“Speak Standard Japanese” Movement and Okinawa Reversion Thought after WWⅡ:The Birth and Development of the Movement

• Main Authors: Tomomi Kinoshita, 木下朋實
• Other Authors: Akira Tomita
• Format: Others
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/5pz5rv

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 日本語文學系碩士班 === 104 === Okinawa had been occupied by US military forces following the WW II. Under the rule, Speak Standard Japanese Movement had extended all over the islands, together with the Okinawa Reversion Movement. The main body of the Speak Standard Japanese Movement was Teachers Association of Okinawa or Okikyōshoku which consists of school teachers. The association was a quite multi-layered and complicated organization with continuity from the pre-WW II period, cooperation with various kinds of groups and the mainland Japan. It became clear that Okinawa would be separated from the mainland as the San Francisco Peace Treaty came into effect in 1952, after which, Okinawan were determined to push forward their effort to revert Okinawa to the mainland. They had been encouraged to use Standard Japanese under the circumstances and the Speak Standard Japanese Movement was widespread among the general public. Language ideology, which had been dominant in the pre-WW II period, covered Okinawa again after the war to bring the islands into ‘Japan.’ The thesis focus on the sphere of thoughts, immigration control system under the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands or USCAR, continuity from the pre-WW II period, share of strong desire for the reversion, cooperation among various organizations and reports of Okinawa Educational Research Conference organized by the Teachers Association of Okinawa. The analysis is expected to reveal the insight and the practice of the movement objectively while paying attention to the ‘diversity’ in Okinawa. The Okinawan language can be called by different ways, including Okinawa dialect, Okinawan, Uchināguchi or Shimakutuba, It is difficult to define the Okinawa dialect. There are all sorts of Okinawa dialect, but including Uchina(－)yamatoguchi. while the thesis calls it as Okinawa dialect or the dialect. Among them, Uchināguchi often refers to the transfer process from Okinawa dialect to Japanese, that is, the former’s interference with the latter. As the variation is considered to be mixed and ambiguous jargon or new dialect, it is to be included into the dialect in the thesis.