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Chapter 3 – About Belonging: How does Language Enact Community?

1. Unspoken Rules in Japan

Click on the link to this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtuGBtDEefQ&t=597s

If you were making a guide about the hidden rules of your own culture what would you focus on as the most important? Think also about smaller contexts such as workplace, school or university. Are there hidden rules there and how fixed are they? Consider things like terms of address, greetings and other socially important interactions.

2. Taboo Conversations

In your own experience of the way things are done in different communities:

  • Are there ‘things’ that don’t get talked about?
  • Are there ‘things’ that get talked about with certain people?
  • Are there ‘things’ that get talked about only in certain ways?

Think of factors like sex, age or status.

Think of specific topics like death or money.