文献一覧: 臼井裕之 (著者)

2 0 0 0 OA 北一輝の<エスペラント採用論>に見る近代日本の<英語問題><国語問題>

著者: 臼井裕之
出版者: 日本コミュニケーション学会
雑誌: スピーチ・コミュニケーション教育 (ISSN:13470663)
巻号頁・発行日: vol.20, pp.59-79, 2007-03-31 (Released:2017-11-30)

Calls to abandon Japanese in favor of a Western language, particularly English, are not uncommon in the history of modern Japan. These proposals reveal a strong distrust of the Japanese toward their own ethnic language as a communication tool suitable for modern needs. Some have shown a preference for English as a possible alternative to Japanese. This preference is, however, only one side of the linguistic attitude of the Japanese, for others have shown very strong Anglophobia, e.g. wanting to abolish or reduce the teaching of English in Japanese schools. The proponents of such an anti-English policy claim that this language is contaminating "the national spirit" of the Japanese, thereby even threatening the independence of their country. Thus the Japanese exhibit an inferiority complex toward Japanese and an ambivalent relationship toward English : hence these two languages form the crux of an immense social problem of modern Japan. In this respect the proposal of KITA Ikki (1883-1937), "a radical nationalist ideologue" in pre-war Japan, is worthy of attention. In Nihon kaizo hoan taiko (1919/1923, An Outline Plan for the Reorganization of Japan) Kita proposed to replace English with Esperanto as the major foreign language taught in Japanese schools. This policy was not only a simple sign of Anglophobia, but also a preparatory step for the adoption of Esperanto as the official language in the vast territory that would be conquered by Japan. In his view Esperanto was expected to help the Japanese to maintain their dignity as rulers in face of the non-Japanese inhabitants speaking European and other languages ; and eventually all those ethnic languages spoken in the Empire of Japan, including Japanese itself, would be replaced by Esperanto. For Kita Esperanto appeared as a solution not only to a superficially linguistic question but also to the intercultural imbalance caused by the massive impact of the Western civilization in traditionally non-Western parts of the world.