Foreword

Dear Linguistic Enthusiasts and Scholars,   It is with great pleasure that we present this year’s summer issue of the scientific journal of Acta Linguistica Asiatica. With it, we embark on a journey to explore the rich and diverse linguistic tapestry of the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean languages, delving into their contemporary, pedagogical, historical, and other significance. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the authors, reviewers, and editorial team whose unwavering commitment has made this journal possible. It is our hope that the ALA journal will continue to serve as a platform to foster intellectual exchange and contribute to the advancement of linguistic knowledge in this dynamic and ever-evolving field. This issue offers 4 research articles and one book review. It opens with the article “Distant Co-occurrence Patterns of Connectives: a Corpus Study of Formulaicity in Japanese” written by Andrej BEKEŠ, Bor HODOŠČEK, NISHINA Kikuko, and ABEKAWA Takeshi. In the article, the authors examined two-item and multi-item distant co-occurrence patterns of connectives in written Japanese using corpus research methods. The analysis shows these patterns contribute to discourse development and prediction, resembling Bourdieu’s habitus. In the following article “Teaching Both Simplified and Traditional Characters to Learners of Chinese as L2”, LI Xiao examined Chinese character acquisition in second language learning. It discusses different approaches - prioritizing simplified or traditional characters, teaching both together, or delaying character learning. Results show that most learners prefer simplified characters, some equally acquired both, while fewer prefer traditional characters. Text comprehension is better with characters than with Hanyu Pinyin. The article “Exclamation in Late Archaic Chinese” by WANG Aiqing delved into exclamations in Late Archaic Chinese (LAC), which consist of sentence exclamations and exclamatives. Sentence exclamations assert propositions with or without surprise. The author proposes that exclamatives with degree adverbials he and heqi do not count as true exclamatives in LAC. The last research article in this issue, contributed by Klaudija LUKMAN and RYU Hyeonsook is entitled “Korean Honorifics in Flux: a Case Study of Seoul National University LEI Textbooks”. By examining Korean language textbooks (2000-2019), this research showed the link between society and politeness styles. Notable shifts reveal the replacement of formal hasipsioche with polite haeyoche, reflecting changes in Korean culture and society. Last but not least, Nina GOLOB reviewed the book “Uvod u znanost o japanskom jeziku: Osnovna obilježja, glasovni sustav i leksički slojevi.” Its primary contribution lies in its methodical exploration of diverse facets of the Japanese language and the accomplishments of linguistic research related to it, all while considering the perspective of Croatian and other Slavic languages. The book is ideal for Croatian-speaking Japanese students and linguistics enthusiasts.   At this point, it is worth mentioning that in this era of rapid technological advancement, we wish to highlight the significant influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on linguistic studies. The emergence of AI has brought about a revolution in our methodologies, granting us the capability to analyze extensive linguistic data in real-time and fostering cross-linguistic collaborations with the aid of language translation tools. While we appreciate the immense potential that AI offers, we must tread carefully, striking a balance between leveraging AI’s potential and preserving the essence of human-driven analysis. Ethical considerations surrounding AI integration also deserve our attention.   Editors and Editorial board wish the regular and new readers of the ALA journal a pleasant read full of inspiration, and a rise of new research ideas inspired by these papers.                                                                                               Editors