General Description
The National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL) is a research institute for the Japanese language founded in 1948. Since 2009, it has operated as an Inter-University Research Institute established by the Inter-University Research Institute Corporation "National Institutes for the Humanities."
NINJAL scientifically and comprehensively studies the Japanese language as well as language as it relates to daily life in society. Its goal is to pursue knowledge related to the Japanese language and language in general, and provide the results to society through many different outlets.
The main academic fields covered include Japanese linguistics, linguistics, and Japanese language education studies. Research from various perspectives such as those listed below are conducted jointly with universities and research institutes inside and outside of Japan.
"Japanese vocabulary, characters, and notation"
"Japanese pronunciation and grammar rules"
"History of the Japanese language"
"Dialects and languages used across Japan"
"How language is used in different settings and situations"
"Differences between other languages and Japanese"
"Japanese learning for non-native speakers"
The results of its activities are published as language resources such as database and corpora in addition to papers and publications. The language resources built and published by NINJAL are (jointly) used in various fields by researchers, teachers, translators, information processing technology developers, etc.
Non-experts are also free to use many of NINJAL's language resources. Additionally, articles easy for anyone to read are distributed or other made available and lectures for the general public and programs for children and students are offered.
