Summary

When typing Japanese text on a computer or mobile telephone, the input method software often presents a choice of different orthographies for the same word. Thus the word hinoki 'Japanese cypress' can be represented with simplified kanji (桧), traditional kanji (檜), katakana (ヒノキ) or hiragana (ひのき). The writer will ordinarily choose an appropriate form with little or no reflection. The question arises as to how the writer makes the choice, and whether it is possible to predict the choice using probability theory. This project seeks to develop a qualitative and quantitative model of the ecology of writing, referring to concepts and theories from such fields as Japanese linguistics, cognitive science and mathematical economics. Such a model of the ecology of writing, which seeks to quantify the relationship between factors in the linguistic environment and an individual's language use, can also be applied to the study of the progressive standardization of language in society. In coordination with Center for Research Resources and Department of Language Change and Variation, this project builds on an ongoing long-term study of the relationship between local dialect and standard language in Tsuruoka City in Yamagata Prefecture, examining and reworking the data to make a statistical analysis that will test theoretical aspects of linguistic change and to contribute to the fields of sociolinguistics and quantitative linguistics.This project represents a truly interdisciplinary approach, and the results should open up new possibilites for studies of language acquisition, neuroscience and gerontology.