An Invitation to "Wakumon"

Aya Ono (Full-time Lecturer, Department of Foreign Languages and Liberal Arts)

One of my favorite expressions, derived from Chinese, is "或問" (wakumon). Literally, it seems to mean "someone asks a question," but I like it because the question itself feels personified, and the sound "wakumon" reminds me of "wakuwaku suru gakumon" (exciting scholarship). Isn't an inquiry, by its very nature, symbolized by an encounter with a person who holds a mystery? To one day encounter a question that has no easy answer, a question that stays with you forever. For that question to give birth to another. And in pursuing that question, to become that "someone" yourself and pose a question of your own. When you think about it, a university is a privileged place, full of encounters with "wakumon." It is a place not for encountering "answers," but for encountering "questions."

The history of linguistic thought, my area of specialization, is also a history forged by linguists and thinkers who were driven by various "wakumon" concerning language. For example, the French linguist Émile Benveniste, whose work I have been reading continuously for over a decade, sought to thoroughly examine the act of "speaking." He believed that "speaking" is not merely about conveying one's thoughts, feelings, or some piece of information to another person. Within the act of "speaking," there is the act of finding oneself within the relationships of a community and becoming a member of it, the act of incorporating the listener into one's own discourse, or the act of giving form to ambiguous thoughts. Benveniste also believed that to "speak" in the truest sense, one must have a listener. It is only by assuming a dialogue that our speech opens up to the outside world. Every time I read Benveniste, I am struck by how such a seemingly simple act as "speaking" contains such a complex, perilous, and yet rich process. And I feel a sense of gratitude for the wonder and good fortune of encountering a "wakumon" across time.

Many of you who are thinking of coming to the Faculty of Science and Technology may be skilled in so-called "logical" thinking. However, the logic within language is not singular, but plural. To encounter "wakumon," it is necessary not only to defend your own logic but also to listen to the logic of others. For those of you about to enter the gates of the university, I hope that you will encounter your own "wakumon" here, confront it, and one day become a person who poses questions yourself.