МОЋ И ЈЕЗИК У ЈАПАНУ: ОД МИТА ДО SOFT POWER-А

要旨

Having in mind an abundance of discourses on the power exerted in Japan by its language, in this paper, we consider some traits of the modern ethnolinguistic ideology in Japan as it developed in three phases propelled by the necessity of reaching a modern self-understanding but also redefining the nation’s relation to its oversea Other. In the first stage, the kokugaku as the nativist school of thought launches the discourse of the linguistic superiority of Japan, based on the assumption of the unity between the language and the Japanese spirit. Moreover, the spoken Japanese language was envisaged as being essentially at one with reality itself, fully expressive of the people’s most inner being and in accord with the soul of the things. Some concepts from that period, particularly kotodama and mono no aware, would be repeated during the period of the modernization too, when the language ideology seemed to comprise two layers: the kokugaku romanticism and the need for Japanese be modernized and thus made more appropriate as a means of creating a modern and strong country. After serving the ideological purpose of creating both the modern individuality and the devoted imperial subject, the Japanese language in the third stage had to take on a new role, that of a weapon in the battle for Japan’s influence in the contemporary world. Globally known as the soft power, Japan strongly relied on a kind of cultural diplomacy to get as much as possible foreign understanding and affection. The language itself continued to be considered a matrix in which the exclusivity of Japanese culture has been encoded and executed, although the notions of the mythological origin of this power were relinquished. Japan is a country of high culture and its language can attest to that. Instead of the strong ontology, the Japanese has to be acculturated globally in order to secure new sources of the power of the Japanese state.

主題