Abstract：At the turn of the 20th century, under the aegis of the Japanese government, Ueda Mannen, the founder of modern linguistics, started to implement the strategic “Plan of East Asian Linguistics”. Through using the Imperial University of Tokyo as an academic platform and with reference to German linguist Georg von der Gabelentz’s conception of Oriental Linguistics and his own national language theory, Ueda Mannen was able to put his theory of East Asian linguistics into practice. The theory, which was part of the so-called “Century Strategy”, was developed under the influence of historic comparative linguistics with an aim to cater to the Japanese official policy of East Asian militaristic colonialism. Albeit a combination of the theoretic system of East Asian linguistics, it set the Japanese national language as the core of the theory and was characteristic of colonialist inspiration. On the other hand, his students were all trained in the specified areas he designed for them and made significant achievements. As a result, a notable “Century Strategy” eventually emerged in Japanese linguistics. The positive implications of examining the “Century Strategy” are: as this is the first self-sufficient modern linguistic theoretic system advanced by Asian scholars, it is, therefore, significant to obtain a clearer picture of the trajectory of how European linguistic, particularly historical comparative linguistics, was introduced to East Asia; it is also the important academic theory that permeated into linguistics in Japan, Korean and China, thus studying it contributes to a proper understanding of the history of how modern linguistics was formed and evolved in East Asian countries. While recognizing its significance, we should not overlook its negative influence. For instance, in Japan, the popular “War Linguistics”, driven by the theory of “East Asian Colonialist Linguistics”, was closely associated with the nationalist political ideology as seen in East Asian linguistics theory. We should have a clear understanding of this.
李无未. 上田万年东洋语言学之世纪布局[J]. 语言战略研究, 2023, 8(2): 68-77.
Li Wuwei. Japanese Linguist Ueda Mannen’s East Asian Linguistics: Century Strategy. , 2023, 8(2): 68-77.
