Dialect card

A dialect card (Japanese: 方言札 Hepburn: hōgen fuda) was a system of punishment used in Japanese regional schools in the post-Meiji period to promote standard speech. It was modelled after similar policies in Europe, particularly the French Vergonha.

Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan followed the Chinese classical system, in which the written script and grammar were based on classical Japanese language from the 8th century. All educated persons could write in the classical style, despite variations in their speech. The Meiji government, in emulation of the European nation states, created a standard Japanese speech based on the Tokyo dialect and instituted various policies to suppress regional/feudal differences.

The use of Hogen fuda was most prominent in the Tohoku, Kyushu and Ryukyu Islands (including Okinawa) as they are geographically and linguistically most distant from the Tokyo dialect. It had the effect of making many regional Japanese tongues into somewhat of accent though certain noticeable features still remain. The issue is most prominent in regard to Ryukyuan languages as there is a group which advocate Ryukyuan to be officially recognised by the Japanese government as a language (and Okinawa as a nation). While many mainland regional "dialects" in Japanese are also unintelligible and at least the Tsugaru "dialect" in north is considered just as distinct as Ryukyuan, there is no movement in mainland Japan for regional dialects to be recognised as languages.

In Okinawa, the card was initially voluntarily adopted by Okinawan students at the start of the 20th century, but became mandatory as assimilation policies increased following 1917. A student who spoke Okinawan would be forced to wear the card, until another student also spoke in Okinawan, and then it would pass to the new transgressor, with the student wearing it at the end of the school day punished by the teachers.[1][2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mary Goebel Noguchi; Sandra Fotos (2001). Studies in Japanese Bilingualism. Multilingual Matters. pp. 72–. ISBN 978-1-85359-490-8. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  2. ↑ Elise K. Tipton (2 October 1997). Society and the State in Interwar Japan. Psychology Press. pp. 204–. ISBN 978-0-415-15069-9. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
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