Mapping of missionary documentation: impressions and position of the Jesuits who acted in Japan about the Japanese language (1549 - 1610)

• Grant number: 11/23144-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: May 01, 2012
• End date: June 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Languages
• Principal Investigator: Eliza Atsuko Tashiro
• Grantee: Mariana Amabile Boscariol
• Supervisor: João Paulo Azevedo de Oliveira e Costa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
• Associated to the scholarship: 11/02614-0 - Gaspar Vilela, Alessandro Valignano and João Rodrigues Tçuzu: language and adaptation on the metodology of jesuit work in Japan, BP.MS

Abstract

To those Jesuit missionaries who was dedicated to the educational project that developing in the Japanese mission, stands out the importance given by them to the description and understanding of the Japanese cultural and social rules to achieve themselves a correct comprehension of the language, being understood as articulated elements. The Japanese language characteristic, that in many points reflects the customs and discipline of a society based on a rigid social hierarchy, is perceivable until the current days, although the strong influence of foreign languages in their lexicon, mainly of the English. A deeper understanding of this moment of Japanese history make possible a mapping and analysis of the relationship between the occidental Europeans with this language, which it has important landmarks as the elaboration of the first Japanese-Portuguese dictionary and the introduction of româji (transcription in Latin alphabet) as option of writing, beyond the already used katakana, hiragana and kanji. Thus, this research project intends by the visit and access to documental funds of foreign institutions, primordially the Portuguese ones, systemize the information of existing documents (Letters, stories, texts, books) of the Jesuit missionaries who had acted for the company in Japan and that deal with the subjects of the master´s degree research: they thought and positioning in relation to the Japanese language, inside the practice of cultural accommodation, namely, the adaptation of the occidental ecclesiastic to the Japanese culture and way of life. (AU)