| 1 | Greetings from the Director_-_General |
| 2 | What NINJAL aspires to |
| 3 | KAGEYAMA Taro |
| 4 | The National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics ( NINJAL ) is now in the sixth and final year of the period of the Second Medium_-_Term that began with its conversion to an inter_-_university research institute under the umbrella of the National Institutes for the Humanities ( NIHU ) . NIHU provides a new framework for comprehensive humanities research in areas such_as history , culture , folklore , literature , and human interaction with the natural environment . |
| 5 | NINJAL 's role is to promote humanities research focused on language . |
| 6 | Thinking back on this transition period , from its start in October of 2009 through the current year 's emphasis on disseminating our discoveries , our concerted efforts have resulted in steady progress toward becoming a full_-_fledged research organization . |
| 7 | These six years have witnessed a wealth of publications aimed at general audiences as_well_as those intended for specialists , and also the creation of a variety of corpora and databases that can be accessed on our website . |
| 8 | In addition , public lectures and forums , seminars conducted outside the capital region , and events for schoolchildren have allowed us to communicate our accomplishments to the general public in a wide variety of different ways . |
| 9 | The abundance of research_-_related content now available online via our website is particular noteworthy . |
| 10 | A major overhaul is now underway to make the site even more user_-_friendly by the end of this year . |
| 11 | Two fundamental aspects of our research activities over the last six years have been public service and international collaboration . |
| 12 | When we ponder our subject matter , namely , the nature of the Japanese language , the importance of these two key notions is apparent . |
| 13 | Since Japanese is the national language of Japan , it is critical for us to study how it is used in Japanese society and to make certain that our findings give back to the country that supports our work . |
| 14 | For this reason , research on Japanese dialects and on other languages spoken in Japan ( especially those that are endangered ) is absolutely essential . |
| 15 | The 2009 UNESCO report on endangered languages explicitly noted the languages and dialects in Japan that are most threatened , and NINJAL researchers are carrying out intensive surveys of the varieties native to the Ryukyu Islands and Hachijō_-_jima . |
| 16 | These scholars are also cooperating with local governments to preserve and revitalize these disappearing varieties . |
| 17 | NINJAL researchers are also working on Ainu , another of the languages cited in the UNESCO report . |
| 18 | If the word “ society ” is interpreted broadly , it can be referred not only to Japanese society as a whole but also more specifically to the scholarly community . |
| 19 | NINJAL is working to put both new and existing Japanese language resources into electronic form and making them available to outside researchers . |
| 20 | The Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese is a representative example , but corpora of Heian period literary works and of early modern texts have also been built . |
| 21 | All of these corpora allow precision searching , and inviting interfaces have been developed to make them as convenient as possible . |
| 22 | Research on teaching Japanese to speakers of other languages is another link between the general public and the scholarly community . |
| 23 | In the past , the focus was on foreigners from different cultures living in Japan , but NINJAL research today encompasses work on the communicative capabilities of learners of Japanese studying all over the world . |
| 24 | An academic cooperation agreement with the Beijing Center for Japanese Studies is one example of the expanded scope of this research . |
| 25 | NINJAL 's international collaboration efforts have also established a network for promoting institutional cooperation , and partners include Oxford University , the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology , and Academia Sinica . |
| 26 | In addition , NINJAL actively encourages researchers to work with publishers outside_of Japan . |
| 27 | One result of this push is an agreement with De Gruyter Mouton in Germany to publish an 12 - volume series of handbooks , written in English , that cover all aspects of Japanese language and linguistics . |
| 28 | The first three volumes appeared early in 2015 , and the remaining volumes will appear in 2016 and beyond . |
| 29 | This series is an unprecedented undertaking ; there is no comparably comprehensive treatment of any other language . It will introduce the Japanese language and the scholarly work that has been done on it to the wider world . Language is humankind 's most precious possession . It is more than just a tool for communication ; it is part of our biological make_-_up , part of what makes us human . |
| 30 | Strengthening Japanese language research will ultimately enrich Japanese society and Japanese culture . |
| 31 | We ask for your continued support in our endeavor to ensure that the Japanese language has a bright future . |
| 32 | Taro Kageyama Director_-_General of the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics |