the first language ofOgasawara
English as an indigenous language of Japan
Joseph DeChicchis

Ogasawara-shoto 小笠原諸島

Bonin Islands 小笠原群島● Mukojima Rettō 聟島列島 (formerly Parry Group)
Mukojima 聟島 “Bridegroom Island”
Yomejima 嫁島 “Bride Island”
Nakōdo-jima or Nakadachijima 媒島 “Go-between Island”
Kitanojima, 北ノ島 or 北島, “Northern Island”● Chichijima Rettō 父島列島 (formerly Beechey Group)
Chichijima 父島 “Father Island” (Peel Island)
Anijima 兄島 “Elder Brother Island” (Buckland I., Hog Island)
Otōtojima 弟島 “Younger Brother Island” (Stapleton Island)● Hahajima Rettō 母島列 (formerly Baily Group)
Hahajima 母島 “Mother Island”
Anejima 姉島 “Elder Sister Island”
Imōtojima 妹島 “Younger Sister Island”

early exploration● 1543: The Spanish explorer Bernardo de la Torre is thefirst European to discover the islands, which the
Spanish call Islas del Arzobispo.

● 1592: Ogasawara Sadayori 小笠原 貞頼 claims falsely tohave discovered the Bonin Islands 無人島.

● 1670: The islands are discovered by the Japanese
when a ship bound for Edo from Kishu is blown off
course by a storm.

● 1675: Captain Shimaya Ichizaemon, with 32 men,explores the islands and claims them as a territory ofJapan.

whaling and British navy
● 1825: The English ship Supply visits Chichijima and leaves
a wooden plaque, later found by Beechey.

● 1827: Captain Beechey on HMS Blossom visits the islands,
which, except for two marooned whalers, are uninhabited.
Beechey nails an engraved copper sheet to a tree at Port
Lloyd on Chichijima, which he names Peel Island. Heclaims the islands for Britain as the Archbishop Islands.

● Various people visit and populate the islands: whalers,
cast-aways, sick crew members, and curious settlers froma wide variety of ships and countries.

the first true inhabitants● 1830: Nathaniel Savory, an American who had worked on
English ships throughout the Pacific region, leads a small
group of settlers from the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiʻi) with theintention of starting up a colony. The highly multinationalgroup of colonists includes Hawaiians, a Dane, a Genoan,several Americans, and one or two British subjects.

● 1853: American Commodore Perry and the ships
Susquehanna and Saratoga visit the islands. On Peel Island(Chichijima), Perry finds 311inhabitants: four Americans,four English, one Portuguese, and the rest from Hawaii andother Pacific islands. Perry recognizes Savory as the head ofthe islandʼs government.

excerpt of Johnʼs letter to Nathaniel(which was delivered before there was a post office)●GEORGETOWN,
Sep. 24, 1838.
To NATHANIEL SAVORY.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
Your letters by Capt. William North 2nd. were gratefully received the early part of last summer, notwithstanding you havebeen absent from us now about twenty-four years we have not forgotten you nor are our kind regards for your welfare at alldiminished. We presume you are doing well so far as the mere matter 'of money making goes, and have you not made money
enough already to enable you to return home to the land of your nativity and visit your father and your friends once more ?
Our aged father yet lives and enjoys good health. He married a second wife April 5, 1836 as you will see by the family record
which I send enclosed in the box herewith. [...] By the map you can see the number of houses there was (in 1830) then in thetown with the names of the owners quite a number have since been erected and the population considerably increased.
The manufacture of shoes is the principal business of the place and that is carried on to a great extent. The shoes are
principally sold to southern and western merchants. The western states of this Union are now settling rapidly. [...] The amountof boots and shoes manufactured in this place in 1836 was (by a return then made) about 500,000 dollars worth. Eleazar desires
to be remembered to you. He still remains a stiff old bachelor some say he has been courting most ever since you left here howmuch longer it will take to get a girl well courted I cannot tell. I suppose he wont marry till that is done. We have a Bank in thisplace with a capital of 100,000$. Benjamin Little is the President. He desires to be remembered to you. They all call him Uncle
Ben yet.
I remain yours with
Sentiment of Respect
JOHN B. SAVORY.

“Hawaiian Village”

Kanaka village postcard

Beechey Group (父島列島)

Japanese colonization● 1861-1863: The Japanese government tries to establish acolony in the islands.

● 1861 December 20: Mizuno-chikugonokami Tadanori 水野
筑後守忠徳, Hattori Munekazu/Kiichi 服部帰一, and sometravel officers go ashore and ask for the American
Nathaniel Savory and the Englishmen Thomas Webb andGeorge Horton. (Webb, living at Susaki Village, declines tomeet.)● Mizuno treats Savory as the head of the island government,
and they have a discussion, with Nakahama Manjiro
translating.

Mizuno and Savory talk
● Savory: This island belongs to England since the visit by an English shipin 1827. I have papers to prove it. Have you known the above facts?

● Mizuno: Yes, I know the detail. Our people discovered this island 300years ago and founded a shrine. Do you know about it?

● Savory: We thought this island belonged to England. If what you say istrue, I have nothing to say. However, when we came here, there was
nobody living here.

● Mizuno: Our people erected buildings 300 years ago and named theisland Ogasawara. They lived here for about 200 years, but they
discontinued from the year of rooster. That is why no one was living
when you came. We plan to let you live here as before, since you lived
here many years.

● Savory: We have nothing to say, since we do not know anything. We
have seen some record of your country discovering this island.

Savoryʼs statement to Japan“nipponification”● 1875: Japan sends a warship to the islands to reässert its
claim. Japan is careful to grant existing rights and protection
to the existing settlers. Many gifts are offered to ease theminds of the settlers. A British ship, under direction from theBritish Consulate in Japan, shadows the Japanese ship.

● 1876: The first actual Japanese colonists come fromHachijojima 八丈島. They meet 66 people who are alreadyliving on the islands (nearly all on Chichijima).

● 1878: By yearʼs end, 194 Japanese immigrants are living onthe islands.

● 1882: The early settlers all take Japanese citizenship.

Bailey Group (母島列島)

sugar cane workers

Cholmondeleyʼs photos

modern diglossia● 1900: The population of Chichijima reaches 2366, reducing the nonJapanese settlers to a minority. The original English-speaking settlers
were called kikajin 帰化人 “naturalized people” before WW2, but thegeneral term for them and their descendants later became eikei 英系
or eigokei 英語系 “English type (islanders)”.

● Japanese organize schools.
● Younger kikajin become fluent in Japanese.
● Japanese language is used at school or at work in a Japanesecompany; and English is used at home and in church.

● Kikajin take katakana names.
● 1917: Approximately 60-70 island people claimed ancestry amongthe 19th century English-speaking settlers.

anti-English policy● 1940: Japanese law forces people with non-Japanese surnames tochange them (a law also affecting Koreans in the JapaneseEmpire 大日本帝國).

● Savory becomes セボリ. Webb becomes ウエブ (later 上辺, ウワベ). Other families took arbitrarily chosen Japanese names.

● 1938: The use of English is prohibited. Despite coming undersuspicion, the kikajin are conscripted into the Japanese army;
many serving as translators.

● 1941: No Bonin people would acknowledge descent from theearly English-speaking colonists.

● Before the Pacific War, the given names of children were English;
during the war, Japanese; and after the war, English again.

evacuation and return● 1942: A total of 7711 people live on ten of the islands.
● 1944: Virtually the entire population is evacuated.
● 1945-1968: The U.S. Navy permitted 148 persons with nonJapanese ancestry to return to live in “the Bonin-VolcanoIslands”. English-language schooling.

● 1968: Ethnic Japanese islanders begin returning. Japaneselanguage schooling resumes.

● 2009: Current islanders include some who claim to be related toNathaniel Savory セボリ. Currently, only Chichijima andHahajima are inhabited, with a combined population of 2450 asof 1 April, of whom about 1 in 10 are descendent from nonJapanese.

Nat Savoryʼs Teahouse● 1967: The favorite "tea" served here is Olympia beer.

English-language school● 1967: U.S. teachers
have students ingrades 1 to 9.
Upon graduation, thechildren go to Guamfor high school.

fisherman and woodcarver●1967: Abel Savory shows two sea turtles and one of the many
langustas he captured while skin diving.
Replacedlong ago byoutboard
motors,sail and rigging
are often carried
when travelingto distant islands
in case ofmechanicalproblems.

the indigenous languages of Japan● Ainu has been spoken throughout northern Japan forcenturies.

● Japanese has been spoken throughout western andcentral Japan for centuries.

● Ryukyuan has been spoken from Yaeyama-gunto toAmami Ohshima for centuries.

● English has been spoken in Ogasawara-gunto since its
earliest habitation, i.e., since 1830, and no otherlanguage is known to have been spoken there earlier.

Japanʼs dying languages● Only the standard dialect of Japanese has been
consistently supported by the Japanese government.

● Many dialects of Japanese are now extinct or dying.
● Japanʼs other indigenous languages are also dying.
● Ainu is moribund, critically endangered.
● Ryukyuan (e.g., Uchinaaguchi) is also endangered.
● Ogasawaraʼs English is nearly dead. Nearly all of thecurrent descendants of the original non-Japanese now
speak only Japanese on a daily basis.

UNESCO ̶ Languages in Danger

N.B.:
Ogasawara
and its
languagesituation isnot shownon thisUNESCO
map.

Thanks for listening!

English as an indigenous language of Japan
Joseph DeChicchis