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