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Old Japanese

Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. It was spoken by the Japanese ethnic group from an unknown beginning point until it evolved into Early Middle Japanese in the eighth century, during the Heian period, although the precise separation of these two languages is controversial. japanese language courses in chennai. Old Japanese was an early member of the Japonic family; no conclusive links to other language families have been drawn.

Old Japanese was written using Chinese characters, using an increasingly standardized and phonetic form that eventually evolved into man'yogana. Typically for a Japonic language and for a step in the evolutionary line of modern Japanese, Old Japanese was a primarily agglutinative language with subject–object–verb word ordering. japanese language courses in chennai. However, the language was marked by a few phonemic differences from later forms of Japanese, such as an eschewing of diphthongs. It distinguished between a few pairs of syllables with identical pronunciations—a phenomenon known as Jodai Tokushu Kanazukai—but the function of this differentiation is not known.

Writing system

The earliest texts found in Japan are written in Classical Chinese, although they may have been meant to be read as Japanese by the kanbun method. Some of these Chinese texts show the influences of Japanese grammar, such as the word order (for example, placing the verb after the object). japanese language courses in chennai. In these "hybrid" texts, Chinese characters are occasionally used phonetically to represent Japanese particles. Over time, the phonetic usage of Chinese characters became more and more prevalent, until Man'yogana, a system of using the Chinese characters phonetically to record Japanese, was born. This system was already in use in the non-prose part of Kojiki, and was used in a highly sophisticated manner in Man'yoshu.

Phonology

The study of Old Japanese phonology is based on the comparative study of synchronous pronunciation of Chinese, reverse analysis of diachronic change in Japanese pronunciation, and comparative study of the Ryukyuan languages. japanese language courses in chennai. Although the majority of Old Japanese writing represents the language of the Nara court in central Japan, some poems in the Man'yoshu are from southern and eastern Japan, and represent different dialects of Old Japanese. Some of these dialectal differences are still found today.

Old Japanese differed phonetically from later periods of the language. japanese language courses in chennai. An analysis of Man'yogana reveals a peculiar system known as Jodai Tokushu Kanazukai. See the Syllables section for details.

Early Modern Japanese

Early Modern Japanese is a stage of the Japanese language following Middle Japanese and preceding Modern Japanese. japanese language courses in chennai. It is a period of transition in which the language sheds many of its medieval characteristics and becomes closer to its modern form.

The period spanned roughly 250 years extending from the 17th century through half of the 19th century. Politically, this generally corresponds with the Edo period.

Background

At the beginning of the 17th century, the center of government moved to Edo from Kamigata under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate. japanese language courses in chennai. Until the early Edo period, the Kamigata dialect, the ancestor of the modern Kansai dialect, was the most influential dialect. However, since the late Edo period, the Edo dialect, the ancestor of the modern Tokyo dialect, became the most influential dialect, during the time in which the country closed its borders to foreigners. Compared to the previous centuries, the Tokugawa rule brought about much stability. The newfound stability made the importance of the warrior class gradually fell, to be replaced by the merchant class. There was much economic growth, and new forms of artistic developments appeared such as Ukiyo-e, Kabuki, and Bunraku.

In an attempt to spread their religion, the Portuguese missionaries studied and learned Japanese. They created a number of linguistic grammars, dictionaries, and even translated some of their literature. These resources have proven extremely valuable in Late Middle Japanese studies.