GCP Language Death and Revitalization Paper Lee

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Dec 6, 2023

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The Ryukyu Islands GCP Language Death and Revitalization Paper Rachel Lee Professor Mahoney Linguistic Anthropology October 30, 2023

Lee 1 Language death is a worldwide issue that is affecting many indigenous and minority communities on a regular basis. This not only threatens the longevity of the culture of the local community but also limits the ability to understand human cognition and the physical world at hand. Many of the world’s languages are at risk of going extinct, with an estimated 2,900 languages, or 41% endangered, and a projected 90% of languages to be extinct within the next century (TLC Admin, 2020). Every instance of language death and endangerment is unique and complex in its own nature; however, a major contribution typically stems from political conflict and dominance. While this may not always be the case, it is certainly prominent for the Ryukyu Islands and their six recognized languages 1 . Many of these languages have undergone revitalization attempts, with the assistance of UNESCO, however, there is a lack of acknowledgment of the indigenous rights of the people. This leaves the diverse linguistic community of these islands at risk of extinction. Geography The Ryukyu Islands are located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, south of Japan’s main island. It contains 55 different islands and is divided into three groups, from north to south, it begins with the Amami Island chain, followed by the central Okinawa Islands, and lastly the Sakishima Islands (Britannica 2023). History Ryukyu and China To be able to preface the nuances of the modern-day state of the Ryukyu Islands, the extensive history must first be discussed in order to shine a proper light on the sociopolitical issues at hand. The Ryukyu Islands have a long personal history of development with the earliest signs of human life dating back to the Paleolithic era. While much of this record is lost, the 1 Amami, Uchinaa (Okinawa), Miyako, Yaeyama, Yonaguni, and Kunigami.

Lee 2 island has a reputation as a crucial intermediary point of trade in the East Asia Trade Sphere in 930 CE, which was created and controlled by China’s Song Dynasty. This later led to China seeking tributaries from Ryukyu 2 , during the Ming Dynasty in 1372, in which they obliged (Akamine et al. 2017). Centuries of this trade in the East Asia Trade Sphere continued and contributed to the island's flourishing economic status at the time and also assisted in the establishment of the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1429. Ryukyu and Japan China had a major influence on the language and culture of Ryukyu, however, China’s relationship with Japan, had a major impact on Ryukyu due to the role it played as a middle ground between the two. The difference Japanese influence had on the Ryukyu Islands was through the repeated attempts of Japanese dominance over the islands, which ultimately led to the annexation of the Ryukyu Islands to weaken ties to China. The first attack on the Ryukyu Kingdom took place in 1609 and was led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a defining general during the Sengoku Jidai period of Japan. This battle did not completely strip the Ryukyu Kingdom of its autonomy but defined the island as a tributary state of Japan and China. This allowed them to keep their own governmental structure of royalty and its bloodline but allowed for stronger Japanese jurisdiction over their trade via the signing of the Fifteen Injunctions in 1611 (Quast 2019). This marked the beginning of increasingly more present Japanese control over the islands during the entirety of the Edo period via the Tokugawa shogunate military government 3 and the Satsuma Domain 4 . The official annexation of the Ryukyu Islands took place in 1879 during the Meiji Era, which marked the demise of the Tokugawa regime and the complete abolishment of the Ryukyu kingdoms. This led to the Okinawa Prefecture which labeled Ryukyu Island, as well 2 As well as other participating countries. 3 Samauri military government during the Edo period. 4 A subsection of the Japanese Feudal government system during the Edo Period.

Lee 3 as 160 other islands, as a part of the 47 th prefectures of Japan. This Meiji era was defined by Japanese imperialism and the efforts to unify Japan and its adjacent islands as a nation-state. Demonstrating dominance over China’s tributary of the island. Language Control and Ideology During the early stages of the annexation of Ryukyu, strict policies were created to preserve the ancient customs, however, this quickly faded out after the First Sino-Japanese War, which marked the emergence of Japan as a world power and diminishing China’s status (Britannica, 2023). This led to an attack on the native Ryukyu languages to form a unified Japan, leading to the Ordinance of Dialect Regulation in 1907. This required the use of the Japanese language and even went as far as to prohibit the use of native Ryukyu languages. This prompted departments of government to promote the use of the Japanese language through the Movement for Enforcement of the Standard Language in 1931. With assistance from the Department of Education, the Japanese language was forcibly inserted on the Island, with the support of numerous other government policies and local-level events such as debates, which were required to occur in Japanese (Heinrich 2005). The most common punishment for the use of non-Japanese languages was a sort of dialect tag worn around the neck. Not only did this act as a symbol of shame, but it also was required to pass the tag along to another person using a native dialect. This chain reaction caused people to monitor each other’s language use on a more intimate scale. This caused a major shift in the language ideologies of Japanese versus Ryukyuan languages. This started the misconception of the Ryukyuan languages as being a dialect or “improper” deviation of Japanese 5 . This perspective was encouraged by Japanese linguistic nationalism ideologies, which did receive some resistance, but was overshadowed by the beginning of World War II. 5 Corrections of this point of view will be later examined in Linguistic Features- Dialect to Language

Lee 4 World War II – Battle of Okinawa Due to the success Japan experienced during the First World War, they were able to colonize and obtain even more land, further establishing their status as a world power, and even briefly joining the League of Nations. This however was short-lived due to their invasion of Macharia, which laid the groundwork of Asian conflict right before the official start of World War II. (Burkman, 2021). Despite the large role Japan had in WW II, the only battle to be fought on Japanese soil was during the series of the Battle of Okinawa, one of the last major conflicts of World War II. It lasted three months, beginning on April 1 st , 1945, with the invasion of the U.S. and British onto the Island (Vergun, 2020). Both sides suffered high numbers of casualties, but the Allied forces maintained the upper hand. On June 22 nd , 1945, the Allies gained official control over Okinawa. The U.S. intended to use this to their advantage in order to launch an attack on mainland Japan, but before this plan could be commenced, the Japanese surrendered on September 15th, 1945, due to the high number of deaths, both of the armed forces and civilians (Heinrich 2005). U.S. Assisted Language Revitalization Encouragement Following the surrender of Japan, the U.S. forces kept their control over Okinawa. The U.S. attempted to separate the Ryukyuan Island from the rest of Japan through the promotion of their native languages. This venture created a demand for Ryukyuan textbooks, even creating a Textbook Compilation Office. However, this did not yield the results they had hoped for. Despite their efforts, the earlier insertion of the Japanese language made it difficult to reinstate the native languages. Due to the earlier banning of native language use and most academic institutions being established under the standardization of the Japanese language, there was a lack of written native Ryukyuan languages. This failed attempt caused the islands to shift back to the linguistic

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