「接触方言学による「言語変容類型論」の構築」研究発表会発表内容「概要」

プロジェクト名
接触方言学による「言語変容類型論」の構築 (略称 : 接触方言)
リーダー名
朝日 祥之 (国立国語研究所 時空間変異研究系 准教授)
開催期日
平成22年9月20日 (月・祝) 10:00～12:00
開催場所
国立国語研究所 1階 大会議室

発表概要

Phonological Change of Tôhoku Dialect Spoken in Hawai'iHIRAMOTO Mie (National University of Singapore)

Studies of second dialect acquisition (SDA) have suggested that older speakers tend to retain the phonological features of their original dialects during dialect contact situations (Chambers 1992; Kerswill 1994; Siegel 2003). Little has been reported in the literature on dialect contact situations involving Japanese language speakers, however the data from Hawai‘i concerning adult Japanese plantation immigrants is comparable to the findings of Chambers (1992; 1995) and Trudgill (1986), and suggests that the adult Tohoku dialect (TD) speakers from northern Honshu island examined for this study demonstrated similar limitations in acquiring second dialect phonology in their contact with non-TD speakers.
Roughly 200,000 Japanese migrant sugar plantation workers arrived in Hawai‘i between 1885 and 1924, with the Chugoku dialect (CD) speakers from Western Honshu island being both the largest group and the earliest arrivals. Most of the TD speakers arrived later and were a small minority compared to the CD speakers. Existing studies on Japanese immigration in Hawai‘i note that CD influenced the local language at the lexical level; however, little has been mentioned on phonological features of Japanese spoken in Hawai‘i. Based on the recordings of elderly first generation TD speakers, this study reports their language change with a focus on the phonological features.
Post-meeting report:

  1. Received great comments concerning the data analysis from all participants.
  2. Points of view in the analysis used in the presentation were heavily skewed toward existing literatures of non-Japanese languages. At the meeting, it was pointed out that the analysis should consider Japanese-specific treatments of phonetics and phonology.
  3. Perhaps, presenting the data from the CD groups (in comparison to the TD groups) will make the data presentation more effective than the present manner in the future.
  4. The availability of the data from the Oral History records from Hawai‘i was discussed by Dr. Asahi. The available data in Hawai‘i include not only the Japanese language but also locally spoken English by the Japanese immigrants and their decedents.

The above point was extremely fruitful for the project team as all participants gained opportunities to consider their contributions to the project in a detailed manner.