Artifact 1 – History of the Japanese Language

 

The Japanese are an old and venerated people that took their small island nation into the international limelight and the forefront of technology. Before these modern accomplishments however, the “people of the sun” were very exclusive and avoided contact with the outside world. The written Japanese language is largely held as the hardest language for native English speakers to master. A large reason for this fact is that the Japanese have adopted a dual writing system like print and cursive English, as well a third system that is very close to Chinese characters.

In the early days of Japanese history, the Japanese were segregated by the natural barrier of their island. This allowed their culture to grow and evolve largely unilaterally. This evolution also occurred very rapidly due to the separation of several individual kingdoms and intense, persistent civil wars. The tumultuous lifestyle led the island dwellers to shun the outside world and focus only on themselves. The earliest known writing of Japanese is from the tale of “Genji”, written in Buddhist texts using exclusively Chinese characters. But later, we see a shift into “middle Japanese” during the Tokugawa period and eventually “new Japanese”, written with a combination of Chinese characters and Japanese Kana script. This isn’t comprehensive however, because there were multiple regional dialects.

Modern Japanese has no ‘genetic’ relationship with Chinese, but it makes use of some Chinese characters or Kanji. Aside from this, the Japanese writing system utilizes two syllabic scripts, Hiragana and Katakana. This new system is believed to have arisen during the Edo period when the multiple shogunates were either put down, absorbed, or united, and Edo (later Tokyo) became the largest city in Japan. In 1853, Japan’s self-induced isolation ended, and they were coaxed out of their segregated lifestyle and into the international market. This opening of borders allowed the free trade of ideas, with which the written language Hiragana could not cope. For example, the idea of the game of tennis was literally foreign to the Japanese and all they could do was attempt to sound out the English word. This was confusing, because a similar sounding Japanese word, when written, looked remarkably similar due to the use of vowel-consonant pairs. Thus, Katakana took on this role. It is a mirror of the preexisting hiragana’s vowel-consonant pairs, but written in a different style, much like cursive English. In simple terms, it is used when writing down a word of foreign origin. The use of katakana denotes a word that we would call a “mad-lib”, it must be sounded out to have meaning.

Modern Japanese is referred to as the “Tokyo dialect”. It is technically the national standard, though they have no legal standard. It is heard on television, the radio, the news etc. There have been multiple government driven paradigm shifts that sought to do away with Kanji in common use, but it is still used sparingly.

Because the island of Japan formed late, geographically speaking, the exact origins of their language are difficult to pinpoint. There are multiple theories including Altaic, Korean, and Chinese roots, but none of these have been confirmed. Nevertheless, the people of the sun have been able to engage meaningfully with foreigners and begin their long climb to becoming a global superpower. By working alongside their fellow humans and embracing the technology and culture of other races, the Japanese could acknowledge their roots, but nevertheless become an international powerhouse.