Peter Backhaus

Bio: Peter Backhaus is an academic researcher from Waseda University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Multilingualism & Linguistic landscape. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 19 publications receiving 728 citations.

Linguistic Landscapes: A Comparative Study of Urban Multilingualism in Tokyo

Abstract: 1 Introduction 2 Semiotic background and terminology 3 Previous approaches to the linguistic landscape: An overview 4 Summary 5 Case study: Signs of multilingualism in Tokyo 6 Conclusions References Appendix: The 28 survey areas

Multilingualism in Tokyo: A Look into the Linguistic Landscape

Abstract: This paper is about multilingual signs in Tokyo. It is based on empirical research conducted in 2003. Special attention is given to the distinction between official and nonofficial multilingual signs. It will be demonstrated that the two types of signs exhibit some essentially different characteristics with regard to the languages contained and their arrangement on a sign. These differences will be interpreted using the notions of power and solidarity. While official signs are designed mainly to express and reinforce existing power relations, nonofficial signs make use of foreign languages in order to communicate solidarity with things non-Japanese. Both types of signs have their share in changing Tokyo's linguistic landscape.

Signs of multilingualism in Tokyo — a diachronic look at the linguistic landscape

Abstract: This article examines multilingual signs in the streets of Tokyo. It focuses on the diachronic development of Tokyo’s linguistic landscape since the early 1990s. Based on data gained in the course of an empirical study in 2003, it will be demonstrated how the coexistence of older and newer types of signs allows for the detection and reconstruction of ongoing changes in language use patterns. Results suggest an increase in linguistic heterogeneity with regard to (1) languages and scripts contained on the signs; (2) amount of multilingual information; (3) foreign language proficiency; and (4) proportion of languages and scripts.

Politeness in institutional elderly care in Japan: A cross-cultural comparison

Abstract: Abstract This paper looks at communication between staff and residents in a Japanese elderly care facility. It discusses the role of politeness in this special type of health care setting from a cross-cultural perspective. Starting with a review of previous literature on the topic, some basic characteristics of communication between staff and residents in nursing homes are outlined. The overall conditions that apply in the caring context with regard to linguistic politeness are described on the basis of Brown and Levinson's framework. The main part of the paper presents speech data from a Japanese nursing home, analyzed in direct comparison with data from other cultural contexts. In so doing, an attempt is made to outline some common communicative features in institutional elderly care. The summarizing discussion focuses on the question of whether the special conditions of institutional elderly care may indeed generate very similar types of communication across different cultural settings.

Communication in Elderly Care: Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Abstract: Elderspeak in institutional care for older adults / Kristine N. Williams -- Dementia care communication in residential facilities : intersections of training and research / Boyd H. Davis, Mary K. Smith -- Creating a positive communication environment in long-term care settings / Rosemary Lubinski -- Care of people with Alzheimer's disease in New Zealand : supporting the telling of life stories / Margaret Maclagan, Annabel Grant -- From home to institution : roles, relations, and the loss of autonomy in the care of old people in Denmark / Trine Heinemann -- Cake or meat? : a case study on dinner conversations in a migrant-in-the-family household in Germany / Hilke Engfer -- "Me nurse, you resident" : institutional role-play in a Japanese caring facility / Peter Backhaus -- Reframing to regain identity with humor : what conversations with friends suggest for communication in elderly care / Yoshiko Matsumoto -- At the intersection of art, Alzheimer's disease, and discourse : talk in the surround of paintings / Heidi E. Hamilton -- Using narrative arts to foster personhood in dementia / Ellen B. Ryan, Lori Schindel Martin.

Attitudes to Language

Abstract: Just about everyone seems to have views about language. Language attitudes and language ideologies permeate our daily lives. Our competence, intelligence, friendliness, trustworthiness, social status, group memberships, and so on, are often judged from the way we communicate. Even the speed at which we speak can evoke reactions. And we often try to anticipate such judgements as we communicate. In this lively introduction, Peter Garrett draws upon research carried out over recent decades in order to discuss such attitudes and the implications they have for our use of language, for social advantage or discrimination, and for social identity. Using a range of examples that includes punctuation, words, grammar, pronunciation, accents, dialects and languages, this book explores the intricate and fascinating ways in which language influences our everyday thoughts, feelings and behaviour.

Linguistic landscape : expanding the scenery

Abstract: Linguistic Landscape: Expanding the Scenery Elana Shohamy and Durk Gorter eds. Introduction Elana Shohamy and Durk Gorter Part I: Theoretical Perspectives Linguistic Landscaping and the Seed of the Public Sphere Florian Coulmas, Prolegomena to a Sociolinguistic Theory of Public Signage Bernard Spolsky A Sociological Approach to the Study of Linguistic Landscapes Eliezer Ben-Rafael Language Economy and Linguistic Landscape Jasone Cenoz and Durk Gorter Framework for the Linguistic Analysis of Linguistic Landscapes Thom Huebner Language Ecology and Linguistic Landscape Analysis Francis M. Hult Part II: Methodological Issues Authorship in the Linguistic Landscape: A Multimodal-Performative View David Malinowski A Mapping Technique and the Linguistic Landscape Monica Barni and Carla Bagna What's in a Name? Classification of Proper Names by Language Loulou Edelman Part III: Language Policy Issues Rules and Regulations in Linguistic Landscaping: a Comparative Perspective Peter Backhaus State Ideology and Linguistic Landscape: a Comparative Analysis of (Post)communist Belarus, Czech Republic and Slovakia Marian Sloboda Language Ideology and Linguistic Landscape: Language Policy and Globalization in a Regional Capital of Ethiopia Elizabeth Lanza and Hint Woldemariam Local Policy Modeling the Linguistic Landscape Silvia Dal Negro Part IV: Identity and Awareness Languages on Display: Indexical Signs, Identities and the Linguistic Landscape of Taipei Melissa L. Curtin Constructing National Identity in Mixed Cities in Israel: Arabic on Signs in the Public Space of Upper Nazareth Nira Trumper-Hecht Linguistic Landscape and Language Awareness Diane Dagenais, Daniele Moore, Cecile Sabatier, Patricia Lamarre and Francoise Armand Tourism and Representation in the Irish Linguistic Landscape Jeffrey Kallen Part V: Extensions and the Way Forward Science and the Linguistic Landscape: A Genre Analysis of Representational Wall Space In a Microbiology Laboratory David I. Hanauer Linguistic Landscapes and the Transgressive Semiotics of Graffiti Alastair Pennycook Linguistic Landscape as an Ecological Arena: Modalities, Meaning, Negotiation, Education Elana Shohamy and Shoshi Waksman

Family language policy – the critical domain

Abstract: Introducing a pioneering series of studies of family language policy and management, this paper points out that classic language policy dealt almost entirely with the nation-state, although it did recognise the critical role of the family in determining natural intergenerational transmission of a variety. After arguing for the need to look at each of the levels, or, rather, domains making up a speech or political community, it shows how these studies deal with internal pressures (such as ideology or grandparents) and external domains (especially the school) which aim to influence the family domain. More studies of these domains, including the family, are needed to provide a clear understanding of language policy.

Linguistic landscape : a new approach to multilingualism

Abstract: Contents 1. Introduction: The Study of the Linguistic Landscape as a New Approach to Multilingualism - Durk Gorter (Fryske Akademy, Universiteit van Amsterdam) 2. Linguistic Landscape as Symbolic Construction of the Public Space: The Case of Israel - Eliezer Ben-Rafael, Elana Shohamy (Tel Aviv University), Muhammad Hasan Amara (Bar-Ilan University) and Nira Trumper-Hecht (Tel Aviv University) 3. Bangkok's Linguistic Landscapes: Environmental Print, Codemixing and Language Change - Thom Huebner (San Jose State University) 4. Multilingualism in Tokyo: A Look into the Linguistic Landscape - Peter Backhaus (German Institute for Japanese Studies, Tokyo) 5. Linguistic Landscape and Minority Languages - Jasone Cenoz (University of Basque Country) and Durk Gorter (Fryske Akademy/Universiteit van Amsterdam) 6. Further Possibilities for Linguistics Landscape Research - Durk Gorter

Commodified language in Chinatown: A contextualized approach to linguistic landscape1

Abstract: In Washington DC's newly gentrified Chinatown, recent commercial establishments, primarily non-Chinese owned chains, use Chinese-language signs as design features targeted towards people who neither read nor have ethnic ties to Chinese. Using this neighborhood as a case study, we advocate a contextualized, historicized and spatialized perspective on linguistic landscape which highlights that landscapes are not simply physical spaces but are instead ideologically charged constructions. Drawing from cultural geography and urban studies, we analyze how written language interacts with other features of the built environment to construct commodified urban places. Taking a contextually informed, qualitative approach, we link micro-level analysis of individual Chinese-language signs to the specific local socio-geographic processes of spatial commodification. Such a qualitative approach to linguistic landscape, which emphasizes the importance of sociohistorical context, and which includes analysis of signage use, function, and history, leads to a greater understanding of the larger sociopolitical meanings of linguistic landscapes.