Abstract

The complexity and plurality of scripts and writing devices, such as auxiliary text or “ruby,” used in nonconventional writing in Japan are outlined, and various aspects, such as the use of loan scripts, are shown to parallel aspects of spoken language contact. The complexity of Japanese writing overall is attributed to “indirect” language contact with languages encountered predominantly in written form, especially Literary Chinese in the past and English nowadays, to which the concept of “total availability” that R. A. Miller (1967) uses to characterize neologism in Japan is applied. Specific choices of script are described in terms of cultural stereotypes and Jakobson's (1960) functions of language. Advertising and manga are identified as the major sources of many nonconventional practices that then spread into youth writing and even popular fiction. In each point, there is a parallel between choices in spoken language and in script choice.