Editing Phonetic complement

{{short description|Pronunciation guide accompanying logographic writing}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}

A '''phonetic complement''' is a phonetic symbol used to disambiguate word characters ([[logogram]]s) that have multiple readings, in mixed logographic-phonetic scripts such as [[Egyptian hieroglyph]]s, [[cuneiform script|Akkadian cuneiform]], [[Linear B]], [[Japanese writing system|Japanese]], and [[Maya script|Mayan]]. Often they disambiguate an [[ideogram]] by spelling out the first or last syllable of the word; occasionally (as in Linear B) they may instead abbreviate an adjective that modifies the logogram.

Written English has few logograms, primarily numerals, and therefore few phonetic complements. An example is the ''nd'' of ''2nd'' 'second', which avoids ambiguity with 2 standing for the word 'two'. In addition to numerals, other examples include [[Xmas]], [[Xianity]], and [[wikt:xing#English|Xing]] for [[Christmas]], [[Christianity]], and Crossing – note the separate readings ''Christ'' and ''Cross''.

==In cuneiform==
In [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]], the single word ''kur'' ([[wikt:𒆳#Sumerian|𒆳]]) had two main meanings: '[[hill]]' and '[[country]]'.  [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], however, had separate words for these two meanings: ''[[wikt:šadûm#Akkadian|šadú]]'' 'hill' and ''[[wikt:mātum#Akkadian|mātu]]'' 'country'. When [[Sumerian cuneiform]] was adapted (known as ''orthographic borrowing'') for writing Akkadian, this was ambiguous because both words were written with the same character (𒆳, conventionally transcribed KUR, after its Sumerian pronunciation). To alert the reader as to which Akkadian word was intended, the phonetic complement ''-ú'' was written after KUR if 'hill' was intended, so that the characters KUR-ú were pronounced ''šadú,'' whereas KUR without a phonetic complement was understood to mean ''mātu'' 'country'.

Phonetic complements also indicated the Akkadian [[Nominative case|nominative]] and [[Genitive case|genitive cases]]. Similarly, [[Hittite cuneiform]] occasionally uses phonetic complements to attach Hittite [[case endings]] to [[Sumerogram]]s and [[Akkadogram]]s.

Phonetic complements should not be confused with [[determinative]]s (which were also used to disambiguate) since determinatives were used specifically to indicate the [[Syntactic category|category]] of the word they preceded or followed.  For example, the sign [[Dingir|DINGIR]] ([[wikt:𒀭#Sumerian|𒀭]]) often precedes names of [[gods]], as [[Lugal|LUGAL]] ([[wikt:𒈗#Sumerian|𒈗]]) does for [[King|kings]].  It is believed that determinatives were not pronounced.  <!--TODO: List of phonetic complements in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]]-->

==In Japanese==
{{main|Okurigana}}
As in [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]] borrowed a logographic script, [[Chinese character|Chinese]], designed for a very different language. The [[Chinese_characters#Phono-semantic_compounds|Chinese phonetic components]] built into these ''[[kanji]]'' ({{langx|ja|漢字}}) do not work when they are pronounced in Japanese, and there is not a [[bijection|one-to-one relationship]] between them and the [[wago|Japanese words]] they represent.

For example, the kanji '''生''', pronounced ''shō'' or ''sei'' in [[Sino-Japanese vocabulary|borrowed Chinese vocabulary]], stands for several native Japanese words as well. When these words have [[Inflectional ending|inflectional endings]] ([[Verb|verbs]]/[[Adjective|adjectives]] and [[Adverb|adverbs]]), the end of the [[word stem|stem]] is written phonetically:
*生 ''nama'' 'raw' or ''ki'' 'alive'
*生う [生u] ''o-u'' 'expand'
*生きる [生kiru] ''i-kiru'' 'live'
*生かす [生kasu] ''i-kasu'' 'make use of'
*生ける [生keru] ''i-keru'' 'living, arrange'
*生む　[生mu] ''u-mu'' 'produce, give birth to'
*生まれる or 生れる [生mareru or 生reru] ''u-mareru'' or ''uma-reru'' 'be born'
*生える [生eru] ''ha-eru'' 'grow' ([[Intransitive verb|intransitive]])
*生やす [生yasu] ''ha-yasu'' 'grow' ([[Transitive verb|transitive]])
as well as the hybrid Chinese-Japanese word
*生じる [生jiru] ''shō-jiru'' 'occur'
Note that some of these verbs share a kanji reading (''i,'' ''u,'' and ''ha''), and okurigana are conventionally picked to maximize these sharings.

These phonetic characters are called ''[[okurigana]].'' They are used even when the inflection of the stem can be determined by a following inflectional suffix, so the primary function of ''okurigana'' for many kanji is that of a phonetic complement.

Generally it is the final [[syllable]] containing the inflectional ending is written phonetically. However, in [[Adjectival noun (Japanese) |adjectival verbs]] ending in ''-shii'' (-しい), and in those verbs ending in ''-ru'' (-る) in which this syllable drops in derived nouns, the final two syllables are written phonetically. There are also irregularities. For example, the word ''umareru'' 'be born' is derived from ''umu'' 'to bear, to produce'. As such, it may be written 生まれる [生mareru], reflecting its derivation, or 生れる [生reru], as with other verbs ending in [[elidable]] ''-ru''.

==In Phono-Semantic Characters==
{{main|Phono-semantic}}
===In Chinese===
[[Chinese language|Chinese]] never developed a system of purely phonetic characters. Instead, about 90% of Chinese characters are compounds of a [[determinative]] (called a '[[Radical (Chinese character)|radical]]'), which may not exist independently, and a phonetic complement indicates the approximate pronunciation of the [[morpheme]]. However, the phonetic element is basic, and these might be better thought of as characters used for multiple near [[Homonym|homonyms]], the identity of which is constrained by the determiner. Due to [[Sound change|sound changes]] over the last several [[Millennium|millennia]], the phonetic complements are not a reliable guide to pronunciation. Also, sometimes it is not obvious at all where the phonetic complements reside, for instance, the phonetic complement in [[wikt:聽#Chinese|聽]] is 𡈼, in [[wikt:類#Chinese|類]] is 頪, and in [[wikt:勝#Chinese|勝]] is 朕, etc. 

===In Vietnamese===
''[[Chữ Nôm]]'' of [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]] is almost all constructed as phono-semantic characters, whose phonetic component and semantic component are usually individual unabridged Chinese characters (like the ''Chữ Nôm'' 𣎏 and 𣩂), instead of often radicals as in Sinographs.

===In Korean===
A handful of [[Korean language|Korean]] ''[[gukja]]'' are also constructed as phono-semantic characters, such as [[wikt:乭#Korean|乭]] (pronounced as 돌, dol) whose phonetic complement is the bottom 乙. 

===In Japanese===
Some of [[Japanese language|Japanese]] ''[[Kokuji]]'' are phono-semantic characters, like 働, 腺, 鑓, whose phonetic complement is 動, 泉, 遣 respectively.

==In the Maya Script==
{{Main|Maya script#Structure}}
The [[Maya script|Maya Script]], the logosyllabic orthography of the [[Maya Civilization]], used phonetic complements extensively<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.unc.edu/~davidmm/FullComplementspaper.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=January 17, 2011 |archive-date=May 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515220059/http://www.unc.edu/~davidmm/FullComplementspaper.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> and phonetic complements could be used synharmonically or disharmonically.<ref>DISHARMONY IN MAYA HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING: LINGUISTIC CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN CLASSIC SOCIETY</ref> The former is exemplified by the placement of the [[Syllabary|syllabogram]] for ''ma'' underneath the [[logogram]] for "[[jaguar]]" (in [[Classic Maya]], ''[[wikt:balam#Epigraphic_Mayan|BALAM]]''): thus, though pronounced "''BALAM''", the word for "jaguar" was spelled "''BALAM-m(a)''". Disharmonic spellings also existed<ref>{{Cite web| title=Writing in Maya Glyphs | url=http://www.famsi.org/research/pitts/MayaGlyphsBook1Sect1.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515074420/http://www.famsi.org/research/pitts/MayaGlyphsBook1Sect1.pdf | archive-date=2008-05-15}}</ref> in the Maya Script.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.mesoweb.com/resources/handbook/WH2005.pdf | title=Introduction to Maya Hieroglyphs | access-date=January 17, 2011 | archive-date=August 20, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820144654/http://www.mesoweb.com/resources/handbook/WH2005.pdf | url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{multiple image
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| footer = Two different ways of writing the word ''bʼalam'' '[[jaguar]]' in the Maya script – first, as a [[logogram]] representing the entire word with the single [[glyph]] {{smallcaps|bʼalam}}, and then, phonetically using the three syllable signs ''bʼa'', ''la'', and ''ma''
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| image1 = Balam_3.svg
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| footer = Three ways to write ''bʼalam'' using combinations of the logogram with the syllabic signs as phonetic complements. The usage is analogous to [[Sinograph]]s with ''[[okurigana]]'' in Japanese, and [[Sumerogram]] in Akkadian. 
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== See also ==

* [[Ruby character]]s
* [[Kana]]
* [[Pinyin]]

==References==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141013234937/http://www.sron.nl/~jheise/akkadian/cuneiform.html#phoneticcompl Phonetic complement]

{{Reflist}}

{{morecat|date=May 2024}}
[[Category:Writing]]