Классический японский язык: история и особенности

Literary form of Japanese, used until the early 20th century

The classical Japanese language ( bungo, "literary language"), also called "old writing" ( kobun), sometimes simply called "Medieval Japanese" is the literary form of the Japanese language that was the standard until the early Shōwa period (1926–1989). It is based on Early Middle Japanese, the language as spoken during the Heian period (794–1185), but exhibits some later influences. Its use started to decline during the late Meiji period (1868–1912) when novelists started writing their works in the spoken form. Eventually, the spoken style came into widespread use, including in major newspapers, but many official documents were still written in the old style. After the end of World War II, most documents switched to the spoken style, although the classical style continues to be used in traditional genres, such as haiku and waka. Old laws are also left in the classical style unless fully revised. The terms 文語 (bungo "written language") and 口語 (kōgo "spoken language") are still used for classical and modern Japanese, respectively. Their literal meanings are only historical, as classical Japanese is no longer used, while modern Japanese is the only current written language, despite its name. These terms are often used in descriptions of grammar to distinguish classical and modern inflections. For example, the bungo inflection of the verb 書く (kaku "to write") is quadrigrade (kaka, kaki, kaku, kake), but its kōgo inflection is quintigrade due to a historical sound change (kaka, kakō < kakau < kakamu, kaki, kaku, kake).

Classical Japanese began to be written during the Heian period, at which point it was very similar to spoken Japanese. It became the written standard for the Japanese language for many centuries, though the spoken language continued to evolve and by the Edo period was substantially different from classical Japanese. This is known as diglossia, a situation in which two forms of a language, in this case a written and spoken form, coexist. During the Meiji period, some intellectuals sought the abolition of classical Japanese, such as the Genbun Itchi movement, which proposed that written Japanese conform to the vernacular spoken language. Futabatei Shimei's 1887 novel The Drifting Cloud was one of the first novels to be written in vernacular Japanese rather than classical. By 1908, novels no longer used classical Japanese, and by the 1920s the same was true of all newspapers. Government documents remained in classical Japanese until 1946. Classical Japanese continues to be taught in Japanese high schools and universities due to its importance in the study of traditional Japanese literature. There are some exceptions to this sound change, although they are rare. They include (haha "mother", expected form hawa), (hoho "cheek", expected form hō), (ahiru "domestic duck", expected form airu), and (afure ru "overflow", expected form aore ru or ōre ru. Sometimes, as in the case of the first two exceptions, the sound change form exists, usually with a slightly different meaning ( hawa is a hyper formal and very respectful term for mother) or is used in different contexts ( hō is generally used in isolation, while hoho is generally used in compounds). In other cases, as is true of the second two exceptions, the unchanged form is the only one that exists. In addition to these exceptions, some dialects may preserve these sounds as they were at any stage of the language.

Two other significant differences involve the way that kana are used in general, rather than which kana are used. The first is that Chinese characters in classical texts are often fully marked with ruby text ( Furigana), especially in old laws and other very important documents. Ruby text is still widely used in modern Japanese, but only for characters with non standard or ambiguous pronunciations, or sometimes in materials designed for children or foreigners. The second difference is that, especially in legal documents, Katakana were often used in the way that Hiragana are used in modern Japanese, to write out adjective and verb inflections, suffixes, and particles ( Okurigana), and for the aforementioned ruby text. Finally, kana iteration marks were far more common in classical Japanese, and sometimes used in ways that are considered completely obsolete in modern Japanese. For an example of a major document written in the classical style, see as an example the original text of the 1890 Meiji Constitution, which is written in classical Japanese using historical kana, old character forms, kana iteration marks, and Katakana in place of Hiragana (although it lacks universal ruby text).

Note that these translations are glosses, and may not reflect certain nuances or rare alternative meanings. In addition, the translations are for the classical meaning of the verb, which may differ from the modern meaning of the verb if it has survived into modern Japanese either slightly (e. g., ki ru, which meant "to wear [in general]" in classical Japanese, but means "to wear [from the waist up]" in modern Japanese), or significantly (e. g., wi ru, which meant "to sit" in classical Japanese, but primarily means "to be" (for animate objects) in modern Japanese). Some may have the same meaning, but a different pronunciation (e. g., kagami ru "to learn from", which is generally pronounced and written kangami ru in modern Japanese). Also, even for those verbs which have survived with the same meaning and form, many are archaic and rarely used in modern Japanese (e. g., hi ru "to sneeze", with the same modern meaning and form, but almost never used). On the other hand, some have kept the same meaning, form, and prominence into the modern language (e. g., mi ru "to see", one of the oldest surviving verbs in the language and also one of the most common, both in classical and modern texts). (imasukar i "to exist", honorific form) has three pronunciation variants, each of which can use either Chinese character: (imasugar i), (imasokar i), and (imasogar i). Finally, the "modern" transcriptions are purely orthographic. For example, the modern version conclusive form of the classical verb (k u "to come") is (k uru), but the modern form is given in the table as (k u), which is the way that a modern Japanese writer would write the classical Japanese word, rather than the way they would write the modern Japanese word.

The existence of irrealis form is still a controversy. Some scholars assume that the ancient construction called (Ku gohō "Ku grammar") uses the irrealis form to form nouns from verbs and adjectives; e. g., (yasu shi "peaceful") → (yasu ke) + ( ku) → (yasukeku "peace of mind"). Meanwhile, others assumed the construction ( kuba) / ( shikuba) appears to be an irrealis form ( ku) / ( shiku) + particle ( ba) (since that particle usually attaches to the irrealis form). However, the scholars agreeing with "Ku grammar theory" argue that it's actually ( ku) / ( shiku) + particle (ha; modern pronunciation wa) with a sequential voicing sound change from (ha) to (ba). The compound forms are derived from continuitive form ( ku) / ( shiku) + (ar i) → ( kuar i) / ( shikuar i), which then became ( kar i) / ( shikar i) by regular sound change rules from Old Japanese. The forms then follow the R irregular conjugation type like (ar i), but lack the conclusive form. Similarly, the basic conjugations have no imperative form. When it is used, therefore, the ( kar e) / ( shikar e) forms are used. It is however, relatively rare, even in classical Japanese.

Adjectival verbs are essentially nouns(or stems of the adjectives) combined with an auxiliary verb, either ( nar i) or ( tar i). Most tari adjectival nouns are derived from Sino Japanese vocabulary. For example,「」 is derived from 「悄然」, a Chinese word meaning “quietly, softly”. The auxiliary verbs are derived from directional particles (ni) + ( ar i) and (to) + ( ar i), respectively, yielding (niar i) and (toar i), respectively, which then lead to (nar i) and (tar i), respectively, by regular sound change rules. They therefore follow the R irregular conjugation like (ar i). As with adjectives, the imperative form is rare, but is used.

The particle is omitted more often than in the spoken style.