Man'yōgana

Man'yōgana
Font	Syllabary
languages	Japanese language
Used in	Japan
ancestry	Chinese writing Man'yōgana
Derived	Hiragana , katakana
ISO 15924	Hani (Chinese script)

Man'yōgana ( Japanese 万葉仮名 , syllable writing of ten thousand leaves' ) is a historical writing system of the Japanese language , the Chinese characters ( Kanji ) not because of their semantic (meaningful) qualities, but for phonetic (phonetic) reasons. It is therefore largely a syllabary and a forerunner of the Hiragana and Katakana fonts used in Japan today .

Man'yōgana were originally used to write place names and personal names ( cf.kana from kari na 'borrowed names; loan word '), since Japanese texts were written in Chinese at that time ( Kanbun ) and proper names could not be translated into Chinese, especially since the meaning of the names was partly no longer known. It was later recognized that it was possible to write texts in unadulterated Japanese using Man'yōgana, i.e. H. they could be reproduced directly with Japanese sounds and word order and a translation was no longer necessary. However, this use was mainly limited to poetry, e.g. B. in the oldest poem of Japan handed down through the Kojiki (712) and Nihongi (720).

In the old Japanese poem anthologie Man'yōshū ('Collection of ten thousand leaves') from the middle of the 8th century, 480 such phonetic symbols can be found in various forms, which is why they were given the name Man'yōgana.

Classification

Man'yōgana can basically be divided into three groups according to their pronunciation.

Ongana

Ongana ( 音仮名 ' phonetic syllables' ) or Jiongana ( 字音仮名 'character phonetic syllables' ) were chosen based on the Chinese pronunciation ( on reading ) of the characters used. The sound level corresponds to the early Middle Chinese or the Sinocorean pronunciation of the Kingdom of Baekje from which Japan adopted the Chinese script.

The most common case is that a sign here corresponds to a syllable ( 1 字 1 音 ichi ji ichi oto , in German 'one sign, one sound' ), like 阿 a , 伊 i and 加 ka . Sometimes two characters are used for a syllable, where the first character stands for the syllable and the second character repeats the vowel, e.g. B. 渭伊 wi , 斐伊 pi , 紀伊 ki and 由宇 yu . Ongana are the most common form of Man'yōgana and it is not uncommon for complete poems (especially in older texts such as Kojiki or Nihongi ) to be written in Ongana alone.

Kungana

Kungana ( 訓仮名 'meaning-syllables' ) or Jikungana ( 字訓仮名 'sign-meaning-syllables' ) use the Japanese pronunciation ( kun reading ) of the word denoted by the character. Since Japanese words are generally longer than Chinese words, kungana often denote multiple syllables such as 鴨 kamo (meaning: 'duck').

For example, monosyllabic jikungana are 吾 a , 射 i, and 鹿 ka . Here, too, there are several characters for one syllable, on the one hand because the Japanese word was shorter than its Chinese counterpart in individual cases , as in 海藻me , on the other hand because, as with the two-character ongana, a nesting was made. So it happens that the second character stands for the actual syllable and the first character contains the syllable, e.g. B. 摂津 tu , where 摂 alone is read setu . Furthermore, several characters can also stand for several syllables, as in 下風 arasi (meaning: ' Fall wind') with two characters for three syllables.

Ongana were the most common Man'yōgana, especially since kungana were never developed for some syllables, but five kungana are already known for the reign of Empress Suiko (592–628).

Gisho

Gisho / Tawamuregaki ( 戯書 'playful spellings' ) are Man'yōgana that result from the rebus principle . There are the following variants:

Graphemograms: 山上復有山 ide , German , 'Above the mountain is another mountain' because the character 出 is read as ide and looks like two mountains 山 on top of each other.

Arithmograms: 重二 si , German 'two on top of each other' and 並二 si , German 'two next to each other' da si means 'four', 十六 sisi , German '16' da 4 × 4,

Onomatograms (onomatopoeia): 馬聲 i , German 'horse sound ' , 蜂音 bu , German 'Hummelton' , 喚鶏 tutu , German 'screaming cock' .

Gisho, in particular, make reading Man'yōgana texts more difficult, since, for example, when 十六 occurs, it must first be concluded from the context that they do not have to be read regularly as to ₂ si and do not have the meaning 16, but a rebus for 4 × 4 are, therefore sisi should be read and then stand for the word 'wild animal' as pronounced.

Monosyllabic Man'yōgana (Magana)

The monosyllabic Man'yōgana are also referred to as Magana ( 真仮 wahre 'true syllable writing' ) because, as in modern Kana, a sign stands for exactly one syllable and, moreover, the Magana served as the basis for the modern Kana.

Japanese syllables follow a KV structure, so that the following table is divided into columns according to the initial consonant and line by line according to the final vowel. The naming follows the phonetic system and the transcription of the old Japanese language , i. H. The h-sound series of modern Japanese is designated as * p due to its supposed realization at the time, as well as the separation of certain syllables in two different pairs, for whose concrete phonetic meaning there is currently no linguistic consensus. Other sources also transcribe the p series as f based on its pronunciation in Classical Japanese or as h based on modern Japanese.

	∅ -	k-	s-	t-	n-	* p-	m-	y-	r-	w-	G-	z-	d-	b-
a	阿安英足	可何加架香蚊迦	左佐沙作者柴紗草散	太多他丹駄田手立	那男奈南寧難七名魚菜	八方芳房半伴倍泊波婆破薄播幡羽早者速葉歯	万末馬麻摩磨満前真間鬼	也移夜楊耶野八矢屋	良浪郎楽羅等	和丸輪	我何賀	社射謝耶奢装蔵	陀太大嚢	伐婆磨魔
i ₁	伊怡以異已移射五	支伎岐企棄寸吉杵來	子之芝水四司詞斯志思信偲寺侍時歌詩師紫新旨指次此死事准磯為	知智陳千乳血茅	二人日仁爾迩尼耳柔丹荷似煮煎	比必卑賓日氷飯負嬪臂避匱	民彌美三水見視御	none ^†	里理利梨隣入煎	位為謂井猪藍	伎祇芸岐儀蟻	自士仕司時尽慈耳餌児弐爾	遅治地恥尼泥	婢鼻弥
i ₂	伊怡以異已移射五	貴紀記奇寄忌幾木城	子之芝水四司詞斯志思信偲寺侍時歌詩師紫新旨指次此死事准磯為	知智陳千乳血茅	二人日仁爾迩尼耳柔丹荷似煮煎	非悲斐火肥飛樋干乾彼被秘	未味尾微身実箕	none ^†	里理利梨隣入煎	位為謂井猪藍	疑宜義擬	自士仕司時尽慈耳餌児弐爾	遅治地恥尼泥	備肥飛乾眉媚
u	宇羽于有卯烏得	久九口丘苦鳩来	寸須周酒州洲珠数酢栖渚	都豆通追川津	奴努怒農濃沼宿	不否布負部敷経歴	牟武無模務謀六	由喩遊湯	留流類	none ^†	具遇隅求愚虞	受授殊儒	豆頭弩	夫扶府文柔歩部
e ₁	衣依愛榎	祁家計係價結鶏	世西斉勢施背脊迫瀬	堤天帝底手代直	禰尼泥年根宿	平反返弁弊陛遍覇部辺重隔	売馬面女	曳延要遥叡兄江吉枝	礼列例烈連	廻恵面咲	下牙雅夏	是湍	代田泥庭伝殿而涅提弟	弁便別部
e ₂	衣依愛榎	気既毛飼消	世西斉勢施背脊迫瀬	堤天帝底手代直	禰尼泥年根宿	閉倍陪拝戸経	梅米迷昧目眼海	曳延要遥叡兄江吉枝	礼列例烈連	廻恵面咲	義気宜礙削	是湍	代田泥庭伝殿而涅提弟	倍毎
o ₁	意憶於應	古姑枯故侯孤児粉	宗祖素蘇十	刀土斗度戸利速	努怒野	凡方抱朋倍保宝富百帆穂	毛畝蒙木問聞	用容欲夜	路漏	乎呼遠鳥怨越少小尾麻男緒雄	吾呉胡娯後籠児悟誤	俗	土度渡奴怒	煩菩番蕃
o ₂	意憶於應	己巨去居忌許虚興木	所則曾僧増憎衣背苑	止等登澄得騰十鳥常跡	乃能笑荷	凡方抱朋倍保宝富百帆穂	方面忘母文茂記勿物望門喪裳藻	与余四世代吉	呂侶	乎呼遠鳥怨越少小尾麻男緒雄	其期碁語御馭凝	序叙賊存茹鋤	特藤騰等耐抒杼	煩菩番蕃

^†The phoneme yi , if it existed in ancient Japanese, cannot be represented as different from i using Chinese characters . Likewise, the existence of the phoneme wu is unproven.

The distinction between mo ₁ and mo ₂ can be found in Kojiki (712), but disappeared shortly afterwards.

Examples

Nukata's poem in Man'yōshū

The following poem ( waka ) by Princess Nukata from the Man'yōshū (Poem 8, Volume 1) is intended to illustrate the use of Man'yōgana.

These are highlighted in color, with Ongana highlighted in red , Kungana in yellow and Gisho in green . The remaining Chinese characters are used in their concrete meaning and thus not aloud, which means that they are not Man'yōgana.

Japanese	熟田津尓	船乗世武登	月待者	潮毛可奈比沼	今者許藝乞菜
Transcription	Nigi ₁ tatu ni	punano ₂ ri semu to ₂	tuki ₂ mate ba	sipo mo kanapi ₁ nu	ima pa ko ₂ gi ₁ ide na
Modern	Nigi tatsu ni	funanori sen to	tsuki mate ba	shio mo kanai ₁ nu	ima wa kogi ide na
translation	In Nigitatsu	we would set sail and	wait for the moon, however	with the tide against us	we have to row now!

熟 is an example of a gisho , as this character means, among other things, 'to cook, to prepare', which is pronounced niru or in the old Japanese past tense niki ₁ - however, this word is usually written with different characters and 熟 is read differently.

Derived Scriptures

From the italic and grass script forms of the Man'yōgana, the syllabary hiragana developed by reducing the number of strokes. Initially only used for poems, notes and private correspondence, it became the preferred script for writing Japanese from 900 onwards. Since hiragana-only texts, i.e. H. Without Kanji, written mainly by women, these are also referred to as Onnade ( 女手 'women's hand' ) or Onnagana ( 女仮名 'women's syllabary' ) and the Man'yōgana, on the other hand, also as otokogana ( 男仮名 , men's syllabary ' ).

Katakana developed either from character segments of the italic and grass script forms or the square rule script . It was created in the 9th century to annotate Chinese texts with Japanese reading instructions. Today katakana are mainly used for writing foreign words or for emphasis.

Both have in common that, in contrast to Man'yōgana, a syllable can be written using exactly one character each, so that instead of the 480 Man'yōgana occurring in Man'yōshū, only 48 characters each had to be learned. However, there were also different alternative forms called hentaigana .

Table of derivation of the kana signs


Development of the katakana (left) from Man'yōgana		Development of the hiragana (below) from the italic / grass script forms (center) of the Man'yōgana

Web links

Tomasz Majtczak: Man'yōgana 万葉仮名 (English)

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Wm. C. Hannas: Asia's Orthographic Dilemma . University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1996, ISBN 978-0-8248-1892-0 , pp. 37 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed February 4, 2018]).

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d 万葉仮名 . In: ジャパンナレッジ / Japan Knowledge. NetAdvance, accessed January 27, 2018 (Japanese, excerpts from the dictionaries Kokushi Daijiten ( 国史大辞典 ) and Sekai Daihyakka Jiten ( 改訂新版・世界大百科事典 )).
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Marc Hideo Miyake: Old Japanese: A Phonetic Reconstruction . Routledge, London, New York 2003, ISBN 0-415-30575-6 , pp. 20-27 .
↑ 真仮名 . In: Daijirin at kotobank.jp. Retrieved January 27, 2018 (Japanese).
↑ inspired by MYS I: 8. In: Waka Poetry. January 20, 2016, accessed January 30, 2018 .
↑ 男仮名 . In: Daijisen at kotobank.jp. Retrieved January 30, 2018 (Japanese).

[:1-1] Wm. C. Hannas: Asia's Orthographic Dilemma . University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1996, ISBN 978-0-8248-1892-0 , pp. 37 ( limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed February 4, 2018]).