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The Making of a Foreign National Language: Language Politics and the Impasse between Assimilationists and Language Nationalists in Colonial Korea

The Making of a Foreign National Language: Language Politics and the Impasse between... This article examines the process by which Japanese came to be solidified as the national language of instruction in public schools during the first decade of colonial rule (1911–22). First, I analyze Government-General of Korea language policy and the recollections in 1917 by the policy insider Oda Shogō, which reveal a confidence in the efficiency of administration but also a tension between the official discourse on Japanese language nationalization and the perceived proficiency of Korean instructors and students. The March First Movement less than two years later exploded the misconception of a complacent student body and brought to the fore simmering grievances, notably the language of instruction issue in public schools. Through an analysis of the language of instruction debate in the popular press, I demonstrate the rupture that had developed between Japanese officials and the Korean public, an unbridgeable divide due to the impasse between co-educationalists calling for integrated education in Japanese only and “language nationalists” demanding more instruction in Korean. The Second Rescript on Education proclaimed by the Government-General in 1922 thus affirmed the dominant position of Japanese in the curriculum and ensured the continuing vitality of private sŏdang well into the 1920s. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Korean Studies Duke University Press

The Making of a Foreign National Language: Language Politics and the Impasse between Assimilationists and Language Nationalists in Colonial Korea

Pieper, Daniel
Journal of Korean Studies , Volume 24 (1) – Mar 1, 2019
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33 pages

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Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
ISSN
0731-1613
eISSN
2158-1665
DOI
10.1215/21581665-7258055
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article examines the process by which Japanese came to be solidified as the national language of instruction in public schools during the first decade of colonial rule (1911–22). First, I analyze Government-General of Korea language policy and the recollections in 1917 by the policy insider Oda Shogō, which reveal a confidence in the efficiency of administration but also a tension between the official discourse on Japanese language nationalization and the perceived proficiency of Korean instructors and students. The March First Movement less than two years later exploded the misconception of a complacent student body and brought to the fore simmering grievances, notably the language of instruction issue in public schools. Through an analysis of the language of instruction debate in the popular press, I demonstrate the rupture that had developed between Japanese officials and the Korean public, an unbridgeable divide due to the impasse between co-educationalists calling for integrated education in Japanese only and “language nationalists” demanding more instruction in Korean. The Second Rescript on Education proclaimed by the Government-General in 1922 thus affirmed the dominant position of Japanese in the curriculum and ensured the continuing vitality of private sŏdang well into the 1920s.

Journal

Journal of Korean Studies – Duke University Press

Published: Mar 1, 2019

References

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    Aoki, Kenkichi 青木寛吉
  • Participatory Anti-imperialism: The 1919 Independence Movement
    Baldwin, Frank
  • Chōsen kyōikurei dai 2 ji
  • Chosŏn kyoyungnyŏng (sok): Che 25 cho
  • Pot’ong hakkyo kyuch’ik
  • The Command of Language and the Language of Command
    Cohn, Bernard
  • Chosŏnin kyoyuk ŭi kŭnbon (sang)
    Hiranuma, Yoshirō
  • Sub-nationality in the Japanese Empire: A Social History of the Koseki in Colonial Korea 1910–1945
    Kim, Michael Chapman, David Krogness, Karl
  • Kyoyuk munje ŭi iltan
    Ko, Wŏnhun
  • Deciding on Languages of Instruction: Psychological and Social Considerations
    Lambert, Walter Husén, Torsten Opper, Susan
  • Ideologies of English in the South Korea ‘English Immersion’ Debate
    Lee, Josephine Prior, Matthew Watanabe, Yukiko Lee, Sang-Ki
  • Modern Education, Textbooks, and the Image of the Nation: Politics of Modernization and Nationalism in Korean Education: 1800–1910
    Lee, Yoonmi
  • A Study of the Common Literary Language and Translation in Colonial Korea: Focusing on Textbooks Published by the Government-General of Korea
    Lim, Sang-seok
  • Forgotten Reciprocity of Languages of the Colonizer and the Colonized: Korean Language Study of Japanese Colonial Agents
    Minami, Kiyoe
  • Shokuminchika Chōsen ni okeru gengo seisakugaku: Chōsen gengo seisaku, shakaishi saikō
    Mitsui, Takashi
  • Gengo to shokuminchi shihai
  • Chōsen sōtokufu ni okeru kyōkasho hensan jigyō no gaiyō
    Oda, Shōgo
  • Chosŏn ŭi kyogwasŏ 1–8
    Oda, Shōgo
  • Expansion of Elementary Schooling under Colonialism: Top Down or Bottom Up?
    Oh, Seong-cheol Kim, Ki-seok Sorenson, Clark W. Kim, Hyung-A
  • Ilbonŏ taeoe pogŭp nolli ŭi koch’al: Ilcheha Han’guk e taehan kyŏngu rŭl chungsim ŭro” [Examining the logic of Japanese language dissemination abroad: A focus on colonial Korea]
    Pae, Chongok Pak, Sunae
  • Ilche kangjŏmgi (1920–1930-yŏndae) Chosŏnin ŭi sŏdang kaeryang undong” [The Sŏdang Reform Movement in 1920–30s colonial Korea]
    Pak, Chongsŏn
  • Korean as a Transitional Literacy: Language Education, Curricularization, and the Vernacular-Cosmopolitan Interface in Early Modern Korea, 1895–1925
    Pieper, Daniel
  • Korean as Transitional Literacy: Language Policy and Korean Colonial Education, 1910–1919
    Pieper, Daniel
  • ‘Additive’ and ‘Subtractive’: Challenges in Education for Multilingualism
    Plüddeman, Peter
  • Hakche kaejŏnggi wa naeyong
    Shibata, Zenzaburō
  • Chōsenbun Chōsengo kōgiroku hakko no haikei: Chōsengo gakushū ni taisuru juyō no hensen
    Yamada, Kantō
  • Nihonjin ni yoru Chōsengo gakushū no keiro to dōki: Gekkan zasshi Chōsengo (1926- 29-nen) keisai no “Gōkakusha shokun no kushindan
    Yamada, Kantō
  • Moral Education, Modernization Imperatives, and the People’s Elementary Reader (1895): Accommodation in the Early History of Modern Education in Korea
    Yuh, Leighanne
  • Kankoku kyōiku no hōshin ni tsuitte hyōjikan ni tadasu
    Aoki, Kenkichi 青木寛吉
  • Participatory Anti-imperialism: The 1919 Independence Movement
    Baldwin, Frank
  • Chōsen kyōikurei dai 2 ji
  • Chosŏn kyoyungnyŏng (sok): Che 25 cho
  • Pot’ong hakkyo kyuch’ik
  • The Command of Language and the Language of Command
    Cohn, Bernard
  • Chosŏnin kyoyuk ŭi kŭnbon (sang)
    Hiranuma, Yoshirō
  • Sub-nationality in the Japanese Empire: A Social History of the Koseki in Colonial Korea 1910–1945
    Kim, Michael Chapman, David Krogness, Karl
  • Kyoyuk munje ŭi iltan
    Ko, Wŏnhun
  • Deciding on Languages of Instruction: Psychological and Social Considerations
    Lambert, Walter Husén, Torsten Opper, Susan
  • Ideologies of English in the South Korea ‘English Immersion’ Debate
    Lee, Josephine Prior, Matthew Watanabe, Yukiko Lee, Sang-Ki
  • Modern Education, Textbooks, and the Image of the Nation: Politics of Modernization and Nationalism in Korean Education: 1800–1910
    Lee, Yoonmi
  • A Study of the Common Literary Language and Translation in Colonial Korea: Focusing on Textbooks Published by the Government-General of Korea
    Lim, Sang-seok
  • Forgotten Reciprocity of Languages of the Colonizer and the Colonized: Korean Language Study of Japanese Colonial Agents
    Minami, Kiyoe
  • Shokuminchika Chōsen ni okeru gengo seisakugaku: Chōsen gengo seisaku, shakaishi saikō
    Mitsui, Takashi
  • Gengo to shokuminchi shihai
  • Chōsen sōtokufu ni okeru kyōkasho hensan jigyō no gaiyō
    Oda, Shōgo
  • Chosŏn ŭi kyogwasŏ 1–8
    Oda, Shōgo
  • Expansion of Elementary Schooling under Colonialism: Top Down or Bottom Up?
    Oh, Seong-cheol Kim, Ki-seok Sorenson, Clark W. Kim, Hyung-A
  • Ilbonŏ taeoe pogŭp nolli ŭi koch’al: Ilcheha Han’guk e taehan kyŏngu rŭl chungsim ŭro” [Examining the logic of Japanese language dissemination abroad: A focus on colonial Korea]
    Pae, Chongok Pak, Sunae
  • Ilche kangjŏmgi (1920–1930-yŏndae) Chosŏnin ŭi sŏdang kaeryang undong” [The Sŏdang Reform Movement in 1920–30s colonial Korea]
    Pak, Chongsŏn
  • Korean as a Transitional Literacy: Language Education, Curricularization, and the Vernacular-Cosmopolitan Interface in Early Modern Korea, 1895–1925
    Pieper, Daniel
  • Korean as Transitional Literacy: Language Policy and Korean Colonial Education, 1910–1919
    Pieper, Daniel
  • ‘Additive’ and ‘Subtractive’: Challenges in Education for Multilingualism
    Plüddeman, Peter
  • Hakche kaejŏnggi wa naeyong
    Shibata, Zenzaburō
  • Chōsenbun Chōsengo kōgiroku hakko no haikei: Chōsengo gakushū ni taisuru juyō no hensen
    Yamada, Kantō
  • Nihonjin ni yoru Chōsengo gakushū no keiro to dōki: Gekkan zasshi Chōsengo (1926- 29-nen) keisai no “Gōkakusha shokun no kushindan
    Yamada, Kantō
  • Moral Education, Modernization Imperatives, and the People’s Elementary Reader (1895): Accommodation in the Early History of Modern Education in Korea
    Yuh, Leighanne