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History of the Japanese Language
71
Hiragana
Table of Contents
History of Kanji
Kanji
Overview of the Japanese Writing System
- Quick overview of Japanese writing system
- History of Kanji
- History of Hiragana
- History of Katakana
Sources
Coming from China
Turtles
Katakana
- Chinese characters and culture came to Japan in the fourth or fifth century
- Chinese characters were used phonetically to represent similar Japanese sounds, regardless of the meaning of each Chinese character
- Exp: ya-ma mountain which logographically would mean “night cannabis”
Readings., E., and Chi. "Introduction to Kanji." Introduction to Kanji A
Brief History of Kanji (n.d.): n. pag. JSTOR. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
<http://www.mementoslangues.fr/Japonais/Kanji/Intro-to
Kanji.pdf>.
"Japanese Katakana." Japanese Katakana. Omniglot, n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
Koichi. "Kanji History - The Origins of Japan's Writing System." Tofugu.
N.p., 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2016
"Writing Reforms in Modern Japan." Writing Reforms in Modern Japan.
N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
<http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/written-language-reforms.html>.
"What Is Hentaigana?" What Is Hentaigana? N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2016.
<http://www.sljfaq.org/afaq/hentaigana.html>.
Adapting the Logographic Characters
Transformation into Modern Japanese
Katakana
Hentigana
- Later, the Chinese characters were used logographically, regardless of their Chinese pronunciations, to represent Japanese words of the same or related meaning.
- Exp: 山 for yama – mountain even though Chinese pronounced it shan
Kanji changed pronunciation and reading
Hiragana used to be referred to as hentaigana
Katakana changed from a way to dictate kanji pronunciation into all it is today
Considered “men’s language”
Since the 20th Century Katakana has been used for
Non-Chinese loan words
Onomatopoeic words
Foreign names
Telegrams
Emphasis
This is why Japanese Kanji usually have more than one reading
Katakana
Meji Period
Originally from Buddhist monks to indicate proper pronunciation of characters
Made from abbreviated Chinese characters
In the 1900s The Education Ministry introduced 2 reforms:
- restriction of the number of kanji taught in elementary schools to about 1,200
- standardization of hiragana, eliminating hentaigana