An Introduction to The National Language Research Institute: A Sketch of its Achievements
Third Edition(1988)/ HTML Version(1997)

[contens]| [previous]| [next]

II.1.1 A Linguistic Survey of the Island of Hatizyo~

(Report 1, 1950. 419 pages)
The island of Hatizyo~ (290 kilometers due south of Tokyo; 72 square kilometers; 12,000 inhab.) was chosen for the following reasons: 1. The island is a self-contained world with a simple social structure. 2. Its dialect has striking differences from the standard language, and its genetic relationship to other Japanese dialects has yet to be determined. 3. Its dialect has been represented in written documents dating from the Edo Period (1615-1863), thus allowing for an historical analysis. We were confronted with the following problems: a) What are the factors which determine the use of the standard language by the island people? b) What is the history of the dialects and their kinship with other dialects? c) How do the dialects of the five villages of the island differ among themselves? d) What are the characteristics of the dialects of the neighboring islands? The survey team consisted of the following members: NAKAMURA Mitio, SIBATA Takesi, IITOYO Kiiti, KITAMURA Hazime, ISIKAWA Sakiko, SIMAZAKI Minoru and YAMANOUTI Ruri of the Institute; OMATI Tokuzo~ of the Institute of Folklore; MARUYAMA Humiyuki of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics and AOKI Tiyokiti, a student sent by Nagano Prefecture. The team went to Hatizyo~ in June, 1949, and interviewed 216 informants (chosen by a sampling method). The results show that the factor of utmost importance in determining the degree to which the people speak the standard language is the number of years they have spent off their island. The differences existing between the dialects of the five villages were found to depend on the number of extra-linguistic factors connecting each village with the others. Besides a detailed analysis of these problems, this report has appendices on the following matters: 1. The phonological characteristics of the dialect of Hatizyo~ and of those of the neighboring islands. 2. Some morphological facts about the dialect and material on the honorific forms. 3. The 210 words of the dialect listed by OTA Nanpo (1745-1823) in his Itiwa Itigen, and their use in present-day island dialects. 4. The culture and literature of Hatizyo~, and a bibliography of 47 studies of the island. 5. A lexical list of 4,700 words culled from literary sources, in the order of the kana syllabary.

[contens]| [previous]| [next]