Images of Pre-WW II: National Language Policies as Reflected in the Field of "National Language Studies" Itself
|
| Title | Images of Pre-WW II: National Language Policies as Reflected in the Field of "National Language Studies" Itself |
| Authors | |
| Abstract | In this study I focus on the possible intellectual background regarding the scant attention paid by researchers and textbook writers to the establishment of the Japanese national language and pre-WWII language policies in Japan. This fact is surprising because the successful implementation of a modern standard language was one of the key factors in the process of the building of Japan as a modern nation-state. The central hypothesis of this research is that this conspicuous absence stems from the projection of the modern nation-state on the past, resulting in a perception of Japanese polity as a basically homogeneous and unchanged continuum in time and space. An analysis of several texts by prominent Japanese scholars of the national language has revealed important differences in perception. One group, mainly those preoccupied with the didactics of the national language, tends to view the past in the light of a “homogenised” present. On the other hand, those scholars researching Japanese in the wider context of general linguistics seem to treat national language related issues in a much more critical and theoretically informed way.-----Članek se osredotoča na možno intelektualno ozadje kot vzrok za pomanjkljivo pozornost, ki jo raziskovalci in pisci učbenikov posvečajo oblikovanju japonskega nacionalnega jezika in jezikovnim politikam na Japonskem pred 2. svetovno vojno. To dejstvo je presenetljivo, saj je bila uspešna implementacija modernega standardnega jezika eden od ključnih dejavnikov v procesu tvorjenja Japonske kot moderne nacionalne države. Osrednja hipoteza te raziskave je, da ta očitna odsotnost izhaja iz projekcije moderne nacionalne države na preteklost, ki je privedla do percepcije japonske državne tvorbe kot temeljno homogenega in nespremenjenega časovnega in prostorskega kontinuuma. Analiza več besedil vodilnih japonskih raziskovalcev nacionalnega jezika je razkrila nekaj pomembnih razlik v njihovih percepcijah. Ena skupina avtorjev, predvsem takih, ki se ukvarjajo z didaktiko nacionalnega jezika, vidi preteklost pretežno v luči homogenizirane sedanjosti. Po drugi strani raziskovalci, ki proučujejo japonski jezik v širšem kontekstu splošnega jezikoslovja, mnogo bolj kritično in teoretično podkovano obravnavajo teme, ki so vezane na nacionalni jezik. |
| Publisher | Faculty of Arts |
| Date | 2011-05-18 |
| Source | Acta Linguistica Asiatica Vol 1, No 1 (2011) |
| Rights | Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) |