Late Old Japanese
Encyclopedia
is a stage of the Japanese language
used between 794
and 1185, a time known as the Heian Period
. It is the successor to Old Japanese
. It is also known as Late Old Japanese, but the term "Early Middle Japanese" is preferred, as it is closer to Late Middle Japanese (after 1185) than to Old Japanese (before 794).
and katakana
. This development simplified writing and brought about a new age in literature with such classics as Genji Monogatari
, Taketori Monogatari
, Ise Monogatari
and many others.
The most prominent difference is the loss of Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai
, which 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, it is completely lost early in Early Middle Japanese. The final phonemes to be lost are /ko1/ and /ko2/.
During the 10th century, /e/ and /je/ merge into /e/ while /o/ and /wo/ merge into /o/ by the 11th century.
An increase in Chinese
loanwords had a number of phonological effects:
The development of the uvular nasal and geminated consonants occurred late in the Heian period and brought about the introduction of closed syllables
(CVC).
Other changes include:
Theories for the realization
of /s, z/ include [s, z], [ts, dz], and [ʃ, ʒ]. It may have varied depending on the following vowel, as it does with modern Japanese.
By the 11th century, intervocalic /ɸ/ had merged with /w/.
Verbs having a base that ends in a vowel are known as vowel-stem. These are exhibited by the following conjugation classes: Upper Monograde.
The conjugation class for each is named after the final stem consonant.
s and adjectival noun
s.
The regular adjective is sub-classified into two types: those where the adverbial form ends in -ku and those that end in -siku. This creates two different types of conjugations:
The -kar- and -sikar- forms are derived from the verb ar- "be, exists". The adverbial conjugation (-ku or -siku) is suffixed with ar-. The conjugation yields to the R-irregular conjugation of ar-. The resulting -ua- elides into -a-.
The adjectival noun retains the original nar- conjugation and adds a new tar-:
The nar- and tar- forms share a common etymology. The nar- form is a contraction of case particle ni and r-irregular verb ar- "is, be": ni + ar- > nar-. The tar- form is a contraction of case particle to and r-irregular verb ar- "is, be": to + ar- > tar-. Both derive their conjugations from the verb ar-.
s used as a phonetic transcription as in Early Old Japanese. This usage later produced the hiragana
and katakana
syllabic scripts which were derived from simplifications of the original Chinese characters.
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
used between 794
794
Year 794 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 794 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* Kyoto becomes the Japanese capital, ending...
and 1185, a time known as the Heian Period
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
. It is the successor to Old Japanese
Old Japanese
is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language.This stage in the development of Japanese is still actively studied and debated, and key Old Japanese texts, such as the Man'yōshū, remain obscure in places.-Dating:...
. It is also known as Late Old Japanese, but the term "Early Middle Japanese" is preferred, as it is closer to Late Middle Japanese (after 1185) than to Old Japanese (before 794).
Background
Whereas Old Japanese borrowed and adapted the Chinese script to write Japanese, during the Early Middle Japanese period two new scripts emerge: hiraganaHiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
and katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
. This development simplified writing and brought about a new age in literature with such classics as Genji Monogatari
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...
, Taketori Monogatari
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
, also known as , is a 10th century Japanese folktale. It is considered the oldest extant Japanese narrative and an early example of proto-science fiction....
, Ise Monogatari
The Tales of Ise
is a Japanese collection of tanka poems and associated narratives, dating from the Heian period. The current version collects 125 sections, with each combining poems and prose, giving a total of 209 poems in most versions....
and many others.
Phonological developments
Major phonological changes are a characteristic of this period.The most prominent difference is the loss of Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai
Jodai Tokushu Kanazukai
is an archaic kanazukai used to write Japanese during the Nara period. Its primary feature is to distinguish between two groups of syllables as discussed below that later merged together.-Syllables:Following are the syllabic distinctions made in Old Japanese....
, which 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, it is completely lost early in Early Middle Japanese. The final phonemes to be lost are /ko1/ and /ko2/.
During the 10th century, /e/ and /je/ merge into /e/ while /o/ and /wo/ merge into /o/ by the 11th century.
An increase in Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
loanwords had a number of phonological effects:
- PalatalPalatalizationIn linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
and labialLabialisationLabialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common...
consonant clusters such as /kw/ and /kj/ - Uvular nasal [ɴ]
- LengthLength (phonetics)In phonetics, length or quantity is a feature of sounds that are distinctively longer than other sounds. There are long vowels as well as long consonants .Many languages do not have distinctive length...
became a phonetic feature with the development of both long vowelsVowel lengthIn linguistics, vowel length is the perceived duration of a vowel sound. Often the chroneme, or the "longness", acts like a consonant, and may etymologically be one, such as in Australian English. While not distinctive in most dialects of English, vowel length is an important phonemic factor in...
and long consonantsGeminationIn phonetics, gemination happens when a spoken consonant is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a short consonant. Gemination is distinct from stress and may appear independently of it....
The development of the uvular nasal and geminated consonants occurred late in the Heian period and brought about the introduction of closed syllables
Syllable
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...
(CVC).
Other changes include:
- The change of the prenasalized consonants to voiced consonants
- The change in timingTiming (linguistics)Isochrony is the postulated rhythmic division of time into equal portions by a language. Isochrony is one of the three aspects of prosody, the others being intonation and stress.Three alternative ways in which a language can divide time are postulated:...
from syllable-timing to mora-timing
Vowels
- /a/: [a]
- /i/: [i]
- /u/: [u]
- /e/: [je]
- /o/: [wo]
Consonants
| Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | ||||||
| Plosive Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &... |
t | d | k | ɡ | ||||
| Fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
ɸ | s | z | |||||
| Tap or flap Flap consonant In phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of consonantal sound, which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator is thrown against another.-Contrast with stops and trills:... |
ɾ | |||||||
| Approximant Approximant consonant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no... |
j | w | ||||||
/s, z/
Theories for the realization
Realization
realization and realisation may be:* Realization , a sport climbing route in Ceüse, France* Realization , the pricing of security at market value* Realization , an actually observed value of random variable...
of /s, z/ include [s, z], [ts, dz], and [ʃ, ʒ]. It may have varied depending on the following vowel, as it does with modern Japanese.
/ɸ/
By the 11th century, intervocalic /ɸ/ had merged with /w/.
Verbs
Early Middle Japanese inherits all eight verbal conjugations from Old Japanese and adds one new one: Lower Monograde.Conjugation
| Verb Class | Irrealis | Adverbial | Conclusive | Attributive | Realis | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrigrade | -a | -i | -u | -u | -e | -e |
| Upper Monograde | – | – | -ru | -ru | -re | -(yo) |
| Upper Bigrade | -i | -i | -u | -uru | -ure | -i(yo) |
| Lower Monograde | -e | -e | -eru | -eru | -ere | -e(yo) |
| Lower Bigrade | -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 |
Consonant / Vowel Stem
Verbs having a base that ends in a consonant are known as consonant-stem. These are exhibited by the following conjugation classes: Quadrigrade, Upper Bigrade, Lower Monograde, Lower Bigrade, S-irregular, R-irregular, K-irregular, and N-irregular.Verbs having a base that ends in a vowel are known as vowel-stem. These are exhibited by the following conjugation classes: Upper Monograde.
Irregular Verbs
There are several verbs with irregular conjugations.- K-irregular: k- "come"
- S-irregular: s- "do"
- N-irregular: sin- "die", in- "go, die"
- R-irregular: ar- "be, exist", wor- "be, exist"
The conjugation class for each is named after the final stem consonant.
Adjectives
There were two types of adjectives: regular adjectiveAdjective
In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....
s and adjectival noun
Adjectival noun
An adjectival noun or sometimes just adjectival is a noun that functions as an adjective by taking the particle 〜な -na...
s.
The regular adjective is sub-classified into two types: those where the adverbial form ends in -ku and those that end in -siku. This creates two different types of conjugations:
| Adjective Class | Irrealis | Adverbial | Conclusive | Attributive | Realis | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -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- "be, exists". The adverbial conjugation (-ku or -siku) is suffixed with ar-. The conjugation yields to the R-irregular conjugation of ar-. The resulting -ua- elides into -a-.
The adjectival noun retains the original nar- conjugation and adds a new tar-:
| Type | Irrealis | Adverbial | Conclusive | Attributive | Realis | Imperative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nar- | -nara | -nari -ni |
-nari | -naru | -nare | -nare |
| Tar- | -tara | -tari -to |
-tari | -taru | -tare | -tare |
The nar- and tar- forms share a common etymology. The nar- form is a contraction of case particle ni and r-irregular verb ar- "is, be": ni + ar- > nar-. The tar- form is a contraction of case particle to and r-irregular verb ar- "is, be": to + ar- > tar-. Both derive their conjugations from the verb ar-.
Writing system
Early Middle Japanese was written in three different ways. It was first recorded in Man'yōgana, Chinese characterChinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
s used as a phonetic transcription as in Early Old Japanese. This usage later produced the hiragana
Hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
and katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
syllabic scripts which were derived from simplifications of the original Chinese characters.