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The Verbatim Immigrant Writer, Hiromi Goto:
a Synchronic Polyglot or a Diachronic Patriot:
Sawssen AHMADI (ICTT Laboratory)
University of Avignon - France
Abstract:
The phenomenon of globalization has fueled the humanistic longing to create, to recreate and
to take risky roads for better life conditions. In that context, it would be useful to focus on
migration as a process which enhances the people’s desire to look for better lives in their dream,
‘perfect’ lands like Canada. This country has received in the last few decades huge numbers of
immigrants. These new comers take with them their traditions, customs, dialects, their different
modes of life and, generally speaking, their identities. They belong to different categories, but
what would attract the recent scholarships, is the category of writers who are able to transcend
their lives in their writings through a verbatim manner. This paper, however, sheds light only
on one female writer who is Canadian with a Japanese descent. This Japanese Canadian writer’s
novel entitled Chorus of Mushrooms will tell us much about the Japanese minority’s
experiences in the multicultural and multilingual Canada. This writer is called Hiromi Goto.
Actually, this paper will attempt to investigate how the majority of recent critics agree on the
idea that language is a mere slave of globalization and politics, but Goto, thanks to her feminine
mystique transgresses this fact in showing that politics and globalization are slaves of language.
In order to attain such a goal, a reference to both polyglottism as well as glottpolitics as two
central concepts in this article will be necessary as long as both help in understanding the
linguistic phenomena there.
Key concepts: verbatim immigrant, synchronic polyglot, diachronic patriot, feminine
mystique, glottopolitics.
Introduction:
The recent floods of migrants made of the Canadian territories a cultural mosaic characterized
by its groups of people that are different from each other. The immigrants’ distinct dialects and
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languages give Canada the label of multilingualism which attracts recent scholarships and
researches. In fact, Hiromi Goto is one of these immigrants, but what makes her special is her
choice to represent herself as a minority before that researchers may ‘misrepresent’ her and her
group, since she knows that “the identities others interpret onto us, […], will be shaped by their
own habitus” (Joseph 75). She was “born in 1966 in Chiba-ken, Japan, and immigrated to
Canada at the age of three with her family” (Goto 222). As an immigrant woman, she has
chosen literature to convey her voice as a minority and her novel entitled Chorus of Mushrooms
(1994) was the best way to do so. She confesses in the acknowledgements that “This novel is
a departure from historical ‘fact’ ”, and this adds much more credibility to her work as a
verbatim text (Goto 1994). The word verbatim refers to the way through which Goto transmits
the Japanese experience “literally”. This paper will treat the task of Goto’s use of three different
languages in her novel and her implicit objective in doing so. It is not an innocent usage, there
are hidden goals that are worthy studying. Does she select these languages to describe the
Canadian multilingualism or to appear as a polyglot woman?
Later on, the analysis of this paper will go more deeper in questioning the relationship between
language, identity and politics in a globalized world, and what is the benefit of Goto from these
different concepts.
I-
The English, French, Japanese Languages’ Unity in Chorus of
Mushrooms between Multilingualism and Polyglotism:
Chorus of Mushrooms tells the story of a Japanese family composed of three generations living
in Canada. This family is characterized by an active Japanese linguist called grandmother Naoe.
Then, Naoe’s daughter, Keiko, who refuses even to show to her mother that she understands
the Japanese language since she prefers to speak only the English language which is the
dominant language of the mainstream. Finally, the grand-daughter, Murasaki- Muriel, who is
lost between a stubborn faithful Japanese grandmother and a western mimetic mother. While
the grandmother Naoe calls her granddaughter with a Japanese name “Murasaki”, the mother
Keiko calls her daughter “Muriel” as if they were real western Canadians! Indeed, the problems
of this family could be summarized in two major points. The first is mainly a generational
female gap, while the second is a linguistic conflict and both problems are interrelated.
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Naoe, who is the first narrative voice, appears usually as an opponent to her daughter’s
English dialect. She keeps uttering her love to her mother tongue and her astonishment from
the treatment of her daughter, “I mutter and mutter and no one to listen. I speak my words in
Japanese and my daughter will not hear them” (Goto 4). Then she adds, “ ‘Gomennasai.
Waruine. Obachan wa. Solly. Solly.’ Ha! Keiko, there is method in my madness […], no one
hears my language” (Goto 5). As a mother, Naoe, seems to be sorry that her daughter Keiko
does her best to avoid speaking Japanese. This creates certainly a communication gap between
the two women, and consequently Naoe’s feeling of motherhood is in danger. As it is witnessed
in the above mentioned citation, Naoe speaks from time to time her native language proudly
despite her ability to speak the Whites’ language:
Keiko. My daughter who has forsaken identity […]. This
western food has changed you […]. I love you still […].
“Nanio yuttern ka wakarimasen. Nihongo de hanashite
kudasai,” I say and she grinds her teeth and refuses to
understand the Japanese she spoke twenty years ago […].
We are locked together perfectly, each pushingagainst the
other and nothing moves.
Stubborn we are and will
remain, no doubt. (Goto 13)
These words emphasize Naoe’s faithfulness to her language of origin and her deep blame to her
daughter in accusing her of having forsaken identity. It is quietly evident, that Naoe relates
language and linguistic choices to identity. She reminds Keiko that they are Japanese in nature
and their presence there in Canada as immigrants will not change the Japanese “stubborn
nature”. This reminds us of Herman’s (1961) “general observation” claiming that “language
influences our perceptions of the setting, and the setting influences our choice of language”
(Edwards 3). Subsequently, the Canadian setting reminds Naoe of her real identity as a
dislocated Japanese minority, and her use of the Japanese language is not at random. It is rather
used intentionally to highlight her perceptions of the mainstream’s politics to make her forget
her identity once she speaks English as the majority’s language. In this sense, it might be worth
noting the fact that “what is particularly interesting about the identity of the successful literary
character is that it embodies a group identity – the modern woman, the person trapped within
social constraint, the human race generally” (Joseph 5). These features are just the personal
characteristics of this grandmother.
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Naoe could be distinguished as a strong character who strives to preserve her identity
as a minority in a multicultural country.
She discusses the family’s choice of the
granddaughter’s name in arguing:
My granddaughter, your daughter, Keiko. You taught her
no words so she cannot speak, but she calls me Obachan
and smiles […]. Muriel does not suit her, Keiko. I call her
Murasaki. Purple. She cannot understand the words I
speak, but she can read the lines on my brow, the creases
beside my mouth. I could speak the other to her, but my
lips refuse and tongue smells in revolt. (Goto 15)
She expresses with a bitter tone her sadness and how Keiko has injured her feelings with her
adopted English tongue and identity and the selection of an English name, Muriel, instead of a
Japanese one. Besides, this militant grandmother insists stubbornly on her real identity and
calls her granddaughter with a Japanese name. Although these latter female characters are not
able to communicate together since Murasaki as a Japanese Canadian, has been never taught
Japanese language, they can understand one another. Evidently, Murasaki is able to understand
Naoe’s Japanese tales about their real origin, principles and identity, just from Naoe’s body
language (Goto 15).
Murasaki or Muriel is lost between two different identities already her double names
focalize that idea. As a matter of fact, the process of giving names to people as society’s
members is very crucial in identifying others’ belonging because “names influence our
perceptions of others, these perceptions then enter the psychological contexts […], and these
contexts contribute to, and frame, both personal and group identities. Furthermore, the choice
of names by which we call ourselves can influence those same contexts” (Edwards 3). Despite
the fact of living in a globalized world, this poor Muriel is divided between a Japanese identity
and a Canadian belonging:
Today’s world is claimed to be economically and
culturally more globalized than ever before, […]. This
concurrent evolution has also led to increased mutual
cultural
influences
across
national
and
regional
boundaries, which prompted some experts to claim that the
world has been homogenizing by convergence, at the
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expense of cultural diversity […]. Some linguists have
thus claimed that a ‘global English’ is bound to emerge
which should facilitate communication world-wide,
alongside – or perhaps superseding - ‘indigenized’ or
‘world Englishes.’ According to the same futurologists,
the more widely this ‘global English’ spreads, the more
likely it is to drive other languages to extinction, just as
has been witnessed in North America and Australia.
(Mufwene 31)
This quote talks about the choice of English as a global, international and dominant language
to avoid undesired problems as it is the case of Muriel. It is stated that the ‘global English’
used allover the world causes the disappearance of other languages as it is the case of North
America. Nevertheless, Goto imposes her Japanese language on English novels’ readers,
researchers and critics, because she knows that “language gives rise to identity […], language
abstracts the world of experience into words” (Joseph 11). She pushes these persons to read
unconsciously and to try to comprehend the included Japanese phrases within her novel, since
she did not provide translation to these Japanese expressions.
The insertion of the Japanese language in this novel appears to be like a revitalization
to this endangered language at a ‘multilingual’ country. Not only that but also, she embedded
French expressions in the speeches of her female protagonist, Naoe who says, “I can learn
French […], as the English people don’t think I already know. Bonjour! I’ll say and everyone
will be amazed. Je m’appelle Naoe Kiyokawa” (Goto 37). Undoubtedly, this transgressive
female character criticizes ironically the all-knowing English people and exposes her hidden
knowledge of French which is the second language of the majority in Canada. At this level,
Goto allows her readers to scrutinize her mysterious manner of mixing three different languages
through the tongue of her female protagonist. As a minor writer, she exposes herself as a
polyglot and reveals her awareness of the issue of multilingualism in Canada as a probable
threat to both the majority’s languages (French and English), and the minorities’ languages as
well.
II-
Synchronic Literary Creativity vs Diachronic Patriotic Identity:
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Indeed, “the inclusion of migrants in the understanding of the dynamics of language allows us
to go beyond some of the monolithic visions of strictly speaking national languages” (Leroy
23). This is exactly what was done by Goto who harmonizes a minority’s language with two
languages referring to the Canadian majority, since she knows that:
If all the languages have the same scientific and human
value, they are not equal socially or politically […]. Thus,
certain forms of domination and social inequalities
exploiting languages in a “Machiavellian” way can be
concealed or embedded under the coloring of a (pseudo-)
plurilingualism, the “new dominant ideology” (Maurer,
2011).1 (Colonna, Becetti and Blanchet 14)
She goes, thus, beyond “the monolithic visions” to highlight the strife of these minorities and
the internal turmoil they are enduring as linguistic-ethnic groups. As immigrants, they are torn
between their mother tongues and the adoption of the host country’s language, for Canada there
is the exception of co-existence of two major languages. She raises, in addition, the question
of social identity as well as individual identity and the difference between the two. She does
that simply through the integration of the linguistic aspects related to identity construction and
representation. This ‘verbatim’ woman writer depicts the Japanese community’s experience
literally in her novel. In a literary work of art, she projects, creatively, their hard situation as a
minority. Being a holder of a globalized identity, enables Goto to be the kind of a ‘synchronic’
creative artist. She manipulates the English language to convey her voice. This international
language “has emerged as a pre-eminent world language, […], especially in North America and
Australia, it has been mischaracterized as the ‘killer language’ per excellence” (Mufwene 34).
Nonetheless, Goto presents English as an ordinary language supporting her mother tongue to
better articulate her messages. The insertion of the Japanese phrases has deprived the English
language from that global-dictator power of killing languages. At that level, this polyglot
moves from polyglottism to the issue of “glottopolitics.” She reveals her awareness of
glottopolitics as a phenomenon “necessary to encompass all the facts of language in which the
The original quote is provided in French language: “Si les langues ont toutes scientifiquement et humainement
la même valeur, elles ne sont pas égales socialement ou politiquement (cf, Colonna, ici même). Ainsi, certaines
formes de domination et d'inégalités sociales exploitant les langues de façon «machiavélique» peuvent être
dissimulées ou enrobée sous la coloration d'un (pseudo-) plurilinguisme, «nouvelle idéologie dominante» (Maurer,
2011).
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action of society assumes the form of politics”2.
Moreover, Goto reminds the Canadian
majority that Canada is a multi-cultural and a multilingual country where “Polyglossia, the
coexistence of several languages in one society, often in distinct social domains, may constitute
a lasting sociolinguistic equilibrium” (De Swaan 66). This is what encourages her to introduce
the Japanese language whenever it is possible because she realizes very well that “the value of
any language depends on who is using it, for what purpose, and in what context” (Ricento 134).
Therefore, it is clear that so many linguists and sociolinguists agree on the fact that language
can define one’s identity and belonging, but would they confirm the idea saying that language
is powerful ?
In a globalized and modern world, language has been described as “becoming a slave
of politics” (Recento 135). The problem is that this is not a unique view point since there are
other similar interpretations. Michel Foucault for example regards that:
The objects of knowledge, including language […], are
produced by ‘power’ itself […]. We should admit that
power produces knowledge […]. The vast majority of
people only think they are making choices when in fact
they are simply living out inevitabilities forced upon them
by the power structure. (Joseph 73-74)
Foucault’s words claim that language is controlled by power and functions under the
supervision of the dominant hegemony. He observes that people are not completely free in
their choices as long as they are obedient to power structure. Furthermore, he explains how the
presence of power depends on the existence of resistance and Philippe Sabot’s quote proves
that, “If there were no resistance, there would be no power relations. Because everything would
simply be a question of obedience [...] Resistance comes first, and it remains superior to all the
forces of the process; It obliges, under its effect, the relations of power to change” (13) 3. In
analyzing this quote, one can end up with the idea that power produces resistance and contains
This quote is originally written in French language as follows: “Glottopolitique est nécessaire pour englober tous
les faits de langage où l'action de la société revêt la forme du politique. (Guespin et Marcellesi, 1986: 5)” (Colonna,
Becetti et Blanchet, 7).
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Here Philippe Sabot is quoting Michel Foucault’s explanation of the relation between power and résistance, « s'il
n'y avait pas de résistence, il n'y aurait pas de rapports de pouvoir. Parceque tout serait simplement une question
d'obéissance... La résistance vient donc en premier, et elle reste supérieur à toutes les forces du processus ; elle
oblige, sous son effet, les rapports de pouvoir à changer ». from Michel Foucault, « Sexe, pouvoir et la politique
de l’identité » [1984], Dits et écrits, tome 4, Texte n° 358, p. 740-741. (the given translation above, from French
to English is provided by me).
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it at the same time as a double edged weapon. This means that power and politics control
language as an “object of knowledge”, but ironically speaking there is a kind of disobedient
people like Hiromi Goto who are willing to change this viewpoint.
This writer is bold enough to transgress politics blind confidence in its ability to
control people, their actions and even their linguistic choices.
Chorus of Mushrooms
demonstrates that Goto belongs to the individuals who “have the capacity to create counterhegemonic discourse through consciously making choices and acting upon those choices to
negotiate their place within their world(s)” (Clark 117). This female writer’s choice of injecting
the Japanese language simultaneously with the majority’s dominant languages; the English and
the French, is not innocent. She does that purposely to reveal her disobedience and her revolt
against politics and the power as well, and her ability as a globalized artist to criticize and to
face the dominant ‘dogma’ just by using such linguistic power. In order to clarify this point, it
would be very helpful to state Bourdieu’s argument (1982):
Language as symbolic capital regulates people’s access to
different resources (political, linguistic, social, material).
In this light, language is also seen as a tool through which
groups of people collectively mobilize and establish
linguistic communities as well as a means of creating
shared symbols which members construct boundaries
between the “us” and “them” and how these symbols are
used through interaction to create the repertoire of identity.
(Clark 115-16)
Goto selects language to be the most effective way to deliver the minorities’ sincere desires to
live at ease in a multilingual country, and it is up to them to decide which language to speak as
individuals having different identities and origins that they can not erase at all. At that level,
Goto appears as a woman holding a ‘diachronic’ eternal patriotic identity. She is a woman who
does not allow globalization to change her. She prohibits even politics and power from
exercising their force and dominance upon her as a minority and she emphasizes this fact
through her choice of the ‘stubborn’ grandmother Naoe, to be the principal representative of
her novel. She achieves her goals due to her aesthetic feminine mystique.
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Conclusion:
Thanks to Chorus of Mushrooms, Hiromi Goto takes her readers, critics and researchers to a
special linguistic journey within which she brings three different languages together to convey
her voice as a minority living within another minority in North America. Eventually, this paper
focuses on the specific use of these languages by a female writer who shows her multilingual
abilities as if she were a polyglot. Then, due to her feminine mystique she exhibits her patriotic
identity and pride of being a Japanese minority living there. She does that through the tongue
and the rebel of her female character, the grandmother Naoe who refuses to speak both English
and French despite her knowledge of these languages and her ability to speak them.
Undoubtedly, recent linguists and sociolinguists argue that language is just a slave of politics
and globalization, yet Goto transgresses these viewpoints in showing that politics and
globalization can be the slave of language and their fear and insistence to control it, emphasizes
this fact. She proves that she can manipulate language the way she wants, consequently she is
revolting against the dominant hegemony, as if she were warning it from the patience of
minorities and their readiness to revolt at any time whenever they are discriminated for
linguistic reasons. Therefore, this verbatim writer deserves the label of a patriotic artist.
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