国立国語研究所要覧 2013/2014

要旨

Japanese has a noun gakujutsu 'advanced learning', where the first half gaku-refers to 'science' or 'elucidation of abstract principles of the universe' and the second half jutsu to 'technology' or 'practical application of abstract principles to human life'.NINJAL is particularly suited to carry out both these functions in a coherent way.As is commonly known, human language has two facets.One is the biological and psychological aspect related to the abstract language faculty in the brain that is intrinsic in human beings and makes it possible to create an infinite variety of language resources.The other is the socio-cultural aspect associated with the practical use of language as a tool for communication.Very roughly, the former, which has to do with abstract principles of language competence and therefore corresponds to gaku, is investigated chiefly by the Department of Linguistic Theory and Structure and by the Department of Crosslinguistic Studies.On the other hand, the latter, which has to do with Japanese speakers' socio-cultural behaviors, requires techniques or jutsu to record, analyze, and digitize them.This aspect of language is studied by the Department of Language Change and Variation and by the Department of Corpus Studies.Besides the four research departments, the Center for JSL [Japanese as a Second Language] Research and Information carries out research that aims to promote the teaching of Japanese to non-native speakers.An important point here is that the JSL 国語研がめざすもの What NINJAL aspires to