language Archives - Notes of Oak

‘The Japanese Linguistic Landscape’ is Quintessential Reading

10/15/201910/16/2019
by Hannah Huff

A BOOK REVIEW OF NAKANISHI SUSUMU’S NONFICTION TEXT — THE JAPANESE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE: REFLECTIONS ON QUINTESSENTIAL WORDS (AUGUST 2019)

Recently published by Japan Library as an English translation, Nakanishi Susumu’s The Japanese Linguistic Landscape: Reflections on Quintessential Words is many things: essay collection, gathering of reflections, distilled wordstock, linguistic history, and philosophy for living. But above all, the text maps out a poetic landscape punctuated by beautiful word-landmarks. The waypoints on this map are both literal elements in reality, e.g. “folded layers of mountains,” “traditional hair ornament,” and “light blue,” and also the Japanese words that represent these real things. The poetry of these curated “quintessential words” amplifies the significance of the literal elements/phenomena they denote. That is, by considering the nuances of the language we use to describe our world, the author helps us chart powerful new intellectual and emotional connections to that world.

A BOOK REVIEW OF PETER MENDELSUND’S NONFICTION TEXT — WHAT WE SEE WHEN WE READ (2014)

Have you ever wondered, “What do I see when I read?” Well, Peter Mendelsund seems to have the answer to your question with the functionally named, What We See When We Read. Published in 2014, this text is a self-described “Phenomenology with Illustrations” and it does indeed teem with images. Such a graphic form behooves Mendelsund, whose author bio explains that he’s “the associate art director of Alfred A. Knopf…His designs have been described by The Wall Street Journal as being ‘the most instantly recognizable and iconic in contemporary fiction.'”

‘The Japanese Linguistic Landscape’ is Quintessential Reading

A BOOK REVIEW OF NAKANISHI SUSUMU’S NONFICTION TEXT — THE JAPANESE LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE: REFLECTIONS ON QUINTESSENTIAL WORDS (AUGUST 2019)

‘What We See When We Read’: A Tame Thrill

A BOOK REVIEW OF PETER MENDELSUND’S NONFICTION TEXT — WHAT WE SEE WHEN WE READ (2014)