Classical Japanese language
Classic Japanese | ||
---|---|---|
Period | 9-11 Century ( Heian period without Insi period) | |
Formerly spoken in |
Japan | |
Linguistic classification |
|
|
Language codes | ||
ISO 639-3 |
ojp (together with Old Japanese) |
Classical Japanese ( Japanese中古 日本語 chūko nihongo ), also called Late Old Japanese , was the Japanese language and script that was used during the Heian period ( 794 - 1185 ), with the exception of the Insi period, i.e. from the beginning of the 9th to the Late 11th century, was spoken and written. It was the direct successor of Old Japanese and the predecessor of Middle Japanese of the Japanese Middle Ages .
While Old Japanese used the Chinese script to write Japanese, two new scripts emerged during the Classical Japanese period: Hiragana and Katakana . This made writing easier, literature flourished, and produced classics such as Genji Monogatari , Taketori Monogatari, and Ise Monogatari .
Classical Japanese was also the basis for the classifying written language style Bungo , which was used as a literary language until the early Shōwa period , at the beginning of the 20th century.
Phonetics and Phonology
Phonemes
While Old Japanese differentiated 88 syllables, Classical Japanese only had 66:
a | i | u | e | O |
ka | ki | ku | ke | ko |
ga | gi | gu | ge | go |
sa | si | see below | se | so |
za | zi | to | ze | zo |
ta | ti | do | te | to |
there | di | you | de | do |
n / A | ni | nu | no | no |
Ha | Hi | hu | hey | ho |
ba | bi | bu | be | bo |
ma | mi | must | me | mo |
ya | yu | yo | ||
ra | ri | ru | re | ro |
wa | wi | we |
developments
Great phonological changes were characteristic of this period.
The most important was the loss of the Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai , who distinguished between two types of -i, -e and -o. While the beginnings of this loss can already be seen at the end of Old Japanese, the complete loss occurred at the beginning of Classical Japanese. Finally, the distinction between / ko 1 / and / ko 2 / was lost.
During the 10th century / e / and / ye / merged to / e / and during the 11th century / o / and / wo / to / o /.
An increased influence of Chinese loanwords led to a number of phonological changes:
- palatal and labial and consonant groups such as / kw / and / ky /,
- the uvular nasal [ ɴ ],
- the length became a phonetic characteristic with the development of long vowels and long consonants ,
- the development of the uvular nasal and long consonants took place in the late Heian period and introduced closed syllables (CVC).
Vowels
- / a /
- [ a ]
- / i /
- [ i ]
- / u /
- [ u ]
- / e /
- [ ever ]
- /O/
- [ where ]
Consonants
- / k, g /
- [ k, g ]
- / s, z /
- Theories for / s, z / include [ s, z ], [ ts, dz ], and [ ʃ, ʒ ]. As in modern Japanese, pronunciation may depend on the following vowel.
- / t, d /
- [ t, d ]
- / n /
- [ n ]
- /H/
- / h / was realized phonetically as [ ɸ ], in old Japanese probably still [ p ]. An exception existed in the 11th century, when it was realized as [ w ] between two vowels .
- / m /
- [ m ]
- / y /
- [ j ]
- / r /
- [ r ]
- / w /
- [ w ]
grammar
Verbs
Classical Japanese inherited all 8 verb conjugations of Old Japanese and added a new one: the lower one-step ( 下 一段 , shimo ichidan ).
conjugation
Verb class |
Mizenkei 未然 形 unrealis form |
Renyōkei 連用 形 conjunctive form |
Shūshikei 終止 形 final form |
Rentaikei 連 体形 attributive form |
Izenkei 已然 形 Realisform |
Meireikei 命令 形 imperative form |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
four-stage | -a | -i | -u | -u | -e | -e |
upper single stage | - | - | -ru | -ru | -re | - (yo) |
upper two-stage | -i | -i | -u | -uru | -ure | -i (yo) |
lower single stage | -e | -e | -eru | -eru | -ere | -e (yo) |
lower two-stage | -e | -e | -u | -uru | -ure | -e (yo) |
K-irregular | -O | -i | -u | -uru | -ure | -O |
S-irregular | -e | -i | -u | -uru | -ure | -e (yo) |
N-irregular | -a | -i | -u | -uru | -ure | -e |
R-irregular | -a | -i | -i | -u | -e | -e |
Thematic and athematic stems
Verbs whose stem ends in a consonant are called athematic. These follow a four-step, upper two-step, lower one-step, lower two-step, S-, R-, K- or N-irregular conjugation.
Verbs whose stem ends in a vowel are called thematic. These follow a one-step conjugation above.
Irregular verbs
There are some verbs with irregular conjugations:
- K-irregular: k- "come"
- S-irregular: s- "do"
- N-irregular: sin- "die", in- "go, die"
- R-irregular: ar- "to be", wor- "to be"
The conjugation classes are named after the last stem consonant.
Adjectives
There were 2 types of adjectives: regular adjectives and adjectival nouns .
The regular adjectives are divided into 2 types: those with Renyōkei ending in -ku and those with -siku . There are two types of inflection:
Adjective class | Mizenkei | Renyōkei | Shushikei | Rentaikei | Izenkei | Meireikei |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-ku | -ku | -si | -ki | -kere | ||
-kara | -kari | -si | -karu | -kare | ||
-siku | -siku | -si | -siki | -sikere | ||
-sikara | -sikari | -si | -sikaru | -sikare |
The -kar and -sikar forms are derived from the verb ar- ("to be"). The Renyōkei inflection ( -ku or -siku ) gets ar- as a suffix. The inflection follows the R-irregular conjugation of this. Since vowel groups are avoided like the old Japanese, the resulting -ua- changes to -a- .
The adjectival noun got the original nar- conjugation with a new tar :
Type | Mizenkei | Renyōkei | Shushikei | Rentaikei | Izenkei | Meireikei |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
nar- | -nara | -nari -ni |
-nari | -naru | -nare | -nare |
tar- | -tare | -tari -to |
-tari | -taru | -tare | -tare |
The nar and tar forms share a common etymology. The nar- form is a contraction of the fall particles ni and the R-irregular verb ar- (“to be”): ni + ar- → nar- .
The tar form is a contraction of the case particles to and the R-irregular verb ar- : to + ar- → tar- .
Writing system
Classical Japanese was written in three different ways. The first was recorded in Man'yōgana , in which Chinese characters were used as a phonetic transcription like in early Old Japanese.
These uses later led to the syllabary scripts hiragana and katakana , which came from simplifications of Chinese characters.
swell
- Bjarke Frellesvig: A Case Study in Diachronic Phonology. The Japanese Onbin Sound Changes. Aarhus University Press, 1995, ISBN 87-7288-489-4 .
- Yasuhiro Kondō, Masayuki Tsukimoto, Katsumi Sugiura: Nihongo no Rekishi. Hōsō Daigaku Kyōiku Shinkōkai, 2005, ISBN 4-595-30547-8 .
- Susumu Ōno: Nihongo no Keisei. Iwanami Shoten, 2000, ISBN 4-00-001758-6 .
- Samuel E. Martin: The Japanese Language Through Time. Yale University, 1987, ISBN 0-300-03729-5 .
- Norio Nakata: Kōza Kokugoshi: Dai-2-kan: On'inshi, Mojishi. Taishūkan Shoten, 1972
- Masayoshi Shibatani: The languages of Japan. Cambridge University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-521-36918-5 .
- Akiho Yamaguchi, Hideo Suzuki, Ryūzō Sakanashi, Masayuki Tsukimoto: Nihongo no Rekishi. Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai, 1997, ISBN 4-13-082004-4 .
- Kanehiko Yoshida, Hiroshi Tsukishima, Harumichi Ishizuka, Masayuki Tsukimoto: Kuntengo Jiten. Tōkyōdō Shuppan, Tōkyō 2001, ISBN 4-490-10570-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Roland Schneider: Chapter VII. History of language. In: Bruno Lewin (Ed.): Language and writing of Japan. EJ Brill, Leiden 1989, ISBN 90-04-08775-3 , pp. 119-120.
- ↑ Yoshida (2001): p. 64.
- ↑ a b Kondō: Nihongo no Rekishi. Pp. 67-71.
- ↑ a b Yamaguchi: Nihongo no Rekishi. Pp. 43-45.
- ↑ a b Frellesvig (1995): p. 73.
- ↑ Nakata (1972): pp. 26-29.