Proto-Japonic, the common ancestor of the Japanese andRyukyuan languages, is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (theYayoi period), replacing the languages of the originalJōmon inhabitants,[2] including the ancestor of the modernAinu language. Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction fromOld Japanese, orcomparison with the Ryukyuan languages andJapanese dialects.[3]
TheChinese writing system was imported to Japan fromBaekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism.[4] The earliest texts were written inClassical Chinese, although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using thekanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order.[5] The earliest text, theKojiki, dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese,kanbun, and Old Japanese.[6] As in other texts from this period, the Old Japanese sections are written inMan'yōgana, which useskanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values.
Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinctmorae. Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets ofkanji for each of the morae now pronouncedき (ki),ひ (hi),み (mi),け (ke),へ (he),め (me),こ (ko),そ (so),と (to),の (no),も (mo),よ(yo) andろ (ro).[7] (TheKojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo1 and mo2 apparently was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 inEarly Middle Japanese, though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for/je/, which merges with/e/ before the end of the period.
Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particletsu (superseded by modernno) is preserved in words such asmatsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modernmieru ("to be visible") andkikoeru ("to be audible") retain amediopassive suffix -yu(ru) (kikoyu →kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) →kikoeru (all verbs with theshimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift inEarly Modern Japanese)); and the genitive particlega remains in intentionally archaic speech.
Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of theHeian period, from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for theliterary standard ofClassical Japanese, which remained in common use until the early 20th century.
During this time, Japanese underwent numerousphonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx ofChinese loanwords. These included phonemic length distinction for bothconsonants andvowels, palatal consonants (e.g.kya) and labial consonant clusters (e.g.kwa), andclosed syllables.[8][9] This had the effect of changing Japanese into amora-timed language.[8]
Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to theKamakura period and theMuromachi period, respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case theJesuit andFranciscan missionaries; and thus there is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, theArte da Lingoa de Iapam). Among other sound changes, the sequence/au/ merges to/ɔː/, in contrast with/oː/;/p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and/we/ merges with/je/. Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending -te begins to reduce onto the verb (e.g.yonde for earlieryomite), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out (shiroi for earliershiroki); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g.hayaku >hayau >hayɔɔ, where modern Japanese just hashayaku, though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greetingo-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending is also seen ino-medetō "congratulations", frommedetaku).
Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period includepan ("bread") andtabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both fromPortuguese.
Modern Japanese
"Standard Japanese" redirects here. For other dialects, seeJapanese dialects.
Modern Japanese is considered to begin with theEdo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese, thede facto standard Japanese had been theKansai dialect, especially that ofKyoto. However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end ofJapan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German (e.g.arubaito 'temporary job',wakuchin 'vaccine'), Portuguese (kasutera 'sponge cake') and English.[10] Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example,pasokon 'personal computer',intānetto 'internet', andkamera 'camera'. Due to the large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between[tɕi] and[ti], and[dʑi] and[di], with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords, eg.paati for party ordizunii for Disney.[11]
Geographic distribution
Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and duringWorld War II, through Japanese annexation ofTaiwan andKorea, as well as partial occupation ofChina, thePhilippines, and various Pacific islands,[12] locals inthose countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese.
Japanese has noofficial status in Japan,[21] but is thede factonational language of the country. There is a form of the language consideredstandard:hyōjungo (標準語), meaning "standard Japanese", orkyōtsūgo (共通語), "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times.[22] The meanings of the two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same.Hyōjungo orkyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after theMeiji Restoration (明治維新,meiji ishin, 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (seeYamanote).Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications.[23] It is the version of Japanese discussed in this article.
Formerly, standard Japanese in writing (文語,bungo, "literary language") was different fromcolloquial language (口語,kōgo). The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary.Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since thenkōgo gradually extended its influence and the two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s.Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survivedWorld War II are still written inbungo, although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language).Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, althoughbungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect.
Japanese is, along withPalauan and English, an official language ofAngaur,Palau according to the 1982 state constitution.[24] At the time it was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during theSouth Seas Mandate over the island,[25] as shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific which found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese.[26] However, as of the 2005 Palau census, no residents of Angaur were reported to speak Japanese at home.[27]
Japanese dialects typically differ in terms ofpitch accent, inflectionalmorphology,vocabulary, and particle usage. Some even differ invowel andconsonant inventories, although this is less common.
The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken inOkinawa and theAmami Islands (administratively part ofKagoshima), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of theJaponic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider the Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese.
The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time,[29] most likely the spoken form ofClassical Japanese, a writing style that was prevalent during theHeian period, but began to decline during the lateMeiji period.[30] The Ryūkyūan languages are classified byUNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand the languages.Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in theRyukyu Islands.[31]
Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due toeducation,mass media, and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration.
According toMartine Robbeets, Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in the world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such asAinu,Korean,Chinese,Tibeto-Burman,Uralic,Altaic (orUral-Altaic),Austroasiatic,Austronesian andDravidian.[33] At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link toIndo-European languages, includingGreek, or toSumerian.[34] Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or the proposed larger Altaic family, or to variousSoutheast Asian languages, especiallyAustronesian. None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial).[35][36][37] As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support.[38]
Other theories view the Japanese language as an earlycreole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as a distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages.[39][40][41]
Some Japanese consonants have severalallophones, which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence/ti/ waspalatalized and realized phonetically as[tɕi], approximatelychi(listenⓘ); however, now[ti] and[tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words liketī[tiː] "Western-style tea" andchii[tɕii] "social status".
The "r" of the Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between anapicalcentraltap and alateral approximant. The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced[ŋ], in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects.
Thephonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C),[42] that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant, a glide/j/ and either the first part of ageminate consonant (っ/ッ, represented as Q) or amoraic nasal in the coda (ん/ン, represented as N).
The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment andassimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including[ɴ,m,n,ɲ,ŋ,ɰ̃]. Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as the two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by ahomorganic consonant.
Japanese also includes apitch accent, which is not represented in moraic writing; for example[haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and[ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelledはし (hashi), and are only differentiated by the tone contour.[22]
Literacy was introduced to Japan in the form of theChinese writing system, by way ofBaekje before the 5th century AD.[43][44][45][46] Using this script, the Japanese kingBu presented a petition toEmperor Shun of Song in AD 478.[a] After the ruin of Baekje, Japan invited scholars from China to learn more of the Chinese writing system. Japanese emperors gave an official rank to Chinese scholars (続守言/薩弘恪/[b][c]袁晋卿[d]) and spread the use of Chinese characters during the 7th and 8th centuries.
Table of Kana (includingYōon):Hiragana top,Katakana in the center and Romanized equivalents at the bottom
At first, the Japanese wrote inClassical Chinese, with Japanese names represented by characters used for their meanings and not their sounds. Later, during the 7th century AD, the Chinese-sounding phoneme principle was used to write pure Japanese poetry and prose, but some Japanese words were still written with characters for their meaning and not the original Chinese sound. This was the beginning of Japanese as a written language in its own right. By this time, the Japanese language was already very distinct from theRyukyuan languages.[47]
An example of this mixed style is theKojiki, which was written in AD 712. Japanese writers then started to use Chinese characters to write Japanese in a style known asman'yōgana, a syllabic script which used Chinese characters for their sounds in order to transcribe the words of Japanese speech mora by mora.
Over time, a writing system evolved.Chinese characters (kanji) were used to write either words borrowed from Chinese, or Japanese words with the same or similar meanings. Chinese characters were also used to write grammatical elements; these were simplified, and eventually became two moraic scripts:hiragana andkatakana which were developed based onMan'yōgana. Some scholars claim that Manyogana originated from Baekje, but this hypothesis is denied by mainstream Japanese scholars.[48][49]
Hiragana and katakana were first simplified from kanji, and hiragana, emerging somewhere around the 9th century,[50] was mainly used by women. Hiragana was seen as an informal language, whereas katakana and kanji were considered more formal and were typically used by men and in official settings. However, because of hiragana's accessibility, more and more people began using it. Eventually, by the 10th century, hiragana was used by everyone.[51]
Modern Japanese is written in a mixture of three main systems: kanji, characters of Chinese origin used to represent both Chineseloanwords into Japanese and a number of native Japanesemorphemes; and twosyllabaries: hiragana and katakana. TheLatin script (orrōmaji in Japanese) is used to a certain extent, such as for imported acronyms and to transcribe Japanese names and in other instances where non-Japanese speakers need to know how to pronounce a word (such as "ramen" at a restaurant). Arabic numerals are much more common than the kanji numerals when used in counting, but kanji numerals are still used in compounds, such as統一 (tōitsu, "unification").
Historically, attempts to limit the number of kanji in use commenced in the mid-19th century, but government did not intervene until after Japan's defeat in the Second World War. During the post-war occupation (and influenced by the views of some U.S. officials), various schemes including the complete abolition of kanji and exclusive use of rōmaji were considered. Thejōyō kanji ("common use kanji"), originally calledtōyō kanji (kanji for general use) scheme arose as a compromise solution.
Japanese students begin to learn kanji from their first year at elementary school. A guideline created by the Japanese Ministry of Education, the list ofkyōiku kanji ("education kanji", a subset ofjōyō kanji), specifies the 1,006 simple characters a child is to learn by the end of sixth grade. Children continue to study another 1,130 characters in junior high school, covering in total 2,136jōyō kanji. The official list ofjōyō kanji has been revised several times, but the total number of officially sanctioned characters has remained largely unchanged.
As for kanji for personal names, the circumstances are somewhat complicated.Jōyō kanji andjinmeiyō kanji (an appendix of additional characters for names) are approved for registering personal names. Names containing unapproved characters are denied registration. However, as with the list ofjōyō kanji, criteria for inclusion were often arbitrary and led to many common and popular characters being disapproved for use. Under popular pressure and following a court decision holding the exclusion of common characters unlawful, the list ofjinmeiyō kanji was substantially extended from 92 in 1951 (the year it was first decreed) to 983 in 2004. Furthermore, families whose names are not on these lists were permitted to continue using the older forms.
Hiragana
Hiragana are used for words without kanji representation, for words no longer written in kanji, for replacement of rare kanji that may be unfamiliar to intended readers, and also following kanji to show conjugational endings. Because of the way verbs (and adjectives) in Japanese areconjugated, kanji alone cannot fully convey Japanese tense and mood, as kanji cannot be subject to variation when written without losing their meaning. For this reason, hiragana are appended to kanji to show verb and adjective conjugations. Hiragana used in this way are calledokurigana. Hiragana can also be written in a superscript calledfurigana above or beside a kanji to show the proper reading. This is done to facilitate learning, as well as to clarify particularly old or obscure (or sometimes invented) readings.
Katakana
Katakana, like hiragana, constitute asyllabary; katakana are primarily used to write foreign words, plant and animal names, and for emphasis. For example, "Australia" has been adapted asŌsutoraria (オーストラリア), and "supermarket" has been adapted and shortened intosūpā (スーパー).
Japanese word order is classified assubject–object–verb. Unlike manyIndo-European languages, the only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked withparticles that identify their grammatical functions.
The basic sentence structure istopic–comment. Once the topic has been stated using the particlewa (は), it is normally omitted in subsequent sentences, and the next use ofwa will change the topic. For instance, someone may begin a conversation with a sentence that includesTanaka-san wa... (田中さんは..., "As for Mx. Tanaka, ..."). Each person may say a number of comments regarding Tanaka as the topic, and someone could change the topic to Naoko with a sentence includingNaoko-san wa... (直子さんは..., "As for Mx. Naoko, ...").
As these example translations illustrate, a sentence may include a topic, but the topic is not part of sentence's core statement. Japanese is often called atopic-prominent language because of its strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and the two do not always coincide. That is, a sentence might not involve the topic directly at all. To replicate this effect in English, consider "As for Naoko, people are rude." The topic, "Naoko," provides context to the comment about the subject, "people," and the sentence as a whole indicates that "people are rude" is a statement relevant to Naoko. However, the sentence's comment does not describe Naoko directly at all, and whatever the sentence indicates about Naoko is an inference. The topic is not the core of the sentence; the core of the sentence is always the comment.
In a basic comment, the subject is marked with the particlega (が), and the rest of the comment describes the subject. For example, inZou ga doubutsu da (象が動物だ),ga indicates that "elephant" is the subject of the sentence. Context determines whether the speaker means a single elephant or elephants plural. Thecopulada (だ, the verb "is") ends the sentence, indicating that the subject is equivalent to the rest of the comment. Here,doubutsu meansanimal. Therefore, the sentence means "[The] elephant is [an] animal" or "Elephants are animals." A basic comment can end in three ways: with the copulada, with a different verb, or with an adjective ending in the kanai (い). A sentence ending might also be decorated with particles that alter the way the sentence is meant to be interpreted, as inZou ga doubutsu da yo (象が動物だよ, "Elephants are animals, you know."). This is also whyda is replaced withdesu (です) when the speaker is talking to someone they do not know well: it makes the sentence more polite.
Often,ga implies distinction of the subject within the topic, so the previous example comment would make the most sense within a topic where not all of the relevant subjects were animals. For example, inKono ganbutsu wa zou ga doubutsu da (この贋物は象が動物だ), the particlewa indicates the topic iskono ganbutsu ("this toy" or "these toys"). In English, if there are many toys and one is an elephant, this could mean "Among these toys, [the] elephant is [an] animal." That said, if the subject is clearly a subtopic, this differentiation effect may or may not be relevant, such as innihongo wa bunpo ga yasashii (日本語は文法が優しい). The equivalent sentence, "As for the Japanese language, grammar is easy," might be a general statement that Japanese grammar is easy or a statement that grammar is an especially easy feature of the Japanese language. Context should reveal which.
Becausega marks the subject of the sentence but the sentence overall is intended to be relevant to the topic indicated bywa, translations of Japanese into English often elide the difference between these particles. For example, the phrasewatashi wa zou ga suki da literally means "As for myself, elephants are likeable." The sentence about myself describes elephants as having a likeable quality. From this, it is clear that I like elephants, and this sentence is often translated into English as "I like elephants." However, to do so changes the subject of the sentence (from "Elephant" to "I") and the verb (from "is" to "like"); it does not reflect Japanese grammar.
Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of a sentence need not be stated andpronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above,zou ga doubutsu da would mean "[the] elephant is [an] animal", whiledoubutsu da by itself would mean "[they] are animals." In especially casual speech, many speakers would omit the copula, leaving the noundoubutsu to mean "[they are] animals." A single verb can be a complete sentence:Yatta! (やった!, "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!"). In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below), a single adjective can be a complete sentence:Urayamashii! (羨ましい!, "[I'm] jealous [about it]!")).
Nevertheless, unlike the topic, the subject is always implied: all sentences which omit aga particle must have an implied subject that could be specified with aga particle. For example,Kono neko wa Loki da (この猫はロキだ) means "As for this cat, [it] is Loki." An equivalent sentence might readkono neko wa kore ga Loki da (この猫はこれがロキだ), meaning "As for this cat, this is Loki." However, in the same way it is unusual to state the subject twice in the English sentence, it is unusual to specify that redundant subject in Japanese. Rather than replace the redundant subject with a word like "it," the redundant subject is omitted from the Japanese sentence. It is obvious from the context that the first sentence refers to the cat by the name "Loki," and the explicit subject of the second sentence contributes no information.
While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate the out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example,oshiete moratta (教えてもらった, literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly,oshiete ageta (教えてあげた, literally, "explaining gave" with a benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action.
Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English:
The amazed he ran down the street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun)
But onecan grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese:
驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration:Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct)
This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such askimi "you" (君 "lord"),anata "you" (あなた "that side, yonder"), andboku "I" (僕 "servant"). This is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanishusted (contracted fromvuestra merced, "your (majestic plural) grace") or Portuguesevocê (fromvossa mercê). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom.
The choice of words used as pronouns is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves aswatashi (私, literally "private") orwatakushi (also私, hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the wordore (俺, "oneself", "myself") orboku. Similarly, different words such asanata,kimi, andomae (お前, more formally御前 "the one before me") may refer to a listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations.
Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it is appropriate to usesensei (先生, "teacher"), but inappropriate to useanata. This is becauseanata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status.
Inflection and conjugation
Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The nounhon (本) may refer to a single book or several books;hito (人) can mean "person" or "people", andki (木) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with acounter word) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g.人人,hitobito, usually written with an iteration mark as人々). Words for people are usually understood as singular. ThusTanaka-san usually meansMx Tanaka. Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through the addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as-tachi, but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described asTanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such ashitobito "people" andwareware "we/us", while the wordtomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form.
Verbs areconjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and non-past, which is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the-te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive)aspect, similar to the suffixing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the-te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example,kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", buttabete iru means "They are eating".
Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have the same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle-ka is added. For example,ii desu (いいです, "It is OK") becomesii desu-ka (いいですか。, "Is it OK?"). In a more informal tone sometimes the particle-no (の) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker:Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning the topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention:Kore wa? "(What about) this?";O-namae wa? (お名前は？) "(What's your) name?".
Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example,Pan o taberu (パンを食べる。, "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread") becomesPan o tabenai (パンを食べない。, "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread"). Plain negative forms arei-adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g.Pan o tabenakatta (パンを食べなかった。, "I did not eat bread").
The so-called-te verb form is used for a variety of purposes: either progressive or perfect aspect (see above); combining verbs in a temporal sequence (Asagohan o tabete sugu dekakeru "I'll eat breakfast and leave at once"), simple commands, conditional statements and permissions (Dekakete-mo ii? "May I go out?"), etc.
The wordda (plain),desu (polite) is thecopula verb. It corresponds to the English verbis and marks tense when the verb is conjugated into its past formdatta (plain),deshita (polite). This comes into use because onlyi-adjectives and verbs can carry tense in Japanese. Two additional common verbs are used to indicate existence ("there is") or, in some contexts, property:aru (negativenai) andiru (negativeinai), for inanimate and animate things, respectively. For example,Neko ga iru "There's a cat",Ii kangae-ga nai "[I] haven't got a good idea".
The verb "to do" (suru, polite formshimasu) is often used to make verbs from nouns (ryōri suru "to cook",benkyō suru "to study", etc.) and has been productive in creating modern slang words. Japanese also has a huge number of compound verbs to express concepts that are described in English using a verb and an adverbial particle (e.g.tobidasu "to fly out, to flee", fromtobu "to fly, to jump" +dasu "to put out, to emit").
形容詞keiyōshi, ori adjectives, which have aconjugating endingi (い). An example of this is暑い (atsui, "to be hot"), which can become past (暑かったatsukatta "it was hot"), or negative (暑くないatsuku nai "it is not hot").nai is also ani adjective, which can become past (i.e.,暑くなかったatsuku nakatta "it was not hot").
暑い日atsui hi "a hot day".
形容動詞keiyōdōshi, orna adjectives, which are followed by a form of thecopula, usuallyna. For example,hen (strange)
変な人hen na hito "a strange person".
連体詞rentaishi, also called true adjectives, such asano "that"
あの山ano yama "that mountain".
Bothkeiyōshi andkeiyōdōshi maypredicate sentences. For example,
ご飯が熱い。Gohan ga atsui. "The rice is hot." 彼は変だ。Kare wa hen da. "He's strange."
Both inflect, though they do not show the full range of conjugation found in true verbs.Therentaishi in Modern Japanese are few in number, and unlike the other words, are limited to directly modifying nouns. They never predicate sentences. Examples includeookina "big",kono "this",iwayuru "so-called" andtaishita "amazing".
Bothkeiyōdōshi andkeiyōshi formadverbs, by following withni in the case ofkeiyōdōshi:
変になるhen ni naru "become strange",
and by changingi toku in the case ofkeiyōshi:
熱くなるatsuku naru "become hot".
The grammatical function of nouns is indicated bypostpositions, also calledparticles. These include for example:
スキーに行くのが好きです。Sukī-ni ikuno ga suki desu "(I) like going skiing."
はwa for the topic. It can co-exist with the case markers listed above, and it overridesga and (in most cases)o.
私は寿司がいいです。Watashi wa sushi ga ii desu. (literally) "As for me, sushi is good." The nominative markerga afterwatashi is hidden underwa.
Note: The subtle difference betweenwa andga in Japanese cannot be derived from the English language as such, because the distinction between sentence topic and subject is not made there. Whilewa indicates the topic, which the rest of the sentence describes or acts upon, it carries the implication that the subject indicated bywa is not unique, or may be part of a larger group.
Ikeda-sanwa yonjū-ni sai da. "As for Mx Ikeda, they are forty-two years old." Others in the group may also be of that age.
Absence ofwa often means the subject is thefocus of the sentence.
Ikeda-sanga yonjū-ni sai da. "It is Mx Ikeda who is forty-two years old." This is a reply to an implicit or explicit question, such as "who in this group is forty-two years old?"
Japanese has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness and formality. This reflects the hierarchical nature of Japanese society.[53]
The Japanese language can express differing levels of social status. The differences in social position are determined by a variety of factors including job, age, experience, or even psychological state (e.g., a person asking a favour tends to do so politely). The person in the lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech, whereas the other person might use a plainer form. Strangers will also speak to each other politely. Japanese children begin learning and using polite speech in basic forms from an early age, but their use of more formal and sophisticated polite speech becomes more common and expected as they enter their teenage years and start engaging in more adult-like social interactions. Seeuchi–soto.
Whereasteineigo (丁寧語, polite language) is commonly aninflectional system,sonkeigo (尊敬語, respectful language) andkenjōgo (謙譲語, humble language) often employ many special honorific and humble alternate verbs:iku "go" becomesikimasu in polite form, but is replaced byirassharu in honorific speech andukagau ormairu in humble speech.
The difference between honorific and humble speech is particularly pronounced in the Japanese language. Humble language is used to talk about oneself or one's own group (company, family) whilst honorific language is mostly used when describing the interlocutor and their group. For example, the-san suffix ("Mr", "Mrs", "Miss", or "Mx") is an example of honorific language. It is not used to talk about oneself or when talking about someone from one's company to an external person, since the company is the speaker's in-group. When speaking directly to one's superior in one's company or when speaking with other employees within one's company about a superior, a Japanese person will use vocabulary and inflections of the honorific register to refer to the in-group superior and their speech and actions. When speaking to a person from another company (i.e., a member of an out-group), however, a Japanese person will use the plain or the humble register to refer to the speech and actions of their in-group superiors. In short, the register used in Japanese to refer to the person, speech, or actions of any particular individual varies depending on the relationship (either in-group or out-group) between the speaker and listener, as well as depending on the relative status of the speaker, listener, and third-person referents.
Mostnouns in the Japanese language may be made polite by the addition ofo- orgo- as a prefix.o- is generally used for words of native Japanese origin, whereasgo- is affixed to words of Chinese derivation. In some cases, the prefix has become a fixed part of the word, and is included even in regular speech, such asgohan 'cooked rice; meal.' Such a construction often indicates deference to either the item's owner or to the object itself. For example, the wordtomodachi 'friend,' would becomeo-tomodachi when referring to the friend of someone of higher status (though mothers often use this form to refer to their children's friends). On the other hand, a polite speaker may sometimes refer tomizu 'water' aso-mizu to show politeness.
There are three main sources of words in the Japanese language: theyamato kotoba (大和言葉) orwago (和語);kango (漢語); andgairaigo (外来語).[54]
The original language of Japan, or at least the original language of a certain population that was ancestral to a significant portion of the historical and present Japanese nation, was the so-calledyamato kotoba (大和言葉) or infrequently大和詞, i.e. "Yamato words"), which in scholarly contexts is sometimes referred to aswago (和語 or rarely倭語, i.e. the "Wa language"). In addition to words from this original language, present-day Japanese includes a number of words that were either borrowed fromChinese or constructed from Chinese roots following Chinese patterns. These words, known askango (漢語), entered the language from the 5th century[clarification needed] onwards by contact with Chinese culture. According to theShinsen Kokugo Jiten (新選国語辞典)Japanese dictionary,kango comprise 49.1% of the total vocabulary,wago make up 33.8%, other foreign words orgairaigo (外来語) account for 8.8%, and the remaining 8.3% constitute hybridized words orkonshugo (混種語) that draw elements from more than one language.[55]
There are also a great number of words ofmimetic origin in Japanese, with Japanese having a rich collection ofsound symbolism, bothonomatopoeia for physical sounds, and moreabstract words. A small number of words have come into Japanese from theAinu language.Tonakai (reindeer),rakko (sea otter) andshishamo (smelt, a type of fish) are well-known examples of words of Ainu origin.
Words of different origins occupy differentregisters in Japanese. Like Latin-derived words in English,kango words are typically perceived as somewhat formal or academic compared to equivalent Yamato words. Indeed, it is generally fair to say that an English word derived from Latin/French roots typically corresponds to a Sino-Japanese word in Japanese, whereas anAnglo-Saxon word would best be translated by a Yamato equivalent.
In the Meiji era, the Japanese also coined many neologisms using Chinese roots and morphology to translate European concepts;[citation needed] these are known aswasei-kango (Japanese-made Chinese words). Many of these were then imported into Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese via their kanji in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[citation needed] For example,seiji (政治, "politics"), andkagaku (化学, "chemistry") are words derived from Chinese roots that were first created and used by the Japanese, and only later borrowed into Chinese and other East Asian languages. As a result, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese share a large common corpus of vocabulary in the same way many Greek- and Latin-derived words – both inherited or borrowed into European languages, or modern coinages from Greek or Latin roots – are shared among modern European languages – seeclassical compound.[citation needed]
In the past few decades,wasei-eigo ("made-in-Japan English") has become a prominent phenomenon. Words such aswanpatānワンパターン (<one +pattern, "to be in a rut", "to have a one-track mind") andsukinshippuスキンシップ (<skin +-ship, "physical contact"), although coined by compounding English roots, are nonsensical in most non-Japanese contexts; exceptions exist in nearby languages such as Korean however, which often use words such asskinship andrimokon (remote control) in the same way as in Japanese.
Depending on the speakers’ gender, different linguistic features might be used.[56] The typicallect used by females is calledjoseigo (女性語) and the one used by males is calleddanseigo (男性語).[57]Joseigo anddanseigo are different in various ways, includingfirst-person pronouns (such aswatashi oratashi私 for women andboku (僕) for men) and sentence-final particles (such aswa (わ),na no (なの), orkashira (かしら) forjoseigo, orzo (ぞ),da (だ), oryo (よ) fordanseigo).[56] In addition to these specific differences, expressions and pitch can also be different.[56] For example,joseigo is more gentle, polite, refined, indirect, modest, and exclamatory, and often accompanied by raised pitch.[56]
Kogal slang
In the 1990s, the traditional feminine speech patterns and stereotyped behaviors were challenged, and a popular culture of “naughty” teenage girls emerged, calledkogyaru (コギャル), sometimes referenced in English-language materials as “kogal”.[58] Their rebellious behaviors, deviant language usage, the particular make-up calledganguro (ガングロ), and the fashion became objects of focus in the mainstream media.[58] Although kogal slang was not appreciated by older generations, thekogyaru continued to create terms and expressions.[58] Kogal culture also changed Japanese norms of gender and the Japanese language.[58]
Many major universities throughout the world provide Japanese language courses, and a number of secondary and even primary schools worldwide offer courses in the language. This is a significant increase from beforeWorld War II; in 1940, only 65 Americans notof Japanese descent were able to read, write and understand the language.[59]
International interest in the Japanese language dates from the 19th century but has become more prevalent following Japan's economic bubble of the 1980s and the global popularity ofJapanese popular culture (such asanime andvideo games) since the 1990s. As of 2015, more than 3.6 million people studied the language worldwide, primarily in East and Southeast Asia.[60] Nearly one million Chinese, 745,000 Indonesians, 556,000 South Koreans and 357,000 Australians studied Japanese in lower and higher educational institutions.[60] Between 2012 and 2015, considerable growth of learners originated inAustralia (20.5%),Thailand (34.1%),Vietnam (38.7%) and thePhilippines (54.4%).[60]
The Japanese government provides standardized tests to measure spoken and written comprehension of Japanese for second language learners; the most prominent is theJapanese-Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), which features five levels of exams. The JLPT is offered twice a year.
Subete no ningen wa, umarenagara ni shite jiyū de ari, katsu, songen to kenri to ni tsuite byōdō de aru. Ningen wa, risei to ryōshin to o sazukerarete ori, tagai ni dōhō no seishin o motte kōdō shinakereba naranai.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.[62]
^Book of Song順帝昇明二年，倭王武遣使上表曰：封國偏遠，作藩于外，自昔祖禰，躬擐甲冑，跋渉山川，不遑寧處。東征毛人五十國，西服衆夷六十六國，渡平海北九十五國，王道融泰，廓土遐畿，累葉朝宗，不愆于歳。臣雖下愚，忝胤先緒，驅率所統，歸崇天極，道逕百濟，裝治船舫，而句驪無道，圖欲見吞，掠抄邊隸，虔劉不已，毎致稽滯，以失良風。雖曰進路，或通或不。臣亡考濟實忿寇讎，壅塞天路，控弦百萬，義聲感激，方欲大舉，奄喪父兄，使垂成之功，不獲一簣。居在諒闇，不動兵甲，是以偃息未捷。至今欲練甲治兵，申父兄之志，義士虎賁，文武效功，白刃交前，亦所不顧。若以帝德覆載，摧此強敵，克靖方難，無替前功。竊自假開府儀同三司，其餘咸各假授，以勸忠節。詔除武使持節督倭、新羅、任那、加羅、秦韓六國諸軍事、安東大將軍、倭國王。至齊建元中，及梁武帝時，并來朝貢。
^法制執務コラム集「法律と国語・日本語」 (in Japanese). Legislative Bureau of the House of Councillors.Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved9 November 2012.
^"Constitution of the State of Angaur". Pacific Digital Library. Article XII.Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved4 August 2014.The traditional Palauan language, particularly the dialect spoken by the people of Angaur State, shall be the language of the State of Angaur. Palauan, English and Japanese shall be the official languages.
^Long, Daniel; Imamura, Keisuke; Tmodrang, Masaharu (2013).The Japanese Language in Palau(PDF) (Report). Tokyo, Japan: National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics. pp. 85–86. RetrievedJuly 11, 2022.
^Miyagawa, Shigeru."The Japanese Language". Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Archived from the original on July 20, 2009. RetrievedJanuary 16, 2011.
^Kindaichi, Kyōsuke, ed. (2001).Shinsen Kokugo Jiten新選国語辞典 (in Japanese). SHOGAKUKAN.ISBN4-09-501407-5.
^abcdOkamoto, Shigeko (2004).Japanese Language, Gender, and Ideology : Cultural Models and Real People. New York: Oxford University Press.
^Okamono, Shigeko (2021). "Japanese Language and Gender Research: The Last Thirty Years and Beyond".Gender and Language.15 (2): 277–.doi:10.1558/genl.20316.
^abcdMILLER, LAURA (2004). "Those Naughty Teenage Girls: Japanese Kogals, Slang, and Media Assessments".Journal of Linguistic Anthropology.14 (2):225–247.doi:10.1525/jlin.2004.14.2.225.
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Frellesvig, B.; Whitman, J. (2008).Proto-Japanese: Issues and Prospects. Amsterdam studies in the theory and history of linguistic science / 4. John Benjamins Publishing Company.ISBN978-90-272-4809-1.Archived from the original on 2022-03-27. Retrieved2022-03-26.
Kuno, Susumu (1973).The structure of the Japanese language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.ISBN0-262-11049-0.
Kuno, Susumu. (1976). "Subject, theme, and the speaker's empathy: A re-examination of relativization phenomena", in Charles N. Li (Ed.),Subject and topic (pp. 417–444). New York: Academic Press.ISBN0-12-447350-4.
McClain, Yoko Matsuoka. (1981).Handbook of modern Japanese grammar:口語日本文法便覧 [Kōgo Nihon bumpō]. Tokyo: Hokuseido Press.ISBN4-590-00570-0,0-89346-149-0.
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