『英語階梯』とLindley Murrayのスペリングブックについて
1980 年 1981 巻 13 号 p. 139-156
詳細
1980 年 1981 巻 13 号 p. 139-156
Eigo Kaitei, which means “first steps in English”, is the first English spelling book published in Japan in 1866 by the School Kaiseidzio, an institution founded by Tokugawa Government. The book consists of 21 sections in which the alphabet, the pronunciation of each letter, syllables and words of two and three letters, words with digraphs, diphthongs and silent letters, and words of four, five and six letters, etc. are taught in easy and natural gradations. The book met with a favorable reception and was widely used as a textbook for beginners of English for several years till The Elementary Spelling Book by Noah Webster took over its position.
Eigo Kaitei has no preface nor the name of it's author. However, because of the resemblance to The Elementary Spelling Book up to Section III and of the difference from it in the rest of the sections which contain some words whose pronunciations are different from their present-day pronunciations, Eigo Kaitei has been regarded to have been written by the professors at the School Kaiseidzio who analyzed the pronunciations of English words pronounced by the Japanese people at that time and systematized them in accordance with The Elementary Spelling Book by Noah Webster.
This paper reports a new finding that Eigo Kaitei is a slightly modified reproduction of Part I of An English Spelling Book by Lindley Murray. The original text has been identified as the one once possessed by the school and now by Shizuoka Prefectural Library. The title of the original text is : An English Spelling-Book ; with reading lessons adapted to the capacities of children : in three parts. Calculated to advance the learners by natural and easy gradations ; and to teach orthography and pronunciation together. By Lindley Murray, author of “An English Grammar”, etc. etc. The forty-fifth edition, Paris. Baudry's European Library, 9 Rue du Coq, near the Louvre, 1839.
