How and why does language change? Are the ways in which Japanese has changed or is changing unique or are they common across languages? Does the language of pop culture of “now” and “then” reflect cultural or societal changes? What do shifts in meaning tell us about how we think and behave? What does our perception of “self” or “others” have to do with these kinds of changes? In this course, we will address the structural and functional variations of Japanese across space and time and examine the various cultural, psychological and social issues underlying such linguistic diversity.