The social Background and the Process of Adaptation of Languages and Cultures in Bonin Island Chichijima

1999 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 09610315
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 文化人類学(含民族学・民俗学)
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: TSUDA Aoi Osaka University, 言語文化研究科, 教授 (30069132)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 津田 葵 大阪大学, 言語文化研究科, 教授 (30069132)
• Project Period (FY): 1997 – 1999
• Keywords: ethnicity / languages in contact / acculturation / linguistic variety / multi-culturalism / accommodation / language change / ethnography

Research Abstract

The purpose of this research is to focus on the socio-cultural setting of language contact and interaction of the ethnicity in Bonin Island Chichijima. In order to investigate the above mentioned points, an ethnographic study in Chichijima and Hachijo island was conducted. The archival research is also extended mainly to the National Library of Congress in Tokyo and the National Archives in Washington D.C.
The history of the island dates back to the 1830's when Italian, American, British and Portuguese whalers and native Hawaiian women established small settlements. In 1862, the Tokugawa shogunate asserted its claim and in 1876, the Meiji government annexed the islands as part of national rights diplomacy. As a result of World War II, the islands were occupied by U.S. military forces in 1945 and retained under American administration until the islands were restored to Japanese control in 1968.
Owing to this background, unique characteristics of language and culture emerged. Such ethnic and cultural mixtures caused phenomena in the patterns of language use and social behavior marked by distinctive ethnic identity in daily life. In investigating these patterns, special attention is paid to the following points : encounters of various ethnic groups, languages in contact and the process of acculturation, diffusion of folk songs, transition of styles in attire, culinary preferences and domicile and traditional and significant events carried out by the islanders.
By studying the above mentioned points, it is concluded that the islanders, at least on a surface level, are harmoniously integrated into one community, but that on a deeper level, distinctive ethnic identity is still maintained and functioning in the social as well as personal environment.