Korean As a Transitional Literacy: Language Education, Curricularization, and the Vernacular-Cosmopolitan Interface in Early Modern Korea, 1895-1925
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KOREAN AS A TRANSITIONAL LITERACY: LANGUAGE EDUCATION, CURRICULARIZATION, AND THE VERNACULAR-COSMOPOLITAN INTERFACE IN EARLY MODERN KOREA, 1895-1925 by DANIEL OLIVER PIEPER A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Asian Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2017 © Daniel Oliver Pieper Abstract This study argues that language and literacy during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1895-1925) were formed through several interactive processes, including the development of “modern” literature and writing styles, processes of translation, dictionary compilation, and the circulation and functioning of language ideologies and discourses on linguistic modernity. Because Japanese engaged with the above processes vis-à-vis Western languages before Korean, Korean intellectuals found in the Japanese language a ready-made model for reform and modernization. Western notions of linguistic modernity—what modern language and literature “ought to be”—as well as the inundation of Korean with Japanese terms due to Korea’s late engagement with dictionary compilation and translation resulted in a Korean language that increasingly came to resemble Japanese. This facilitated the shift to higher Japanese literacy when combined with a colonial curriculum aimed at truncated Korean literacy and expansive Japanese. The convergence of the above processes with the political will engendered in education policy during a period of instability and flux in the orthographical development of Korean from that encoded in Literary Sinitic (hanmun) to Sino-Korean Mixed Script (kukhanmun) combined to lay the foundations for a shift from semi-literacy in Korean to literacy in Japanese, with Korean acting as a transitional literacy, and the sinograph (hancha) functioning as a mediating agent. Whereas pre-colonial language textbooks from various educational streams represented alternative pronouncements on vernacular literacy as well as laboratories for vernacular-cosmopolitan differentiation, Japanese-produced textbooks codified the official vision of colonial literacy, demonstrating a continued commitment to Mixed-Script orthography, directing the gradual diminution of Literary Sinitic, employing the sinograph as a diachronic and translingual mediating agent, and actualizing bilingual literacy transitioning. ii Preface Portions of Chapter 5 are drawn from the following publication: Daniel Pieper, “Korean as Transitional Literacy: Language Policy and Korean Colonial Education, 1910-1919,” Acta Koreana 18, no. 2 (2015): 393-421. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………ii Preface……………………………………………………………………………………….iii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………iv List of Tables………………………………………………………………………………..vi List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………………vii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………viii Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………..x Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….1 Chapter 1: The Historical Development of Language and the Education System in Korea………………………………………………..43 1.1 The Pre-modern Education System in Korea………………………………….43 1.2 The Structure of the Kwagŏ Education System during the Chosŏn Dynasty…50 1.3 Education and the Examination System……………………………………….60 1.4 The Structure of the Koryŏ Education System………………………………..62 1.5 The Education System of the Chosŏn Dynasty………………………………..70 1.6 Women’s Education in the Chosŏn Dynasty…………………………………..85 1.7 The Language of Instruction in Pre-modern Korea……………………………90 Chapter 2: Linguistic Modernity, Education, and Nationalizing the Vernacular in Pre-colonial Korean: Divergences between Western Missionary and Indigenous Discourses……………………………………….100 2.1 Language Status, Language in Pedagogy, and Language in Curriculum: An Overview……………………………………107 2.2 Previous Scholarship on Late-Chosŏn Education…………………………………..120 2.3 Western Discourse on Korean Language and Education…………………………..136 2.4 The Nation, Ŏnmun, and Education: Language in Pedagogy as the Motivating Force behind Linguistic Modernity…………………………….168 2.5 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….200 Chapter 3: Lexical Modernization and a Revolutionary Technology: Kukhanmun Writing and Translation as a Positive Feedback Mechanism…………….206 3.1 The Sinograph as Spatio-Temporal Mediating Agent……………………………..209 3.2 Writing Style (Munch’e) and Linguistic Interaction………………………………215 iv 3.3 Translation and Colonialism………………………………………………………219 3.4 Transnational Linguistic Interface and the Emergence of Vernacular Korean Writing……………………………………………….224 3.5 The Mechanics of the Hanmun-Kukhanmun Shift………………………………250 3.6 Dictionary Compilation and the Codification of Lexical Modernity……………291 Chapter 4: Curricularization and the Formation of Modern Literacy through Enlightenment-era Textbooks, 1890-1910…………………………………309 4.1 The Meaning of the Textbook in Early Modern Korea…………………………315 4.2 Sŏdang Education and Epistemic Overlap: Tongmong sŏnsŭp…………………320 4.3 The Publication of the First Official Textbook: Kungmin sohak tokpon and the Emergence of Curricularized Vernacular Education……………….330 4.4 Samin p’ilchi, Missionary Education, and Language Ideology………………..346 4.5 Turning over the Reins of Education: Pot’ong hakkyo haktoyong kugŏ tokpon and the Commitment to Kukhanmun Vernacular……………..358 4.6 Nodong yahak tokpon, Private Education, and the Push for Inclusive Literacy…………………………………………371 4.7 Yŏja tokpon, Women’s Education, and Gendered Literacy……………………..386 4.8 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………..396 Chapter 5: Korean as a Transitional Literacy: Imperial Language and Education Policy and the Emergence of Colonial Literacy, 1910-1925……………………….399 5.1 Previous Research on Colonial Language Policy and Textbooks………………407 5.2 Institutionalizing the Curriculum: The Establishment of Colonial Education and Language Policy…………………………………..410 5.3 Building Modern Education in Retrospect: The Candid Recollections of Oda Shōgo on the Administration of Korean Education…………………420 5.4 The Language of Instruction Debate and the Confirmation of Linguistic Hegemony……………………………………..434 5.5 The Second Rescript on Korean Education…………………………………….449 5.6 The Rise and Fall of the Sŏdang Reform Movement: The Failure to Challenge the Primary Habitus…………………………………457 5.7 Solidifying the Foundations of Colonial Literacy: Chosŏnŏ Textbooks as a Site of Transitional Literacy Actualization……..472 5.8 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..493 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………496 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………502 v List of Tables Table 1 Hansŏng chubo Article Count According to Orthography……………………..239 Table 2 English Headword Count and Cumulative Increase in Select Bilingual Dictionaries………………………………………298 Table 3 Japanese Neologism Retention in Select Bilingual Dictionaries………………299 Table 4 A Comparison of Definitions from Select Bilingual Dictionaries……………..300 Table 5 Occurrence of Four Main Glossing Types in Nodong yahak tokpon (1908)….371 Table 6 Classroom Hours for Chosŏnŏ (C), Hanmun (H) and Nihongo (N)/Kokugo…………………………………………………………..463 Table 7 Colonial-era Korean Language (Chosŏnŏ) Textbooks…………………………468 Table 8 A Comparison of Sentence Endings in PHKT (1907) and PCHT (1917)……..475 vi List of Figures Figure 1 Kungmin sohak tokpon (Citizen’s Elementary Reader 1895) Substandard Carvings…………………………………………………………..337 Figure 2 Samin p’ilchi (Necessary Knowledge for Scholars and Commoners 1890)……349 Figure 3 Early Stages of Kukhanmun Employment in PHKT Volume 1, Unit 38……….370 Figure 4 Advanced Stages of Kukhanmun Employment in PHKT Volume 6, Unit 25….370 Figure 5 Nodong yahak tokpon (A Reader for Night School Laborers, 1908)…………...377 Figure 6 Yŏja tokpon (Women’s Reader, 1908)………………………………………….392 Figure 7 Pot’ong hakkyo Chosŏnŏ kŭp hanmun tokpon (PCHT) with Enlarged Upper Margin Showing Glossing Technique………………………...488 Figure 8 Pot’ong hakkyo Chosŏnŏ tokpon (PCT) Parallel Hancha and Vernacular Glossing Technique…………………………491 vii Acknowledgements Over the course of this project I have accumulated many debts, but perhaps none greater than owed to my indefatigable advisor and source of inspiration, Ross King. By constantly presenting me with new challenges while offering unending encouragement and support, he has pushed me to be the best scholar I am capable of being. His guidance and feedback during the final critical months of this project was especially appreciated. I would also like to express my gratitude to Don Baker for his contributions to this project. Over the years at UBC he has become my go-to source for all things Chosŏn, and thanks to his expertise this is a much better informed study. My thanks also go to Hyung Gu Lynn for his scholarly rigor and attention to detail, challenging me to present the most thorough research possible. Thanks to his incisive feedback the final draft of this study was immensely improved. I also wish to express my gratitude to additional members of my dissertation committee for their thoughtful comments and suggestions, as well as critical insight. I would also like to thank all the professors at UBC who helped me along the way: Sharalyn Orbaugh for her professional guidance and candor, Christina Laffin for showing me that Japanese did not have to be so terrifying, Insun Lee for helping me to be a better Korean teacher, Robyn Citizen for reminding me why I love Korean film so much, Jerry Schmidt for demystifying Classical Chinese, and Ken Bryant for teaching