creativity

Globalization and Japanese Creativity: Adaptation of Japanese Language to Rap

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As a musical form without the distraction of a melody but a well-defined beat, rap offers an opportunity to explore the rhythmic and musical aspects of a language. An interesting case study is rap in Japanese, which has completely different syntax, vocabulary, accent patterns, and phonemes from English. Several pioneers of Japanese rap initially thought … Read more

Off the Wall: Critiquing a Controversial New Study of Creativity and Language

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The familiar debate over language and thought rears its head again with the publication of William C. Hannas’s controversial book, “The Writing on the Wall: How Asian Orthography Curbs Creativity” (University of Pennsylvania Press).  In brief, Hannas contends that the writing systems of China, Japan, and Korea are inherently deterrent to abstract construction and those … Read more