Japanese language


The Japanese language is a spoken and written language used mainly in Japan. The Japanese name for the language is Nihongo (日本語).

History and classification

Historical linguists agree that Japanese is a Japonic language, but do not agree further about the origin of the Japanese language; there are several competing theories (presented roughly in descending order of likelihood): Specialists in Japanese historical linguistics all agree that Japanese is related to the Ryukyuan languages (including Okinawan); together, Japanese and Ryukyuan are grouped in the Japonic languages. Among these specialists, the possibility of a genetic relation to Goguryeo has the most evidence; relationship to Korean is considered plausible but not demonstrated; the Altaic hypothesis has somewhat less currency. Almost all specialists reject the idea that Japanese could be related to Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian languages or Sino-Tibetan languages, and the idea that Japanese could be related to Tamil is given no credence at all.

Geographic distribution

Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has been and is still sometimes spoken in countries besides Japan. When Japan occupied Korea, Taiwan, parts of China, and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries were forced to learn Japanese. As a result, there are still many people in these countries who speak Japanese instead of or as well as the local languages. In addition, emigrants from Japan, the majority of whom are found in the United States (notably California and Hawaii), and Brazil also frequently speak Japanese. There is also a small community in Davao, Philippines. Their descendants (known as nikkei 日系, literally Japanese descendants), however, rarely speak Japanese fluently. There are estimated to be several million non-Japanese studying the language as well.

Official status

Japanese is the only official language of Japan, and Japan is the only country to have Japanese as an official language. There are two forms of the language considered standard: hyōjungo 標準語 or standard Japanese, and kyōtsūgo 共通語 or the common language. As government policy has modernized Japanese, many of the distinctions between the two have blurred. Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications, and is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Because it is Japan's only official language and there are few foreign Japanese speakers, the language is heavily tied to Japanese culture and vice-versa. There are many Japanese words describing certain Japanese cultural ideas, traditions, and customs (e.g., wa, nemawashi, kaizen, seppuku), which do not have corresponding words in other languages.

Dialects

:''Main Article: Dialects of the Japanese language There are dozens of dialects spoken in Japan. The profusion is due to the mountainous island terrain and Japan's long history of both external and internal isolation. Dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent, morphology of the verb and adjectives, particle usage, vocabulary and in some cases pronunciation. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this is uncommon. Of all the numerous dialects, the most well known are Kansai-ben spoken in the area surrounding Kyoto and Osaka, Tōhoku-ben spoken in northern Honshu, and Kantō-ben spoken in Tokyo and the surrounding area. Kantō-ben is very close to the standard language, and varies essentially in slang; some consider it to be equivalent to the standard language. Kansai-ben has within it a number of regional variations, but is usually characterized by the dialect prominent in Osaka. It is famous for being the dialect used by a large number of famous comedians, and its use in even serious situations outside of the Kansai region tends to elicit laughter. Tōhoku-ben is considered to be hopelessly inaka by most Japanese people, its use is supposedly a sign of rural backwardness. Japanese dialects are typically mutually intelligible, although extremely geographically separated dialects such as Tōhoku-ben and Tsushima-ben may not be; in such cases speakers switch to the standard language with which all Japanese are familiar from school and from the media. The dialect used in Kagoshima in southern Kyūshū is famous for being unintelligible not only to speakers of standard Japanese but to speakers of nearby dialects in northern Kyūshū as well. The Ryukyuan languages used in and around Okinawa are related to Japanese, but the two are mutually unintelligible. Due to the close relationship they are still sometimes said to be only dialects of Japanese, but linguists consider them to be separate languages.

Sounds

The Japanese sound system is relatively simple, compared to most languages. Syllables generally consist of one consonant (C) and one vowel (V), though many words have longer syllables. Examples include words like kūkō airport, with a CVV.CVV structure (a period indicates a break between syllables); katta bought, with a CVC.CV structure; and tōtta passed through, with a CVVC.CV structure . There are 5 vowel and 17 consonant phonemes (compared to roughly 15 vowels and 22 consonants in English). Japanese syllables consist of:

Vowels

The vowels of Japanese are: Image:Japanese-vowels.png Japanese vowels are "pure" sounds, similar to their Italian or Spanish counterparts. The only unusual vowel is the high back vowel, which is indicated as /u/ in the diagram. This vowel is often described as unrounded, but is actually pronounced with "compressed lips", which is a different articulatory gesture from either rounded or unrounded lips: it is unrounded, but with spreading. The "u=" to the right of the diagram are possible narrow transcriptions using IPA, as suggested by the Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. In some English dialects, Japanese vowels can be approximated as follows: Vowels have a length distinction (short vs. long). Cf contrasting pairs of words like ojisan ("uncle") vs. ojiisan ("grandfather"), or tsuki ("moon") vs. tsūki ("airflow"). In some analyses, Japanese has formally no diphthongs because phonologically two different vowels in a row are not considered a diphthong. However, there are diphthong-like monomoraic glide-vowel or bimoraic vowel-vowel sequences. When phonetically considered, sequences like hyo, pyu, hai among others, are diphthongs. Also, in different analyses, sequences like hai, hae, koi, koe, au, ou, and so forth, are monosyllabic diphthongs, necessarily spread over two moras.

Consonants

!Plosive >p b >t d > ---  > ---  >k g > --- 
BilabialDentalAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal >-
Nasal >m n  ---   ---   ---   --- 
Flap > ---  ---   ---   ---   --- 
Fricative > ---  ---  s z  ---   ---  h
Approximant > ---  ---   ---  j w  --- 
:The consonant (an Alveolar lateral flap) is tricky for some English speakers. To an English speaker's ears, its pronunciation lies somewhere between an "r" , an "l", and a "d". The sound may be made by lightly placing the tongue on the back of the upper set of teeth and producing the sound /l/. Some have noted that the pronunciation is close to the Spanish "r". In American English, the "t"s in be[tt]er and the "d"s in la[dd]er are similiar but not identical to the Japanese "r". :Note that this table does not cover all sounds in the Japanese language. Please refer below for the details of pronunciation.

Phonology

Japanese contains a number of allophonic processes which greatly alter its phonetic realization. This sometimes causes its phonemic inventory to appear larger than it actually is. Elision is a major factor in Japanese pronunciation, with /i/ and /u/ tending to be elided when between unvoiced consonants or at the end of sentences, except when they are in accented or lengthened syllables (as in inu or kami, for example). Often, preceding fricatives will replace the vowel altogether. For example, Matsushita is pronounced "MaTSUshta", and the common sentence-ending copula desu is pronounced "dess". Gender roles also play a part: it is regarded as effeminate to pronounce elided vowels, particularly the terminal "u" as in "arimasu". Basilectic varieties of Japanese can sometimes be recognized by their hyper-elision, and formal or archaic dialects by their tendency to pronounce every syllable. /ʔ/ assimilates to the following consonant, resulting in a geminate (double) consonant. It is thus normally realized as something other than a glottal stop. /ɴ̩/, the moraic nasal, undergoes a variety of assimilation processes. Its "default" word-final pronunciation varies considerably from dialect to dialect, and is sometimes realized as bilabial [m] uvular [ɴ], or dental [n] (among other realizations); it may also be realized as a nasalized vowel. Within words, it variously becomes: The vowel /i/ and the "glide vowels" /ja/, /jo/, and /ju/ palatalize the consonants they follow: Finally, the vowel /u/ has some effects of its own:

Intonation

In English, stressed syllables in a word are pronounced louder and longer. In Japanese, all morae are pronounced with equal length and loudness. Syllables typically consist of one or two moras, depending on the presence or absence of a long vowel, a syllable-final "n", or a doubled consonant (often but not always pronounced with an accompanying glottal stop), each of which adds one mora to the syllable length, but some syllables have three (e.g., tōtta passed through) or even four (e.g., hōō phoenix) moras. Japanese is therefore said to be a mora-timed language. In Japanese, an accented mora is pronounced with higher pitch than the following mora. This is part of the Japanese intonation pattern. See also Japanese pitch accent. Japanese does have a distinct intonation pattern. This pattern can be heard not only in individual words, but also in whole sentences. Intonation is produced by a rise and fall in pitch over certain syllables. In the case of questions, the Japanese intonation patterns bear little resemblance to the English ones. This is a large source of confusion for many non-native speakers. The Japanese intonation pattern varies with regional dialect.

Grammar

Main article: Japanese grammar Japanese grammar can be characterized by the following prominent features:
Kochira-wa This person, subject
Sumisu-san-de Mr. Smith, subject complement
su (=''gozaimasu'') is, (animate)

Politeness

Unlike most western languages, Japanese has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness and formality. Broadly speaking, there are three main politeness levels in spoken Japanese: the plain form (''kudaketa''), the simple polite form (''teinei'') and the advanced polite form (''keigo). Since most relationships are not equal in Japanese society, one person typically has a higher position. This position is determined by a variety of factors including job, age, experience, or even psychological state (e.g., a person asking a favor tends to do so politely). The person in the lower position is expected to use a polite form of speech, whereas the other might use a more plain form. Strangers will also speak to each other politely. Japanese children rarely use polite speech until their teens, at which point they are expected to begin speaking in a more adult manner. See uchi-soto The plain form in Japanese is recognized by the shorter, so-called dictionary (''jisho'') form of verbs, and the da form of the copula. In the teinei level, verbs end with the helping verb -masu, and the copula desu is used. The advanced polite form, keigo, actually consists of two kinds of politeness: honorific language (''sonkeigo'') and humble (''kenjōgo'') language. Whereas teineigo is an inflectional system, keigo often employs many special (often irregular) honorific and humble verb forms. The difference between honorific and humble speech is particularly pronounced in the Japanese language. Humble language is used to talk about oneself or one's own group (company, family) whilst honorific language is mostly used when describing the interlocutor and his group. For example, the -san suffix ("Mr.", "Mrs." or "Ms.") is an example of honorific language. It should not be used to talk about oneself. Nor should it be employed when talking about someone from one's own company to an external person, since the company is the speaker's "group". Most nouns in the Japanese language may be made honorific by the addition of お o- or ご go-; as a prefix. o- is generally used for words of native Japanese origin, whereas go- is affixed to words of Chinese derivation. In some cases, the prefix has become a fixed part of the word and is included even in non-honorific speech, such as gohan, or rice. Such a construction usually indicates deference to either the item's owner or to the object itself. For example, the word tomodachi ("friend"), would become o-tomodachi when referring to the friend of someone of higher status. On the other hand, a female speaker may sometimes refer to mizu (water) as o-mizu merely to show her cultural refinement, compared to more abrupt male speech patterns. See Japanese honorifics Many researchers report that since the 1990s, the use of polite forms has become rarer, particularly among the young, who employ politeness to indicate a lack of familiarity. That is, they use polite forms for new acquaintances, but as a relationship becomes more intimate, they speak more frankly. This often occurs regardless of age, social class, or gender.

Vocabulary

Historically, Japanese has a large number of words that are borrowed from Chinese. (See further discussion below in the section on the Japanese writing system.) Japan also borrowed many words from European languages starting in the 19th century, including Portuguese, Dutch, German, French, and most recently English. Japanese also coined many neologisms (in kanji) to carry Western concepts; many of these were exported to Chinese and Korean via characters, in late 19th and early 20th century. In the past few decades, wasei-eigo (made-in-Japan English) has become a prominent phenomenon, particularly in the speech of the young and trendy. Words such as wanpatan (one-pattern) and sukinshippu (skinship), although coined from English, are nonsensical in a non-Japanese context.

Vowel Harmony

The words koko, soko, doko, and miyako were once kōkō, sōkō, iduku, and miyako respectively.

Writing system

:''See Main Article: Japanese writing system

Learning Japanese

Learning Japanese involves understanding grammar, pronunciation, the writing system, and acquiring adequate vocabulary. While the sound system is simple compared with other languages, the writing system and certain words that have a close connection with Japanese culture usually prove to be difficult to master. A background in another language which uses Chinese characters may enhance the study of kanji. As for culture-specific terminology, study of translated works in Japanese philosophy and arts will simplify comprehension. The Japanese government provides standard tests to measure spoken and written comprehension of Japanese for second language learners; the most prominent is the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT). The motivation to learn Japanese is usually due to a job opportunity in a Japanese organization, access to Japanese pop culture and its subcultures, or interest in traditional Japanese arts. Study of the language is enhanced by study of specific vocabulary and kanji used in such situations. Those with an interest in a specific aspect of Japanese culture usually have more success in learning the language than those with only a generalized interest in Japan. Unlike languages like Italian in which knowledge of the standard language is sufficient for communication in almost any circumstance, it may be necessary to be familiar with local dialects of Japanese on some occasions. Many learners testify that reading manga and watching anime helps quite a lot, however the benefits of this are disputed.

See also

Bibliography

ar:لغة يابانية ca:Japončs de:Japanische Sprache et:Jaapani keel es:Idioma japonés eo:Japana lingvo fa:زبان ژاپنی fr:Japonais ko:일본어 id:Bahasa Jepang is:Japanska it:Lingua giapponese la:Lingua Iaponica lt:Japonų kalba hu:Japán nyelv ms:Bahasa Jepun nl:Japans ja:日本語 pl:Język japoński pt:Língua japonesa ro:Limba japoneză ru:Японский язык simple:Japanese language sl:Japonščina fi:Japanin kieli sv:Japanska tt:Yapon tele tokipona:toki Nijon zh-cn:日语 minnan:Ji̍t-pún-oē Category:Japonic languages Category:Languages of Taiwan
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