On reading

On reading (German sound reading , Japanese 音読み , on-yomi ) is a term from the Japanese script and describes a class of pronunciation options for the Chinese characters ( Kanji ) used in Japan , which are based on the sound of the corresponding Chinese word leans on; hence the name Sino-Japanese reading .

The background to the on reading is that when the Chinese script was adopted in Japan, the original Chinese pronunciation of the characters was also adopted and largely retained. Many characters, however, have multiple pronunciation options. The on reading is in contrast to the Kun reading , in which the character is used for an old Japanese word with a similar meaning regardless of the sound of the corresponding Chinese word . Combinations of both readings are called Yutō-yomi or Jūbako-yomi .

In On readings, a Kanji usually only corresponds to one syllable or a two-syllable combination that ends in -ku , -ki , -chi or -tsu . Long vowels and syllables ending in -n are often found in On readings, while these are almost completely absent from Kun readings. Voiced and palatalized consonants are also found much more frequently in On readings than in Kun readings.

Explanation

The different readings of the Kanji in the Japanese language can be compared with the different readings of the logogram " & " in different languages. Assuming the context is Latin, the character is read as "et" . If one now looks at the Romance languages as later stages of development of Latin, then it becomes understandable why the same character is pronounced in Italian as “e” or Spanish as “y” . In addition, as a Kun reading from the Germanic languages , so to speak , the German reading “and” .

These different readings would then be used in different factual contexts. For example, if the topic was classically ancient, the reading “et” would be appropriate, and for a theme related to the Renaissance, the Italian reading “e” would be used.

example

The Seikan tunnel , which connects the islands of Hokkaidō and Honshū , takes its name from the first characters of the large cities near the two tunnel entrances, Aomori ( 青森市 , Aomori-shi ) in Honshu and Hakodate ( 函館市 , Hakodate- shi ) in Hokkaido. Like most Japanese place names, these two city names follow the Kun reading. The two characters 青 ( ao from Aomori) and 函 ( hako from Hakodate) are not spoken in this combination after the Kun reading, ao-hako , but after the On reading, sei-kan .

background

The background to this is the fact that the Kanji came to Japan via Korea around the 5th century in order to read and write classical Chinese ( Kanbun ). Since the Japanese had not previously developed their own script, they also used the Kanji to fix the Japanese language graphically. In parallel with this process, many loanwords were also adopted from Chinese. The Japanese tried to imitate the Chinese pronunciation of that time with their own phonemic system , which posed difficulties because Japanese and Chinese are not related and the phonetic differences between all periods. The result was a Japanese reading of the Kanji, called an "on reading".

In the course of time, depending on the change in sound in China and the time of the takeover, different readings developed.

Various on-readings

There are three well-known pronunciation options for Chinese Kanji in Japanese, which are not always realized: Go-on, Kan-on and Tō-on or Tō-in (better known as Tōsō-on). The traditional assignment of the readings to dynasties of the same name ( Wu dynasty , Han dynasty , Tang dynasty and Sung dynasty ), their capitals and the languages spoken in them is largely incorrect from a linguistic perspective.

Go-on: "The Japanese adopted the term [Go-on ( 呉音 )] from T'ang China , where it was coined to indicate their own old (and strange)“ non-standard ”pronunciation of Chinese."

Canon: The term can-on ( 漢音 ) was "invented in a similar way [...] to refer to the" Chinese (i.e., proper, correct) pronunciation ", which was used by a Japanese monk around the year 880 as Sei-on ( 正音 ) was designated.

Tō-on: As Tō-on ( 唐音 ) or Tōsō-on ( 唐宋音 ) are "later sounds [referred to], which are essentially based on the language of the Hangchow region at the time of the 14th century." During the Kamakura and the During the Muromachi period , many terms from Chinese Buddhism were adopted. This pronunciation comes closest to today's standard Chinese .

Wa-on: Go-on readings of Chinese loanwords that were adopted in the past and were already so strongly integrated into the Japanese vocabulary that they later appeared to the Japanese as Kun readings are called wawon ( 和音 ).

On and Kun readings, as well as Chinese for comparison
Sign / meaning	Japanese				Chinese
Sign / meaning	Go-on	Canon	Tō-on	Kun	Standard Chinese	Cantonese
京	きょう	けい	きん	みやこ
Capital	kyō	no	kin	miyako	jing	went
外	ぎょう	がい	うい	そと
outside	gyō	gai	ui	soto	wai	ngoi
明	みょう	めい	みん	あかるい
bright	myō	my	min	akarui	ming	ming
和	わ	か	お	やわらぐ
harmony	wa	ka	O	yawaragu	hey	Where

In Kanji dictionaries (in which you can look up characters and character combinations that you don't know), On readings are now rewritten in Katakana and thus differentiated from Kun readings, which are rewritten in Hiragana . If the romanization is used in continuous texts (e.g. because the corresponding Kanji have become rare and the reader may therefore not know them), then Hiragana is usually used for both types of reading.

Individual evidence

↑ Andrew Nathaniel Nelson: Japanese-English Character Dictionary . Tuttle: Rutland, Tokyo 1962.
^ ^A ^b ^c ^d Roy Andrew Miller: The Japanese language. Translated from the revised English original by Jürgen Stalph. Studies: Munich 1993, p. 114.

[1] Andrew Nathaniel Nelson: Japanese-English Character Dictionary . Tuttle: Rutland, Tokyo 1962.

[Miller-2] A ^b ^c ^d Roy Andrew Miller: The Japanese language. Translated from the revised English original by Jürgen Stalph. Studies: Munich 1993, p. 114.