The third topic promised in the overview article is the standard language. Hearing “standard language,” it seems as if a “model” of correct Japanese exists somewhere. In “Hyōjungo ni tsukite” in Kokugo no tame (1897), Ueda Kazutoshi loosens that understanding with European examples.
A standard language too was once one dialect
Ueda says:
A standard language is an ideal thing, but if we go back to its beginning, it was originally one dialect.
A standard language is not a finished product that appeared from nowhere; it is a speech that was spoken in some place and then came to be used over a wider area.
Ueda further describes how a standard language comes about as something “artificially developed from a dialect.” It is not formed on its own; human hands are added, and it is polished.
The European examples Ueda gave
Ueda draws his examples from the countries of Europe.
- Germany: In Ueda’s account, the German standard was at first put together from the speech of several regions and set up as the language used in courts and government offices. It gradually spread to various places, was adopted by printing houses in the fifteenth century, and then gained luster through Luther’s translation of the Bible and the works of great writers such as Goethe and Schiller.
- England: The fate of the standard, Ueda writes, rests in the hands of educated people of the middle class and above, whose refined taste in social life keeps the purity of the language throughout.
- France: On one side, a theater (the Comédie-Française) is charged with the responsibility of speaking pure French; on the other, an Academy investigates questions of language and literature — an arrangement Ueda introduces.
A standard is “conserving force”
Another important point of Ueda’s view is his account of what a standard language does. Ueda places it like this.
A standard language represents “conserving force,” one of the great elements in the development of language.
Left alone, language changes rapidly by region and by era. A standard language puts some brake on that change and supports mutual understanding over a wide range. Ueda called that function “conserving force.”
Both speech and writing are needed
To make a standard language firm, Ueda names two points not to be forgotten. First, care in how it is actually spoken. Second, care in how it is used in writing.
On the first, Ueda says a standard language should be made by gathering and selecting from each dialect the core of what really exists there, and that it must be something currently spoken somewhere for real. And he judges harshly that something like Japanese written language — which can be put down only in writing and has no rhythm at all in the mouth — belongs to dead languages.
What is certain here, and what isn’t
What this article introduces is the view Ueda stated in the 1890s. The account of how the German, English, and French standards arose is a summary of Ueda’s exposition, and its accuracy has not been verified here. Nor does this article cover how, in this piece, Ueda thought Japan’s standard should concretely be set. How Ueda’s claims were received afterward, we sort out in the verdict article.
Summary
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origin of a standard | Originally one dialect (or a blend). “Artificially developed from a dialect” |
| Examples | Germany (courts, offices, printing, Luther, writers), England (the social life of the educated), France (theater and Academy) |
| Function of a standard | Represents “conserving force,” a great element in language development |
| Two cares | That it be actually spoken, and that it be used in writing |
| Writing-only language | A written language with no rhythm in the mouth belongs to dead languages (Ueda’s judgment) |
In a nutshell — a standard language is not a model that fell from the sky; it was once some dialect, polished and supported by human hands, Ueda Kazutoshi explained.