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Origins of Japanese Language
While westerners feel that there are much harder languages
to learn, namely Chinese, Japanese is still a fascinating language with
challenges all it’s own. The origins of the Japanese language are widely
debated, however the Western consensus seems to be that it is related to a
language once spoken in northern Asia that split off into several other
languages including Korean. Since the people of Japan likely emigrated from
these areas, it is likely that they would have brought a variation of these
dialects with them. Also, the language was influenced by the Pacific Island
languages surrounding the islands of Japan. This theory is known as the
Altaic language theory.
A second theory is that the Altaic languages combined with the Austronesian
languages (the Pacific Island languages) to form a unique third language
that eventually grew up into Japanese. This theory means that Japanese is an
Altaic language with Austronesian influences, or an Austronesian language
with Altaic influences. (Which has been undecided.)
The third distinct theory is that Japanese was related, originally, to
Tibetan, and was introduced into Japan during the migrations of the
Southeast Asians up to five thousand years ago. This language was tossed in
a blender with Austronesian and Altaic languages to create modern Japanese.
No matter which theory you subscribe to, there seems to be a general
consensus that Japanese is at least partly related to the northern Asian and
Pacific Island languages, though to what extent is greatly argued. Linguists
of Japanese and Western origin have been bickering over these very points
for so long that official debates have devolved into name calling.
Japanese is a di-syllabic language, meaning that most of the words are
composed of two syllables. The syllables are all consonant-vowel, which
makes Japanese adaptations of Western words, like baseball (besaburo),
incomprehensible to the average English speaker.
Japanese is also vastly different in structure based on the honorifics that
are added to words to mark your own rank as well as the rank of the person
to whom you are speaking or referring. This was not an original factor of
the language, but rather began to solidify around the Tokugawa period from
the early 1600’s to the 1860’s as the social classes became more structured.
Social class is not the only factor that is named in this way; you can also
not have a typical conversation without defining your sex as well. Female
speech is traditionally filled with honorifics and “tentative” tenses to
mark submission to the males.
The Japanese language is interesting to learn, and the history, though
undefined in some ways, is none the less rich for it. It is a language of
beauty and of many complexities.
Japanese Culture and Society Links
Japanese Sports 競技 (スポーツ)
Japanese Food 食品 (しょくひん)
Japanese Pop Culture 文化（ぶんか）
- Hello Kitty Phenomena
- Japanese Anime, Japanese Manga
- Japanese Hair Straightening: All You Ever Wanted to Know
- Kawaii
Miscellaneous
- Creating a Japanese Garden Theme
- Keeping and Handling Japanese Inro
- Misconception about Ninja
- Japanese Bonsai
- Japanese Geisha
- Japanese Wedding
- Why Do Japanese Have Long Lifespan?
- Decorate with Japanese Art
Japanese Literature Links
- Haiku Poetry
- Japanese Alphabet
- Japanese Language
- Japanese Pronunciation
- Learning Japanese Kanji
- Tanka Poems
Japanese Art Links
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