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Acknowledgements I once said that finishing a dissertation i s like getting an Academy Award: on e person hold s th e Oscar , but he o r she really represents th e combine d effort s of many behind th e scenes. I then went on for fou r page s trying to thank al l those who helped me, still not getting everyone. I promise this time to be mor e brief, even though i t is really hard t o know just where to begin in giving credit to people who have helped m e work on a topic for ove r a decade. Of course, there ar e by now probably several hundred peopl e i n Japan wh o have kindl y given m e thei r tim e an d concern . Thes e rang e fro m Hig a Masanor i (m y dissertation Fulbrigh t adviso r a t Tsukuba University ) t o scores o f librarians , research assistants, informants, and just plain friends. Stephen Leary and Keiko Unedaya star t th e to p o f a very lon g list . I have trie d t o than k the m eac h personally, and specifically in previous publications, but I know I have not don e them justice i n th e past , an d I know I cannot d o an y better now . But ha d i t not bee n fo r thei r patienc e wit h a blunderin g — an d ofte n illiterat e an d inarticulate — foreigner, I could never even have begun t o study how English is used i n Japan. In the convoluted progress from a research project to a book, I am equally indebted. First, Braj Kachru has been not only my professional inspiratio n an d guide, but a true friend a s well. His words of encouragement an d advic e were always what was needed, when needed . Hi s faith i n m e neve r le t up, in spit e of my many false starts and detours. Kingsley Bolton, the series editor, has also been simpl y terrific , bot h a s a critic an d colleague . Hi s friendship, an d ver y meticulous car e i n goin g ove r th e draf t o f th e book , ar e thing s fo r whic h I am truly grateful. Clar a Ho, with her patience, careful editing , and good cheer , made workin g wit h Hon g Kon g Universit y Pres s a tru e delight . I f onl y al l linguistics scholar s ha d suc h editing . Michell e Wo o an d Susann a Chow , D r Bolton's assistants, also were very conscientious i n helping with graphics an d proofreading. Thre e anonymou s reviewer s carefull y rea d th e complet e manuscript and gave many valuable comments and criticisms, which improve d the final argument s an d presentation . I also need t o give special thanks to Dr x Acknowledgement s Yasukata Yano, Professor o f Linguistics a t Waseda University , who went wel l beyond anyone's possible expectations when reading the manuscript. Not only were his thoughtful remark s substantive and beneficial , h e also prevented m e from makin g an embarrassing number of not only Japanese-language, but also English-language, mistakes . I thank the m al l very much . Anthropologists hav e a fetis h abou t kinship , an d I suppos e I a m n o different. Thus , I have several 'families' I need to thank. My initial professiona l family got me started i n the right direction (thoug h some now may have thei r second thoughts) . In graduat e schoo l Ceci l H. Brown an d Stanle y Witkowski introduced m e t o linguistic anthropolog y an d cognitiv e science , and Joseph Casagrande, Rudolp h Troik e an d F . K. Lehman expande d m y knowledge i n several importan t directions . Davi d Plat h taugh t m e a s much abou t lif e an d maturity as he did about Japanese culture, and I still every day wonder at these marvellous lessons. Seiichi Makino — although h e may not want to accept th e blame — gave me my foundations i n Japanese and Japanese linguistics; without his early training I could neve...

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