An Introduction to The National Language Research Institute:
A Sketch of its Achievements
Third Edition(1988)/
HTML Version(1997)
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II.1.8 Linguistic Atlas of Japan
(Report 30, 6 volumes. Each volume contains 50 maps
and comes with a separate pamphlet of about 100 pages.
Vol.1, 1966. Vol.2, 1967. Vol.3, 1968.
Vol.4, 1970. Vol.5, 1972. Vol.6, 1974)
The study of dialectal maps has a long history in Japan. A
Language Research Commission established by the Ministry of
Education published two works at the beginning of the
century, a Phonetic Dialect Atlas (29 maps) in 1905 and a
Grammatical Dialect Atlas (37 maps) in 1906. Although based on
materials gathered by the correspondence method, these
polychromatic maps have not lost their scientific value.
Further work on a linguistic atlas was, however, interrupted by
the Kanto~ earthquake of 1923, when all the materials were
destroyed.
A new survey aimed at establishing a Linguistic Atlas of
Japan was started in 1955. The proposed aims were to determine
the process of linguistic changes by the study of the dialectal
distribution and to provide a tool to push the historical study of
the language along new lines. In particular, the purpose of the
investigation was to clarify the following points:
(1) the basis and formation of Modern Standard Japanese,
(2) geographical differences in Japanese and their
development,
(3) the historical development of various dialects.
It can be said that this investigation produced the first reliable
results of a nationwide linguistic survey.
After a two-year preparatory survey, the main survey was
started in 1957 in the following way: one linguist was chosen
for each of the 46 prefectures of Japan (in two cases,
though, more were used), and these team workers used a
detailed questionnaire provided by the Institute to secure
uniformity in the survey. A total of 285 questions were asked,
mainly pertaining to the lexical field (nouns, verbs
and adjectives), but with a few phonological and grammatical
items. The number of localities was 2,400, or approximately
one for every 150 square kilometers or one for 40,000
inhabitants. A male subject born before 1903 and native of
the locality was chosen as the informant.
During the survey, the general direction and analysis of
results was assured by the Dialect Section of the Institute,
composed of the following members: SIBATA Takesi, NOMOTO Kikuo,
UEMURA Yukio, TOKUGAWA Munemasa, KATO Masanobu, HONDO Hirosi,
SATO Ryo~iti, and TAKADA Makoto. The work was done in cooperation
with the above-mentioned local team workers and with a specialist
in linguistic geography, Father Willem A. Grootaers.
The printing of the Atlas began in 1966 at the Ministry
of Finance Printing Office and was completed in 1974. Each part
of the Atlas contains 50 maps, an introductory map, and
an appended explanatory brochure. Each of the 50 maps is 5875
square centimeters in size and is printed in one to eight
colors. The content of each of the parts is as follows:
Part I Phonology Maps and Adjective Maps
Part II Verb Maps
Part III Noun Maps- People and Amusements
Part IV Noun Maps- Everyday Life, Agriculture,
Agricultural Products, etc.
Part V Noun Maps- Animals and Plants
Part VI Noun Maps- Almanacs, Weather, Nature, etc.
Each plate contains information concerning the
vocabulary used to express specific meanings, the
meaning of specific linguistic forms in various dialects, the
pronunciation of specific linguistic forms (in detail), and
combination maps illustrating the information from several
separate maps.
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