Early Modern Japanese
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Early Modern Japanese | |
---|---|
近世日本語 | |
Region | Modern Japanese in the mid-19th century |
| |
Early forms | |
Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | None |
Early Modern Japanese (近世日本語, kinsei nihongo) was the stage of the
The period spanned roughly 250 years and extended from the 17th century to the first half of the 19th century. Politically, it generally corresponded to the Edo period.
Background
At the beginning of the 17th century, the center of government moved to
Phonology
Consonants
Middle Japanese had the following
Bilabial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop
|
p b | d
|
k ɡ | ||||
Affricate
|
t͡s d͡z | t͡ɕ d͡ʑ | |||||
Nasal | m
|
n
|
ɴ
|
||||
Fricative
|
ɸ | s z | ɕ ʑ | ç | h | ||
Liquid | r | ||||||
Approximant
|
j
|
ɰ
|
/t, s, z, h/ all have a number of allophones before the high vowels [i, ɯ]:
- t → t͡ɕ / __i
- t → t͡s / __ɯ
- z → d͡ʑ / __i
- z → d͡z / __ɯ
- h → ç / __i
- h → ɸ / __ɯ
Several major developments occurred:
- /zi, di/ and /zu, du/, respectively, no longer contrasted.
- /h/ partially developed from [ɸ] into [h, ç].
- /se/ lost its palatalization and became [se].
Middle Japanese had a syllable final -t, which was gradually replaced by the open syllable /tu/.
Labialization
The labial /kwa, gwa/ merged with their non-labial counterparts into [ka, ga].[2]
Palatalization
The consonants /s, z/, /t/, /n/, /h, b/, /p/, /m/, and /r/ could be palatalized.
Depalatalization could also be seen in the Edo dialect:
- hyakunin issyu> hyakunisi
- /teisyu/ > /teisi/ "lord"
- /zyumyoː/ > /zimyoː/ "life"
Prenasalization
Middle Japanese had a series of
Grammar
Verbs
Early Modern Japanese has five verbal conjugations:
Verb Class | Irrealis 未然形 |
Adverbial 連用形 |
Conclusive 終止形 |
Attributive 連体形 |
Hypothetical 仮定形 |
Imperative 命令形 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quadrigrade (四段) | -a | -i | -u | -u | -e | -e |
Upper Monograde(上一段) | -i | -i | -iru | -iru | -ire | -i(yo, ro) |
Lower Monograde (下一段) | -e | -e | -eru | -eru | -ere | -e(yo, ro) |
K-irregular (カ変) | -o | -i | -uru | -uru | -ure | -oi |
S-irregular (サ変) | -e, -a, -i | -i | -uru | -uru | -ure | -ei, -iro |
As had already begun in Middle Japanese, the verbal morphology system continued to evolve. The total number of verb classes was reduced from nine to five. Specifically, the r-irregular and n-irregular regularized as quadrigrade, and the upper and lower bigrade classes merged with their respective monograde. That left the quadrigrade, upper monograde, lower monograde, k-irregular, and s-irregular.[3]
Adjectives
There were two types of adjectives: regular
Historically, adjectives were subdivided into two classes: those whose adverbial form ended in -ku and those that ended in –siku. That distinction was lost in Early Modern Japanese.
Irrealis 未然形 |
Adverbial 連用形 |
Conclusive 終止形 |
Attributive 連体形 |
Hypothetical 仮定形 |
Imperative 命令形 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
-kara | -ku | -i | -i | -kere | -kare |
Historically, the adjectival noun was sub-divided into two categories: -nar and -tar. In Early Modern Japanese, -tar vanished and left only -na.
Irrealis 未然形 |
Adverbial 連用形 |
Conclusive 終止形 |
Attributive 連体形 |
Hypothetical 仮定形 |
Imperative 命令形 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
-da ra | -ni -de |
-na -da |
-na | -nare -nara |
Notes
References
- Kondō, Yasuhiro; Masayuki Tsukimoto; Katsumi Sugiura (2005). Nihongo no Rekishi (in Japanese). Hōsō Daigaku Kyōiku Shinkōkai. ISBN 4-595-30547-8.
- ISBN 0-300-03729-5.
- Matsumura, Akira (1971). Nihon Bunpō Daijiten (in Japanese). Meiji Shoin. ISBN 4-6254-0055-4.
- Miyake, Marc Hideo (2003). Old Japanese : a phonetic reconstruction. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-415-30575-6.
- Nakata, Norio (1972). Kōza Kokugoshi: Dai 2 kan: On'inshi, Mojishi (in Japanese). Taishūkan Shoten.
- Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-36918-5.
- Yamaguchi, Akiho; Hideo Suzuki; Ryūzō Sakanashi; Masayuki Tsukimoto (1997). Nihongo no Rekishi (in Japanese). Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai. ISBN 4-13-082004-4.