Languages of Kawagoeland

A multitude of languages are spoken in Kawagoeland. According to the Constitution of Kawagoeland, the official languages are English, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Gujarati. Traditionally, Japanese and English were the only official languages. From 1947, Mandarin Chinese was registered as one of the official languages, and from 1979, Gujarati was registered as well.

## Development of official languages

### Japanese

According to the Japanese-Kawagoenese scholar Nishimura Yuko, the first known use of the Japanese language in Kawagoeland was in a document written during the Heian period, discovered unearthed in Mataura, Kawagoeland. The use of the Japanese language well continued throughout the Japanese control period, and it was made as an official language of the East Kawagoeland territory in 1664, and Japanese as an official language carried over to Kawagoeland, which gained independence from Japan in 1773. In the early 19th century, the Hakone dialect of Kawagoenese Japanese shifted its *(vowel)*n syllable from a non-nasal vowel followed by a nasal consonant, to a nasalised vowel. Kawagoenese Japanese went under influence from Min Nan in the 1800s when Taiwanese-speaking immigrants arrived in Kawagoeland.

In the 1960s, Kawagoeland created the *New Orthography for Japanese and Mandarin*, which adopted hepburn as the romanisation system of Kawagoenese Japanese, and changed its writing system of Kawagoenese Japanese from a mix of Traditional Chinese characters, hiragana and katakana, to the one that is used by Japan: a mix of Shinjitai (a combination of Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese and Japanese-fitting characters), hiragana and katakana. The country was the last user of the *wi* kana for orthography (ゐ in hiragana, ヰ in katakana), and the kana was deleted in the *New Orthography for Japanese and Mandarin* in favour of the *i* kana (い in hiragana, イ in katakana). However, several newspapers continue to print in the old orthography. The old orthography is still taught in high schools of Kawagoeland, although the old orthography is no longer taught in primary schools. The old orthography is still used in Halloween party invitations in Kawagoeland: a common use of this is "ハロヰン晚會" (*harowin buanfue*); with "晚會" being the old orthography spelling for "party", and "ハロヰン" is the Japanese word for "Halloween" but spelled with the kana "ヰ". The old orthography is also used in witch's lamps or jack-o-lanterns (when using text mode).

### English

The first use of English language in Kawagoeland dates to 1777. A British person discovered Kawagoeland to write his experiences in English. With more European people arriving in the 1780s, Kawagoeland forced the French-, Spanish-, Italian-, Portuguese- and German-speaking people to learn English. As a result, English was declared as one of the official languages in 1790. Kawagoenese English is based on British English, but in the later years, a number of words are borrowed from American English and Indian English.

## Japanese language

Japanese is one of Kawagoeland's three official languages. The main dialect is based on the Standard Kawagoe dialect. Other dialects include the Hakone dialect of Kawagoenese Japanese, which uses the kana *n* to indicate vowel nasalisation (this feature is replaced by a non-nasal vowel followed by a nasal "n" sound in the Standard Kawagoe dialect). Japanese is the most common language other than English spoken at home in Kawagoeland; it is used by 74% of the population. Japanese serves as a *lingua franca* in Kawagoeland.

Kawagoenese Japanese uses a different lexicon than the standard Japanese language used in Japan: many of the Chinese loanwords in Kawagoenese Japanese are written with ateji: for example, standard Japanese "コーリャン" vs. Kawagoenese Japanese "高粱", both of which mean "kaoliang", a Chinese variety of sorghum. In Kawagoeland, the term "象棋" is used to mean "Chinese chess" (In Japan the term "シャンチー" is used).

## Chinese language

Mandarin Chinese became one of the official languages of Kawagoeland in 1947. This variant of Mandarin is called Kawagoenese Mandarin. The government heavily promoted "New Languages" campaign in the late 1960s to encourage more Chinese people in Kawagoeland, to speak Mandarin Chinese or Japanese in place of a non-Mandarin variety of Chinese. For example, younger Hokkien people in the state of Nanairoyama were educated in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and English, while younger Hokkien people in the state of Hakone were educated in Japanese and English. Thus, the older generation Chinese in Kawagoeland continues to speak non-Mandarin Chinese languages.

## Language education

Kawagoeland embraces an English-based multilingual education system. Students are taught subject-matter curriculum with English as the medium of instruction, depending on the state, while the official mother tongue of each student – Japanese, Chinese or Gujarati – is taught as a second language, also depending on the state. It is common for many of the Kawagoenese students to study Japanese, along with English and their mother tongue.