The System of Japanese Kana-Kanji
The System of Japanese Kana-Kanji.
The System of Japanese Kana-Kanji.
The Japanese character system has intrigued my curiosity for quite some years. I remembered as a child, when I would watch Karate and Kung-Fu movies with characters posted in the credits, in the subtitles, and in the settings on store fronts, buildings in the background. Finally, I was granted the opportunity to study Japanese, up north, at San Francisco State University this past Spring Semester with the regret of not having an added semester under my belt. I had only learned beginner's Kanji, which consist of the first 80 characters taught to 1st graders known as the 'Joyo' method (this method is used all over Japan from elementary- to high school-grade levels).
If you want to learn Japanese grammar, you must learn the Kana system, first, before being introduced to the Kanji system. The mystical structure these character system basic syllabic foundation will be the principle focus for this discussion. So, what is the importance of learning these character systems for a purpose remote from learning Japanese as a spoke language?
The History of Kana-Kanji
The word 'linguistics' has many dimension, but for this discussion we will attest to the following lexicon, " Linguistics is the scientific study of natural language." My examination will focus mainly on the areas of 'semantics (study meaning of symbols)' and 'pragmatics (study context of symbols).' In the Kana-Kanji systems there are many flexibilities in the meanings and in the uses of these character systems. They could be simplified by 'romanji ( use of Latin alphabet to write the Japanese language, which will be discussed in Part 2 on this subject);' however, mostly everything is written in the Kana-Kanji symbolic script in Japan.
The history of Kana begins with the introduction of Chinese characters to Japan through Korea. Around the 4th century, these Chinese characters bred the dictation system used for the Japanese to have a syllabic character systems to communicate to the people of Japan; furthermore, "[1] in the 9th century the Japanese simplified the complex Chinese ideographs into what are now Kana." From this intervention, they have constructed their 'semantic'-'pragmatic' essence, which is the Japanese character-syllabic systems of Kana, thus, they create a higher bridge for communication-education amongst the people of the Japanese culture.
On the other hand, the history of Kanji is skeptical for "[4] Chinese characters first came to Japan in articles imported from China. An early instance of such an import was a golden seal given by the Emperor of the eastern Han Dynasty in 57 A.D; [however, around] the 6th century onwards, Chinese documents written in Japan tended to show linguistic interference from Japanese, suggesting the wide acceptance of Chinese characters in Japan." Kanji's popularity and similarity with Chinese characters are very notable, yet one could interpret there Chinese with their comprehension of Japanese Kanji and vice versa.
This eugenic symbolism of the Kana-Kanji system provided a method for Japanese to record their progressions and their episodes through the history of the existing culture of Japan. The cognitive liability is how these characters symbolize and materialize the various remnants of Japan's culture. It's influx of interpretations is explicative to the reigns of the cultures face and bridges an connection unique in cognitive spoken speech; henceforth, this is just one of the most important points to extract from the historical context within the texture of Japanese Kana-Kanji. To implore, what qualities do Kana-Kanji share, differ,and utilize in Japanese culture?
Kana-Kanji: Where they may differ-relate-utilize?
As we further investigate, let's begin with a mild explanation for what is Kana-Kanji. First, Kana [1] is "[the] phonetic symbols developed in Japan. Each symbol represents the sounds of one syllable. Thus, Kana are divided into two groups (syllables)":
Hiragana are used to write the inflectional endings of the conceptual words written in kanji, as well as all types of native words not written in kanji.
Katakana are used chiefly for words not written of foreign origin (thse characters are mainly used for advertisements in Japan).
A couple of more things to note about Kana are the following:
Hiragana used to be refered to as 'onna-de,' "ladies-hand," because they were primarily used in letters and literary writing.
Katakana is a sort of alteration of Kanji, taking bits and pieces of Kanji characters to form a Katakana character (syllable).
Telegrams used to be written in Katakana alone.
Two obsolete Hiragana/Katakana were dropped from the system as a orthographic reform instituted after WW II.
Second, Kanji is "[3] [the] pictographic-ideographic characters, adopted from the Chinese language, are used for conceptual words (mainly substantives, verbs, and adjectives) and indigenous names." Kanji is very popular in Japanese culture and changes rapidly daily with the introduction of various phrases, colloquial expressions, etc. Kanji is used more for foreign phonetic syllables.
Kanji has 1,945 characters for a beginner to learn; however, these 1,945 characters can be written in three forms: brush form, pen form, and printed form; thus, in handwritten format (whether brush or pen; these are derivative formats for creating calligraphic characters, which will be discussed in detail in Part 2) three style could be configured [2]:
Kaisho (Standard style), which is taught as the norm in elementary school, and which, is practically identical to the printed form (All the handwritten characters in this volume are given in the standard style).
Gyosho (Semi-cursive style), a simplification of the standard style, which allows one to write more fluidly and rapidly.
Sosho (Cursive style or "grass hand"), which is a kind of calligraphic shorthand resulting from extreme simplification according to aesthetic standards.
The 'morpheme' (the smallest component of word, or other linguistic unit, that has semantic meaning) quality in Kanji relates to its uni- and multi-dimensional meaning as a syllable-character, which expresses many interpretations. A single Kanji character can represent a single thing or ten different things; henceforth, there are two different categories in reading Kanji:
On'yomi (), the Sino-Japanese reading, is the modern descendant of the Japanese approximation of the Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was introduced; to add, On'yomi are divided into four classified categories:
Go-on (?, "Wu sound") readings are from the pronunciation during the Southern and Northern Dynasties during the 5th and 6th centuries. There is a high probability of Go referring to the Wu region (in the vicinity of modern Shanghai), which still maintains linguistic similarities with modern Japanese.
Kan-on (?, "Han sound") readings are from the pronunciation during the Tang Dynasty in the 7th to 9th centuries, primarily from the standard speech of the capital, Chang'an ( or , modern Xi'an). Here, Kan is used in the sense of China.
T-on (?, "Tang sound") readings are from the pronunciations of later dynasties, such as the Song () and Ming (). They cover all readings adopted from the Heian era () to the Edo period (). This is also known as Ts-on ().
Kan'y-on (
?, "Idiomatic sound") readings, which are mistaken or changed readings of the kanji that have become accepted into the language. In some cases, they are the actual readings that accompanied the character's introduction to Japan, but do not match how the character "should" be read according to the rules of character construction and pronunciation.
Kun'yomi (), Japanese reading, or 'native reading' (literally, meaning reading), is a reading based on the pronunciation of a native Japanese word, or yamatokotoba, that closely approximated the meaning of the Chinese character when it was introduced.
Her are a few points about the Kun'yomi character quality:
Most kokuji, (Japanese-created Chinese characters, only have kun readings), Japanese-created Chinese characters, only have kun readings.
Kun'yomi are characterized by such qualities: (C)V syllable structure of yamatokotoba; kun'yomi nouns or adjectives are two to three syllables long; kun'yomi verbs are usually between one and three syllables in length,
Kun'yomi are classified local dialectical readings of kanji, most notably readings for words in Ryukyuan languages ( are a spoken language from the Ryukyu Islands (located in Okinawa Prefecture) , and make up a subfamily of the Japonic language family.
These vast styles of Kanji has created an unique linguistic infrastructure with a strong semanticism representing it culture in it's minimality. One character, one symbol can convey a simple sentiment, that utilizes an amalgamation of interpretations forming a sentence or phrase in dictation to communication to a group of individuals or a whole nation. The pragmatic power of words, symbols are present in Japanese culture everyday; however, are there other facets of the Japanese culture system which are fused into the comprehension of Japanese language other than the Japanese Kana-Kanji systems?
What more is there of Japanese Kana-Kanji?
Of course. One must learn to crawl before they can walk. Just as we are born into this world, we must learn to vocalize in this world. Cognition is one of the tools for this action. Linguistics is one of the vices to mitigate an reaction. This investigation has shed a clearer light on the subject; thus, this unique syllabic character system of Japan is beautiful, exclusive, and progressive. It's just like any other language. It can be learned step-by-step. It's easy and it's fun to learn; yet, only a particular-type of individual with a sharp focus, a bundle of desire, massive energy and abundance of time may just capture the aptitude of the characters-language-culture all in one Kana-Kanji spiel.
But, there is more to learn of the Kana-Kanji character systems that will be discussed in Part 2 with the introduction of three new topics: Man'ygana, Hentaigana, and Romanji; also, a small discussion on calligraphy and little more information on the On'yomi-Kun'yomi systems used in Kanji.
While I am investigating this character system, I am still amazed and enthralled with the many different rules and structures that forms these syllabic symbols. My comprehension has gained an acute value that will attribute to my speaking, and comprehension, of the language-culture. Kana-Kanji exemplifies the very essence of the power symbols contain for those whom inhabitant the Eastern culture. Its Gestalt-like representation is principle to the semantic-pragmatic shaping of the Japanese culture, and other Eastern cultures with character-syllabic systems. These symbols could connote many meanings; therefore, what Japanese character would symbolize your personality, or who you are?
References
[1]Kana. (2010, August 24). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 00:51, September 16, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kana&oldid=380812435
[2] An unnamed source from the Pasadena City College library based on Japanese language.
[3] Kanji. (2010, September 25). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21:42, September 28, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kanji&oldid=386972683
The System of Japanese Kana-Kanji
By: ryu-zen
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