Language and heritage maintenance of immigrants: Japanese language schools in California, 1903-1941

This study concerns the efforts of Japanese immigrants in California to maintain their language and cultural heritage and will specifically focus on Japanese language schools in the state. Most of the historical materials used in this dissertation were found in the Japanese American Research Project (JARP) collection, University Research Library, UCLA, and local Japanese-English newspapers. Sociolinguist Joshua A. Fishman's model of the reward systems of ethnic community mother tongue schools is used and modified as a conceptual framework for the study. The following three basic questions prompt this historical investigation: (1) What were rewards for the students, parents and teachers in the Japanese language schools? (2) To what extent did these rewards influence the growth of the school? and (3) How did the schools contribute to the language and heritage maintenance of the Japanese immigrants?;Japanese language schools provided parents, students and teachers with a variety of benefits. Although the development of language skills for second generation children was successful only for a few, the schools played significant roles in terms of maintaining ethnic heritage and pride. While the schools must be seen in a context that includes primary reward systems (economic, political and religious systems) and secondary reward systems (public schools), language schools as a tertiary reward system did function as a community center for the Japanese immigrants. The Japanese language schools in California during the prewar period helped maintain the symbolic role of language and ethnicity for the Japanese immigrant, as well as fulfilling numerous pragmatic needs for parents.