Old Japanese

Formerly spoken in

• Altaic language family (disputed ) Japonische languages

Ojp

Altjapanisch (Japanese上代 日本语nihongo Jodai or上古 日本语Jōko nihongo ) is the oldest written testified form of the Japanese language.

• 4.1 vowels
• 4.2 consonants

• 6.1 pronouns
• 6.2 verbs 6.2.1 conjugation
• 6.2.2 Thematic and athematic strains
• 6.2.3 Irregular Verbs

• 6.4.1 Kaku joshi (格 助词)
• 6.4.2 Kakari joshi (系 助词)
• 6.4.3 Fuku joshi (副 助词)
• 6.4.4 Setsuzoku joshi (接 続 助词)
• 6.4.5 Shūjoshi (终 助词)
• 6.4.6 Kantō joshi (间 投 助词)

• 6.5.1 Connection with Mizenkei
• 6.5.2 Connection with Renyōkei
• 6.5.3 Connection with Shūshikei
• 6.5.4 Connection with attributive
• 6.5.5 Connection with Izenkei
• 6.5.6 Connection with Meireikei

• 8.1 4 -vowel system
• 8.2 / h / < * [ p]
• 8.3 Co1 as Cwo

• 9.1 sources
• 9.2 Notes and references

Dating

A precise dating of the time is difficult. The upper limit for this period is 794, as the capital of Heijo - kyō was moved to Heian - kyō. The bottom turn is unclear. There have been excavated wooden panels and relics with writing fragments, but the first known text of greater length is from 712 Without the small text fragments exclude the Kojiki necessarily discussed this date as the lower limit for practical reasons. This fits well with the coincidentally Nara period ( 710-794 ). Superseded it was from the Classic Japanese.

Writing system

The oldest written sources are the Kojiki ( 712), Fudoki (720), Nihon Shoki (720) and Man'yōshū (after 771 ).

The earliest texts found in Japan are written in classical Chinese, even though they may have been read Japanese with the help of Kanbun method. Some of these texts show the influence of Japanese grammar, eg in which the verb was provided by the object. In these "hybrid" texts Chinese characters were used as phonetic surrogate for the Japanese particles occasionally. Over time, this phonetic use of Chinese characters was becoming more common, until finally came the Man'yōgana. This system was used already in the non- prosaic places of the Kojiki, before it was used in a mature form in the eponymous Man'yōshū.

Phonology

The study of the phonology of Old Japanese is based on comparative studies of Chinese pronunciation of that time, the Ryukyu languages ​​and the reverse analysis of diachronic change in the Japanese pronunciation. Although the majority of the documents of that time represents the language of the Nara court in central Japan, some poems are written in the Man'yōshū in other dialects from southern and eastern Japan. Some of these dialect differences can be found even today.

Altjapanisch differs phonetically from later language levels. An analysis of the Man'yōgana promoted a special system known as Jodai Tokushu Kanazukai to days. In the phoneme - section is discussed in more detail on it.

The transcriptions of ancient Japanese words in the Kojiki are different from those in the Nihon Shoki, and Man'yōshū, since the former, unlike the latter two syllables / mo1 / and / mo2 / different. This is brought into context that the historical records of the Kojiki was compiled earlier than those in the Nihon Shoki, which this was shortly afterwards received Missing, older distinction.

The modern Japanese syllable [ tsu ] is derived from the Affrikation of [t ] before [u ] in the ancient Japanese [ tu ] from the modern and [ to ] also from the early modern [ dzu ] and old [ you ]. Certain modern dialects retain this distinction between [z ] and [ dz ], eg for mizu (water) in Nagoya dialect [ midzu ]. A similar process of palatalization culminated in modern [ tɕi ] of classic and old [ ti ]. However it can not be detected when / ti / was palatalized. However, it could have been an affricate in Old Japanese.

Other characteristics that are different from old modern Japanese:

• No long vowels or diphthongs,
• Words do not start with / r / or voiced plosives and
• No Silbenendkonsonanten ANY KIND

Some scholars point to a connection between the Old Japanese and extinct languages ​​of the Korean peninsula as the Goguryeo language towards. However, proof of the relationship between Japanese and other than the Ryukuyu languages ​​could previously not be provided (see also Japanese Ryukyu for more details).

Phonemes

Originally it was assumed that the ancient Japanese has 68 syllables. Beginning of the 20th century discovered Shinkichi Hashimoto that from the set of possible characters for certain syllables in individual words, only a subset and was almost always used in other words a different subset in the Man'yōshū. He attributed this to the fact that in the Heian period coincided syllable pairs to a single syllable.

Through further investigations finally 88 syllables were found:

From outlined in section phonetics reasons instead of / h / and p / / written.

The CV1 syllables are referred to as type A syllables (甲类, Kō - rui ) and CV2 syllables as Type B syllables (乙类, Otsu - rui ).

Shortly after the Kojiki disappeared quickly the distinction between mo1 and mo2 and decreased the number of syllables on 87th

Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain the Silbendopplungen, including:

• An 8- vocal system,
• Palatalization of the preceding consonant,
• Palatal and labial glides / y / and / w / and
• A 6- vocal system.

This matter is currently being hotly debated, so that no general consensus.

Transcription

When transcription is to be kept in mind that that's not necessarily a hypothesis is supported and the subscript 1 or 2 may refer to the consonant or vowel.

There are various competing transcription systems. In some only the Type B syllables are marked, eg with a dieresis over the vowel: ï, ë, ö for i2, e2 and o2 and i, e and o for i1, e1 and o1. Several problems arise with these systems:

• It indirectly implies a special pronunciation of the vowel.
• It neglects a distinction of words in which the 1/2-Unterschied is unclear how / to / in / toru / or / kaditori /.

To avoid this is called system in i1, e1 and o1 extended to a case with circumflex: î, ê and ô.

Phonological rules

The vowel types in a single morpheme subject to certain phonological constraints:

• - o1 - o2 and do not occur together,
• -u and- O2 are generally not common before and
• -a and- o2 are generally still not common.

These rules indicate two vocal groups: / -a,- u,- o1 / and / o2 /. Vowels from a group not mingle with those of the other; -i1 and i2 - can occur with both groups. Some interpret this phenomenon as an indication of vowel harmony of the Old Japanese, as occurs in Altaic languages.

Phonetics

Vowels

A phonetic description of the vowels is dependent on the hypothesis is accepted.

Consonants

• The modern / h / causes a discrepancy in the pairing of the unvoiced compared to the voiced consonants. In / k, g /, / s, z /, / t, d /, and finally / h, b / does not fit the pair / h, b /, as the voiceless variant of / b / / p / is.
• Comparisons with the Ryukyu languages ​​show [ p] which speaks in Japanese [h ]. Since both languages ​​have separated sometime in the past, this can be taken as evidence that the Japanese [h ] was once like the ryukyuische [ p] spoken. However, this comparison does not directly concern the debate in Old Japanese.
• A look at the modern / h / shows that it is spoken as [ ɸ ] when a / u / follows. Another look back shows that Portuguese missionaries who visited Japan in the early 17th century, the entire / h / kana series as "fa, fi, fu, fe, fo" wrote. Korean visitors in the same century suggest a voiceless labial fricative, eg [ ɸ ].
• The oldest reference is from the 9th century. 842 describes the monk Ennin in Zaitōki that the Sanskrit p is labial than the Japanese.

Syllable structure

Traditionally, the difference between Type A and Type B syllables is seen in the vowel quality and thus accepted 8 different vowel phonemes with different theories about the pronunciation of these vowels. The syllable structure is thus CV ( consonant- vowel).

Other researchers see the difference in the syllables themselves through the use of Gleitlauten and thus a syllable structure in the form CGV.

The introductory C could be empty. A mere vocal but only occurs in word-initial. Voiced consonants and / r / are not word-initially before, except for the two loan words / rikizimahi1 / and / Rokuro /.

Vokalelisionen were held to prevent vowel clusters:

• The initial vowel is omitted: / ara / / umi1 / → / arumi1 /,
• The following vowel is omitted: / hanare / / iso1 / → / hanareso1 /,
• Two consecutive vowels merge into a new one: i1 → e1 a, a i1 → e2, o2 i1 → i2 or
• / s / is inserted between two vowels: / haru / / AME2 / → / harusame2 /. However, it is possible that / AME2 / earlier times * / same2 / was.

Grammar

Pronoun

The function of the short and long pronoun is not known. The short pronoun always follows but a particle. Except for minor exceptions, the long pronouns are never used with the genitive particles or in nominal compounds.

• Imasi, masi, mimasi: cf ( " be, exist " ) with Imasu
• Kimi: " they ( my lord ) "
• Namuti: na of the personal pronoun and the Honorativsuffix muti
• Namutati: " her "; of namuti and the plural suffix tati
• Wake, ore: pejoratively
• I: pejorative, but only in connection with the genitive as i -ga

Verbs

Altjapanisch difference between 8 verb conjugations: four-stage (四段yondan ), upper stage (上 一段kami Ichidan ), upper two-stage (上 二段kami nidan ), lower two-stage (下 二段shimo nidan ), K - irregular (カ 変ka- ing ), S- irregular (サ変sa- hen ), N- irregular (ナ 変na -tion ) and R - irregular (ラ 変ra -tion ). Lower stage verbs (下 一段shimo Ichidan ) are not yet available.

Conjugation

Mizenkei ( counterfactual ) and Izenkei ( Realis ) are named as contrasting pairs according to the function of the corresponding verb form with the particle ba: ba Mizenkei with a hypothesis or conditionalis is expressed and Izenkei ba a real condition.

Thematic and athematic strains

Verbs whose stem ends with a consonant are called " athematic ". These follow a four-stage, upper two-stage, S-, R-, K - or N- irregular conjugation.

Verbs whose stem ends in a vowel are referred to as " thematic ". These follow an upper -stage conjugation.

Irregular Verbs

There are some verbs with irregular conjugations.

• K- irregular k- "come"
• S- irregular: s- "do"
• N- irregular: sin - "die", " go die" in -
• R- irregular: ar - "to be", wor - "to be"

The conjugacy classes are named after the last root consonant.

Adjectives

There were two types of adjectives: regular adjectives and adjectival nouns.

The regular adjectives are divided again into two types: those in which the Renyōkei on -ku, and those where it ends in- siku. Thus, there are two inflectional:

The -kar - and - sikar forms are derived from the verb ar - ( "to be" ). The Renyōkei flexion ( -ku or - siku ) gets ar - as a suffix. The flexion is followed by the R- irregular conjugation of this. Since the ancient Japanese vocal groups avoids going the resulting -ua -to -a- round.

The adjectival noun only have a flexion:

Particles ( joshi )

Kaku joshi (格 助词)

Kaku joshi are particles that show the case of nouns.

• Nominative: The Nominativpartikel i was already obsolete and came after the Old Japanese disuse.
• Accusative: where ( varies according to the topics where particles ha -ba)
• Genitive: Mainly were for the genitive ga and used no2. ga is in this case used mainly possessive and attributive no2, but both also appositionally being in ga rather the previous section and in the subsequent section of no2 is emphasized. It follows that when personal pronouns exclusively ga ( eg wa -ga, "my", na -ga, "your ", si -ga, "to be", ta -ga, "whose " ) and demonstrative exclusively no2 ( ko2 - no2, " this"; no2 so2, "that" ) will be used. In addition to the two sets are also used to label the subject. The genitive particle tu begins to be uncommon in Old Japanese, since it occurs mainly only local information. Already obsolete genitive particles are ro1, ro2, well - the latter possibly also an out of use dual- particles - and there, in turn, is an obsolete variant of na. Presence they are for example available in the following expressions: kamu - ro1 -ki ( " spirit beings [ genitive ] male " ), kamu - ro1 -mi ( " spirit beings [ genitive ] Female " ), o1- ro2 -ti ( " large [ genitive ] wild, powerful beings " ), ma -na- ko1 ( " eye [ genitive ] child;? eyeball " ), ke -da- mono ( " Hair [ genitive ] entity ").
• Dative ni
• Allative: The noun he1 ( " page ") direction was first used as Allativpartikel.
• Ablative: Ablativpartikeln were equal yo1ri, yo1, yuri and yu. The noun kara was first used as Ablativpartikel.
• Comitative: to2

Kakari joshi (系 助词)

• Topic: ha was to display a normal or contrasting thread and mo used for emphasis.
• Reaffirming: namo ( namu ), so ( zo ), koso
• Wh-questions: ka
• Yes / no questions: ya

Fuku joshi (副 助词)

Fuku joshi form adverbial phrases.

• Bakari: "about, approximately" (from Hakar, " measure; plan" )
• Dani: "at least"
• Made (ni): "to"
• Nomi2: " only, only, alone; totally, totally, totally "
• Saw: " also, also, even, at least" ( cf. the modern sae )
• Si: " also, even"
• Simo, " even"
• Sura: " even, at least"

Setsuzoku joshi (接 続 助词)

Setsuzoku joshi follow finite verbs to form subordinate clauses.

• Gane: " so that"
• Gani: "as if"
• Mono where " although"
• Mono kara (ni ), mono yuwe (ni): " when, during "
• Ni, " as because"
• To: Konzessivsatz ( " even if, although" ), often followed by mo → tomo
• "So that, in order to"

Shūjoshi (终 助词)

Shūjoshi are Satzendpartikeln.

• Gane: optative
• Kamo: interrogative; exclamation
• Moga: Desiderativ
• Miyu: " it seems ". Miyu comes from the final form of miye, the passive of the verb mi - ( "see" ).
• Na: ban ( " not "); exclamation
• So, koso, ka, ya: see Kakari joshi

Kantō joshi (间 投 助词)

Kantō joshi form interjections.

• Ro: If only rarely in the central but often in the eastern dialect.
• We where, ya, yo

The suffixes for the Meireikei probably descended from the interjections yo ( central dialect) and ro (eastern dialect).

Auxiliary verbs

The non- inflected be considered as particles.

Conjunction with Mizenkei

Conjunction with Renyōkei

Conjunction with Shūshikei

Conjunction with attributive

Conjunction with Izenkei

• Ba: Indicates a condition or reason (see also Mizenkei -ba, not inflected )
• Do: concessive (not inflected )

Conjunction with Meireikei

Dialects

The Man'yōshū includes poems written in an eastern dialect.

Proto - Japanese

4 -vowel system

The following reductions took place:

• * ia > / e1 /
• * ai1 > / e2 /
• * ui1 > / i2 /
• * o2i1 > / i2 /
• * au > / o1 /
• * etc.> / o1 /

Thus, the proto- vowel system as / * a, * i, * u, * are o2 / reconstructed.

/ h / < * [ p]

While the ancient Japanese / h / as [ ɸ ] was pronounced, it was the Proto -Japanese likely * [ p].

Co1 as Cwo

Distribution shows that it may one day ho1 *, * and HO2 * bo1, bo2 have given. The distinction between / mo1 / and / mo2 / occurs only in the Kojiki and then disappeared. If this is true, then Co1 and Co2 for all combinations except were / where / distinction. Some of this is regarded as a supporting argument that Co1 is Cwo.

Sources and References

Swell

• Hisataka omodaka: Jidaibetsu Kokugo Daijiten: Jōdaihen. Sanseido (泽泻 久 孝:时代 别 国语 大 辞典: .上代 编 三省 堂), 1967, ISBN 4-385-13237-2.
• Akiho Yamaguchi, Hideo Suzuki, Ryuzo Sakanashi, Masayuki Tsukimoto: Nihongo no Rekishi. Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai (山口 明 穂,铃木 英 夫,坂 梨 隆 三,月 本 幸:日本語 の 歴史 东京 大学 出版 会. ), 1997, ISBN 4-13-082004-4.
• Susumu Ōno: Nihongo no Keisei. Iwanami Shoten (大野 晋:日本語 の 形成 岩 波 书店. ), 2000, ISBN 4-00-001758-6.
• Samuel E. Martin: The Japanese Language Through Time. Yale University, 1987, ISBN 0-300-03729-5.
• Marc Hideo Miyake: Old Japanese. A Phonetic Reconstruction. RoutledgeCurzon, London, New York 2000, ISBN 0-415-30575-6.
• Masayoshi Shibatani: The Languages ​​of Japan. Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-521-36918-5.
• John R. Bentley: A Descriptive Grammar of Early Old Japanese Prose. Brill, 2001, ISBN 90-04-12308-3