decades there has been an upsurge of academic interest in linguistic issues related to aspects of writing systems. These issues are being actively explored by specialists, discussed on various occasions and published as journal articles and books. We can access a wide range of information about these activities at ease through useful websites run by organisations and individuals. However, there are so many fragments of information dispersed over the Internet that it is quite difficult to go through everything and remain updated.

This blog is basically intended as a personal notebook which I will use for coping with the situation described above. Nevertheless, I will keep it open to anyone who finds the contents interesting, useful or both. Most posts will be brief notes on or reminders of events, publications and media reports related to writing system research. At times I will also post notes on other miscellaneous issues. The posts will be archived and sorted by topic for an easy access.

While I will try to be very careful about the fitness of each post, it will be greatly appreciated if you could kindly notice me of any flaw or inadequate content. In case you want to contact me, please leave comments on specific posts or give me a general feedback. Suggestions will be most welcome.

(Updated on January 28, 2008)



このブログは、大学院で言語学の立場から日本語の文字・表記体系を研究している筆者が、世界の文字・表記体系の研究に関する情報を集め、(可能であれば)発信していくために立ち上げたものです。

近年、文字・表記体系の諸相に対し、言語学的な観点からアプローチしていこうという動きが盛んになっています。様々なトピックが専門家によって盛んに研究され、議論され、学術論文や専門書の形を取って刊行されています。私たちは、研究機関や個人によって運営されている多くのウェブサイトを通じ、これらの研究活動について幅広い情報を集めることができます。一方、インターネット上には無数の情報が散乱しているため、そのすべてに目を通し、常に最新の情報にアクセスするのは大変難しい状況です。

このブログは、原則として、そのような状況に対処するための個人的な備忘録として運営しているものです。しかし、その内容が皆様にとって興味あるものであったり、有用な情報であったりすれば幸いと考え、公開という形を取っています。ここに掲載される記事の多くは、文字・表記体系の研究に関連するイベント刊行物報道などについての簡単なノートや覚え書きです。この他にも、折にふれて様々な事柄に関する記事を掲載していく予定です。記事は内容によって分類し、アーカイブしていきます。

記事の内容については細心の注意を払っていますが、万一誤りや不適切な内容があるようでしたら、ご一報いただければ幸いです。その場合、個々の記事に対するコメントか、全般的なフィードバックをいただければと思います。ご提案やご指摘などもお待ちしています。

(更新:2008年1月28日)