Editing Japanese language (section)

==History==
{{further|Japanese writing system#History of the Japanese script}}

===Prehistory===
[[Proto-Japonic language|Proto-Japonic]], the common ancestor of the Japanese and [[Ryukyuan languages]], is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the [[Yayoi period]]), replacing the languages of the original [[Jōmon people|Jōmon]] inhabitants,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wade |first=Nicholas |date=4 May 2011 |title=Finding on Dialects Casts New Light on the Origins of the Japanese People |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/world/asia/04language.html |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 May 2011 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/world/asia/04language.html |archive-date=2022-01-03}}{{cbignore}}</ref> including the ancestor of the modern [[Ainu language]]. Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from [[Old Japanese]], or [[Comparative method|comparison]] with the Ryukyuan languages and [[Japanese dialects]].{{sfn | Frellesvig | Whitman | 2008 |p = [https://books.google.com/books?id=aun8BRHTDEAC&pg=PA1 1]}}

===Old Japanese===
{{main|Old Japanese}}
[[File:Genryaku Manyosyu.JPG|right|thumb|alt=Page from the Man'yōshū|A page from the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Man'yōshū]]}}, the oldest anthology of classical [[Japanese poetry]]]]
The [[Chinese character|Chinese writing system]] was imported to Japan from [[Baekje]] around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism.{{sfn|Frellesvig|2010|p=11}} The earliest texts were written in [[Classical Chinese]], although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the {{lang|ja-latn|[[kanbun]]}} method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order.{{sfn|Seeley|1991|pp=25–31}} The earliest text, the {{Lang|ja-latn|[[Kojiki]]}}, dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, ''kanbun'', and Old Japanese.{{sfn|Frellesvig|2010|p=24}} As in other texts from this period, the Old Japanese sections are written in [[Man'yōgana]], which uses ''[[kanji]]'' for their phonetic as well as semantic values.

Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct [[Mora (linguistics)#Japanese|morae]]. Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of ''kanji'' for each of the morae now pronounced {{Nihongo krt||き|ki}}, {{Nihongo krt||ひ|hi}}, {{Nihongo krt||み|mi}}, {{Nihongo krt||け|ke}}, {{Nihongo krt||へ|he}}, {{Nihongo krt||め|me}}, {{Nihongo krt||こ|ko}}, {{Nihongo krt||そ|so}}, {{Nihongo krt||と|to}}, {{Nihongo krt||の|no}}, {{Nihongo krt||も|mo}}, {{Nihongo krt||よ|yo}} and {{Nihongo krt||ろ|ro}}.<ref>Shinkichi Hashimoto (February 3, 1918){{lang|ja|「国語仮名遣研究史上の一発見―石塚龍麿の仮名遣奥山路について」『帝国文学』}}26–11(1949){{lang|ja|『文字及び仮名遣の研究(橋本進吉博士著作集 第3冊)』(岩波書店)。}} {{in lang|ja}}.</ref> (The {{Lang|ja-latn|Kojiki}} has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo<sub>1</sub> and mo<sub>2</sub> apparently was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in [[Early Middle Japanese]], though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for {{IPA|/je/}}, which merges with {{IPA|/e/}} before the end of the period.

Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle ''tsu'' (superseded by modern ''no'') is preserved in words such as ''matsuge'' ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern ''mieru'' ("to be visible") and ''kikoeru'' ("to be audible") retain a [[mediopassive voice|mediopassive]] suffix -''yu(ru)'' (''kikoyu'' → ''kikoyuru'' (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → ''kikoeru'' (all verbs with the ''shimo-nidan'' conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in [[Early Modern Japanese]])); and the genitive particle ''ga'' remains in intentionally archaic speech.

===Early Middle Japanese===
{{main|Early Middle Japanese}}
[[File:Genji emaki 01003 001.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Genji Monogatari emaki scroll|A 12th-century [[emaki]] scroll of ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' from the 11th century]]
Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the [[Heian period]], from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the [[Literary language|literary standard]] of [[Classical Japanese]], which remained in common use until the early 20th century.

During this time, Japanese underwent numerous [[Phonology|phonological]] developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of [[Sino-Japanese vocabulary|Chinese loanwords]]. These included phonemic length distinction for both [[gemination|consonants]] and [[vowel length|vowels]], palatal consonants (e.g. ''kya'') and labial consonant clusters (e.g. ''kwa''), and [[Syllable#Open and closed|closed syllables]].<ref name="Frel">{{harvnb|Frellesvig|2010 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=v1FcAgiAC9IC&pg=PA184 184]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Labrune |first=Laurence |chapter=Consonants |url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.001.0001/acprof-9780199545834 |title=The Phonology of Japanese |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-954583-4 |series=The Phonology of the World's Languages |pages=89–91 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.003.0003 |access-date=2021-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211027181824/https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545834.001.0001/acprof-9780199545834 |archive-date=2021-10-27 |url-status=live}}</ref> This had the effect of changing Japanese into a [[Isochrony#Mora timing|mora-timed]] language.<ref name=Frel/>

===Late Middle Japanese===
{{main|Late Middle Japanese}}
Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the [[Kamakura period]] and the [[Muromachi period]], respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] and [[Franciscans|Franciscan]] missionaries; and thus there is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the ''[[Arte da Lingoa de Iapam]]''). Among other sound changes, the sequence {{IPA|/au/}} merges to {{IPA|/ɔː/}}, in contrast with {{IPA|/oː/}}; {{IPA|/p/}} is reintroduced from Chinese; and {{IPA|/we/}} merges with {{IPA|/je/}}. Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending -''te'' begins to reduce onto the verb (e.g. ''yonde'' for earlier ''yomite''), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out (''shiroi'' for earlier ''shiroki''); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. ''hayaku'' > ''hayau'' > ''hayɔɔ'', where modern Japanese just has ''hayaku'', though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting ''o-hayō gozaimasu'' "good morning"; this ending is also seen in ''o-medetō'' "congratulations", from ''medetaku'').

Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include ''pan'' ("bread") and ''tabako'' ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]].

===Modern Japanese===
{{Redirect|Standard Japanese|other dialects|Japanese dialects}}
Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the [[Edo period]] (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese, the ''de facto'' standard Japanese had been the [[Kansai dialect]], especially that of [[Kyoto]]. However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of [[Sakoku|Japan's self-imposed isolation]] in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages{{mdash}}such as German (e.g. {{Transliteration|ja|arubaito}} 'temporary job', {{Transliteration|ja|wakuchin}} 'vaccine'), Portuguese ({{Transliteration|ja|kasutera}} 'sponge cake') and English.<ref>Miura, Akira, ''English in Japanese'', Weatherhill, 1998.</ref> Many English loan words especially relate to technology{{mdash}}for example, {{Transliteration|ja|pasokon}} 'personal computer', {{Transliteration|ja|intānetto}} 'internet', and {{Transliteration|ja|kamera}} 'camera'. Due to the large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between {{IPA|[tɕi]}} and {{IPA|[ti]}}, and {{IPA|[dʑi]}} and {{IPA|[di]}}, with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords, eg. {{Transliteration|ja|paati}} for party or {{Transliteration|ja|dizunii}} for Disney.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=Kathleen Currie |title=Proceedings of the 2013 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association |year=2013 |editor-last=Luo |editor-first=Shan |chapter=Documenting phonological change: A comparison of two Japanese phonemic splits |access-date=2019-06-01 |chapter-url=http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cla-acl/actes2013/Hall-2013.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212034227/http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~cla-acl/actes2013/Hall-2013.pdf |archive-date=2019-12-12 |url-status=dead}}</ref>