Classical Japanese

Not to be confused withEarly Middle Japanese.

Theclassical Japanese language(Văn ngữ,bungo,"literary language" ), also called "old writing"(Cổ văn,kobun)and sometimes simply called "Medieval Japanese", is theliterary formof theJapanese languagethat was the standard until the earlyShōwa period(1926–1989). It is based onEarly Middle Japanese,the language as spoken during theHeian period(794–1185), but exhibits some later influences. Its use started to decline during the lateMeiji period(1868–1912) when novelists started writing their works in the spoken form. Eventually, the spoken style came into widespread use, including in major newspapers, but many official documents were still written in the old style. After theend of World War II,most documents switched to the spoken style, although the classical style continues to be used in traditional genres, such ashaikuandwaka.Oldlawsare also left in the classical style unless fully revised.

Classical Japanese
Late Old Japanese
Văn ngữ
Native to	Japan
Era	Heian period,Shōwa period
Language family	Japonic Old Japanese Early Middle Japanese Classical Japanese
Writing system	Kanji(Kyūjitai),Kana(Man'yōgana,Hiragana,andKatakana;usingHistorical kana orthography)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

The termsVăn ngữ(bungo,"written language" ) andKhẩu ngữ(kōgo,"spoken language" ) are still used for classical and modern Japanese,respectively. Their literal meanings are only historical, as classical Japanese is no longer used, while modern Japanese is the only current written language, despite its name. These terms are often used in descriptions of grammar to distinguish classical and modern inflections. For example, thebungoinflection of the verb thư く (kaku,"to write" ) is quadrigrade (kaka,kaki,kaku,kake), but itskōgoinflection is quintigrade due to a historical sound change (kaka,kakō<kakau<kakamu,kaki,kaku,kake).

History

Classical Japanese began to be written during the Heian period, at which point it was very similar to spoken Japanese. It became the written standard for the Japanese language for many centuries, though the spoken language continued to evolve and by theEdo periodwas substantially different from classical Japanese.This is known asdiglossia,a situation in which two forms of a language, in this case a written and spoken form, coexist.During the Meiji period, some intellectuals sought the abolition of classical Japanese, such as the Genbun Itchi movement, which proposed that written Japanese conform to the vernacular spoken language.Futabatei Shimei's 1887 novelThe Drifting Cloudwas one of the first novels to be written in vernacular Japanese rather than classical. By 1908, novels no longer used classical Japanese, and by the 1920s the same was true of all newspapers.Government documents remained in classical Japanese until 1946.Classical Japanese continues to be taught in Japanese high schools and universities due to its importance in the study of traditional Japanese literature.

Orthography

Classical Japanese is written in an orthography that differs from modern Japanese in two major ways. These are the usage ofold character forms(Cựu tự thể,kyūjitai) andhistorical kana usage(Lịch sử đích 仮 danh khiển,rekishi-teki kana-zukai).

Old character forms(Cựu tự thể,kyūjitai)

Old character forms are the forms ofChinese characters(Hán tự,kanji) used in Japan before the post-World War II spelling reforms there. The modern, simplified characters are callednew character forms(Tân tự thể,shinjitai).

A few examples follow, with the old characters on the left and the new characters on the right:

• Thể → thể
• Cựu → cựu
• Đương → đương
• Dữ → dữ
• Biến → 変
• Tĩnh → tĩnh
• Vi → vi
• Chân → chân

The kana spelling of a kanji is not unique; e.g. in modern Japanese, note the difference in the reading ofThểbetweenThể(からだ,"physical body" ) andChính thể(せい‐たい,"forms of government" ). The above spelling differences are etymological. For example,からだis just a native Japanese word labeled by a Chinese character with similar meaning, whileChính thểis totally a new word derived from the combination of original meanings of two Chinese characters (Chínhmeans "politics" andThểmeans "body" ).

In cases like those of the first two, the entire original character has essentially been replaced by a new one, independent of the original's etymology. This type, however, is relatively rare. Another approach is to essentially replace the character with a piece of it, sometimes slightly altered, as in the third and fourth characters. Finally, probably the most common type of simplification is to change one component of the character to reduce the number of strokes and/or make it easier to write, a strategy exemplified by the fifth and sixth examples. Note that, as in the case of the sixth character, the simplification may be very subtle.

In general, old character forms are identical to theirtraditional Chinese counterparts,but there are some exceptions. For the seventh example character (Vi → vi), the traditional and simplified Japanese versions coexisted as different forms of the same traditional character inModern Chinese,while in Japan, what is now the new character form was at that time considered a variant and rarely used. And in a few cases, like that of the eighth character (Chân → chân), the old character form has always been considered a rare variant in Modern Chinese. (However,ViandChânare actually the formal forms inMiddle ChineseandOld Chinese.)

Historical kana usage(Lịch sử đích 仮 danh khiển,rekishi-teki kana-zukai)

Historical kana usageis the system ofkana(i.e., phonetic character) writing used in Japan before the post-war reforms. More specifically, it is the version of kana orthography standardized in the Meiji Period (since before that time kana usage was not standardized). It is, broadly speaking, based on the pronunciation of Japanese in the Heian Period, the time-frame in which Early Middle Japanese (on which the grammar of classical Japanese is based) was spoken. There are several differences between historical kana usage—which is also referred to as "old kana usage"(Cựu 仮 danh khiển,kyū kana-zukai)—and themodern kana orthography,called "modern kana usage"(Hiện đại 仮 danh khiển,gendai kana-zukai)or "new kana usage"(Tân 仮 danh khiển,shin kana-zukai).Some of these differences apply primarily toSino-Japanese readingsof Chinese characters, while others apply primarily to native Japanese words, and still others apply equally to both groups of words.

Broadly speaking, the differences are:

H-Row(ハ hành,ha-gyō)rule

• Some morpheme-medial sounds currently written asわ/ワ,い/イ,う/ウ,え/エ,andお/オ(wa,i,u,e,ando) were written asは/ハ,ひ/ヒ,ふ/フ,へ/ヘ,andほ/ホ(ha,hi,fu,he,andho), respectively. This is because these sounds (as well as all sounds still written withは/ハ,ひ/ヒ,ふ/フ,へ/ヘ,andほ/ホ) originally had initial consonant/p/inOld Japanese,which then changed to/ɸ/in Early Middle Japanese, and then, inLate Middle Japanese,split into one of five different phonemes depending on whether it occurred morpheme-initially or morpheme-medially, and then further depending on the following vowel. Morpheme-initially and before/a/,/e/,or/o/,it became/h/;before/i/,it became/ç/;and before/u/,it became/ɸ/;these three sounds are still written withは/ハ,ひ/ヒ,ふ/フ,へ/ヘ,andほ/ホ.Morpheme-medially and before/a/,/i/,/e/,or/o/,it became/w/;before/u/,it lost its consonant. Finally, later on in the same period of the language the initial/w/was lost in all instances before/i/,/e/,and/o/(note that*/wu/never existed), leaving the current morpheme-medial pronunciations of/wa/,/i/,/u/,/e/,and/o/,but the spellings of/ha/,/hi/,/fu/,/he/,and/ho/(which, in this context, are probably better thought of as/pa/,/pi/,/pu/,/pe/,and/po/;or/fa/,/fi/,/fu/,/fe/,and/fo/). This rule primarily applies to native Japanese morphemes, although it is crucial to the mechanics of the long vowel rule that applies primarily toSino-Japanese words,which is elaborated upon below. The modern usage ofは(ha) andへ(he) to represent grammatical particles pronounced as if writtenわ(wa) andえ(e), respectively, is a holdover from this rule.

Some examples follow (old spellings are on the left, new spellings on the right; kana in parentheses represent the pronunciation of the preceding character):

Hạnh せ (しあはせ)

shiahase

→

→

Hạnh せ (しあわせ)

shiawase

"happiness"

{ hạnh せ (しあはせ)} → { hạnh せ (しあわせ)}

shiahase → shiawase

Tiểu さし (ちひさし)

chihisa-shi

→

→

Tiểu さい (ちいさい)

chiisa-i

"small" (the-shiending is the classical conclusive form of modernTiểu さい (ちいさい)chiisa-i)

{ tiểu さし (ちひさし)} → { tiểu さい (ちいさい)}

chihisa-shi → chiisa-i

Hợpふ(あふ)

af-u

→

→

Hợpう(あう)

a-u

"come together" (note that every quadrigrade verb that currently ends inうuonce ended inふfu)

{ hợpふ(あふ)} → { hợpう(あう)}

af-u→ a-u

Tiền (まへ)

mahe

→

→

Tiền (まえ)

mae

"front"

{ tiền (まへ)} → { tiền (まえ)}

mahe→ mae

Viêm (ほのほ)

honoho

→

→

Viêm (ほのお)

honō

"flame"

{ viêm (ほのほ)} → { viêm (ほのお)}

honoho→ honō

There are some exceptions to this sound change, although they are rare. They includeMẫu (はは)(haha"mother", expected formはわhawa),頬 (ほほ)(hoho"cheek", expected formほおhō),Gia áp (あひる)(ahiru"domestic duck", expected formあいるairu), andDật れる (あふれる)(afure-ru"overflow", expected formあおれるaore-ruorおうれるōre-ru.Sometimes, as in the case of the first two exceptions, the sound change form exists, usually with a slightly different meaning (はわhawais a hyper-formal and very respectful term for mother) or is used in different contexts (ほおhōis generally used in isolation, whileほほhohois generally used in compounds). In other cases, as is true of the second two exceptions, the unchanged form is the only one that exists. In addition to these exceptions, some dialects may preserve these sounds as they were at any stage of the language.

W-row(ワ hành,wa-gyō)rule

This section usesNihon-shikiromanization forゐ,ゑ,andを.

• The obsolete charactersゐ/ヰ(wi) andゑ/ヱ(we) are used, and the characterを/ヲ(wo) is used in other words besides as the accusative or oblique case marker. This relates to the above rule, in that it reflects a pronunciation with initial/w/before/i/,/e/,and/o/that is no longer present in the modern language. This rule applies equally to native and Sino-Japanese words. The use ofを(wo) to write the aforementioned grammatical particle, which is pronouncedお(o) in modern Japanese (unless preceded byんnor sometimes in song, althoughallmorpheme-medial instances of/o/,whether originallyお,を,orほ,tend to become/wo/in song), is a holdover from this rule.

Some examples:

Native Japanese words

• Cư る (ゐる) → cư る (いる)→ いる (only in kana) (wi-ru→i-ru"to be [animate objects]" )
• Thanh (こゑ) → thanh (こえ)(kowe→koe"voice" ) (notice that an old character is also involved in this example)
• Nam (をとこ) → nam (おとこ)(wotoko→otoko"male" )

Sino-Japanese words

• Dịch viên (やくゐん) → dịch viên (やくいん)(yakuwin→yakuin"officer" )
• Viên (ゑん) → viên (えん)(wen→en"Yen" ) (again, there is an old character used here)
• Gia ốc (かをく) → gia ốc (かおく)(kawoku→kaoku"house" )

There are no known exceptions (besides the aforementioned ones regardingをwo) in standard Japanese, and no dialects preserve the distinction between/wi/and/i/,/we/and/e/,and/or/wo/and/o/,but some of theRyukyuan languages(which are also descended fromProto-Japonic) do.

D-row(ダ hành,da-gyō)rule

This section uses Nihon-shiki romanization forじ,ず,ぢ,づ.

• The charactersぢ/ヂ(di) andづ/ヅ(du) are used in places other than changes caused bysequential voicing(Liên trọcRendaku), where in modern kanaじ(ji) andず(zu), respectively, would be used. Again, this represents a former phonetic distinction, namely between a sound/z/(inじjiandずzu) and a sound/d/(inぢdiandづdu). This rule applies equally to native and Sino-Japanese words, as well as a fewloanwords(Ngoại lai ngữGairaigo).

Some examples:

Native words

• Tử dương hoa (あぢさゐ) → tử dương hoa (あじさい)(adisawi→azisai"hydrangea" ) (notice that this example also contains a change fromゐwitoいi)
• Thủy (みづ) → thủy (みず)(midu→mizu"water" )

Sino-Japanese words

• Giải trừ (かいぢよ) → giải trừ (かいじょ)(kaidiyo→kaizyo"release" ) (notice the use of Y-row rule, explained below)
• Địa đồ (ちづ) → địa đồ (ちず)(chidu→chizu"map" ) (notice again that an old character form is involved)

Loanwords

• ラヂオ → ラジオ(radio→razio"radio" ) (this one is especially notable because it is an exceedingly rare example of a sound change that occurs in a loanword from English)

There are no known exceptions in standard Japanese pronunciation, although there are many dialects (such as theTosa dialect) that preserve the distinction between historical/z/and/d/in speech, usually by using/ʑi/and/zu/for historical/z/and/d͡ʑi/and/d͡zu/for historical/d/(seeYotsugana). In writing, the distinction is preserved in single morphemes in cases where a sequenceちぢ(chidi) orつづ(tsudu) was historically produced by rendaku (such as inSúc む (ちぢむ)chidim-u,"shorten", and続く (つづく)tsuduk-u,"continue", pronounced as ifちじむchizim-uandつずくtsuzuk-u,respectively), or in compounds where a phonemic/ti/or/tu/has been voiced to/zi/or/zu/(such as inThân cận (みぢか)mi-dika"one's surroundings" and仮 danh khiển (かなづかい)kana-dukai"kana usage", pronounced as ifみじかmi-zikaandかなずかいkana-zukai,respectively). This usage is a holdover from this rule.

Y-row(ヤ hành,ya-gyō)rule

In modern Japanese, the small kanaゃ/ャ,ゅ/ュ,andょ/ョ(ya,yu,andyo) are used to indicatepalatalized consonants(Ảo âmYōon) when following an I-column (イ đoạnI-dan) kana of the K-, G-, N-, B-, P-, M-, or R-rows (カ～, ガ～, ナ～, バ～, パ～, マ～, ラ hành;Ka-,Ga-,Na-,Ba-,Pa-,Ma-,Ra-gyō). For example:

• Khách (きゃく)(kyaku"guest" )
• Như thật (にょじつ)(nyojitsu"reality" )
• Bạch đàn (びゃくだん)(byakudan"sandalwood" )
• ぴょこぴょこ(pyokopyoko"up and down" )
• Sơn mạch (さんみゃく)(sanmyaku"mountain range" )
• Lược (りゃく)(ryaku"abbreviation" )

When a small Y-row (ヤ hànhYa-gyō) kana follows an I-column kana of the S-, Z-, T-, D-, or H-rows (サ～, ザ～, タ～, ダ～, ハ hành;Sa-,Za-,Ta-,Da-,Ha-gyō), the preceding consonant is changed:

• Thực (しょく)(shoku"meal" )
• Thụ lập (じゅりつ)(juritsu"establish" )
• Trà (ちゃ)(cha"tea" )
• ～ trung (ぢゅう)(-jū"throughout [suffix]" ) (note that, as noted above,ぢゃja,ぢゅju,andぢょjoonly occur in modern Japanese writing when a sequenceちゃcha,ちゅchu,orちょchois sequentially voiced, as in this example, and the pronunciation is identical toじゃja,じゅju,andじょjo)
• Bách (ひゃく)(hyaku"hundred" ) (note that the sequence/hj/is pronounced/ç/as noted above, but this difference is not reflected in any mainstream Japanese romanization system)

These three kana cannot follow A-row (ア hànhA-gyō) or W-row (ワ hànhWa-gyō) kana in this way.

In historical kana, all of these examples are written with large kanaや/ヤ,ゆ/ユ,andよ/ヨ(ya,yu,andyo). So the previous examples would be written:

• Khách (きやく)(writtenkiyaku,but pronouncedkyaku)
• Như thật (によじつ)(writtenniyojitsu,but pronouncednyojitsu) (note the presence of an old character form here)
• Bạch đàn (びやくだん)(writtenbiyaku,but pronouncedbyaku)
• ぴよこゝゝゝ(writtenpiyokopiyoko,but pronouncedpyokopyoko) (again, multiple iteration marks are used here)
• Sơn mạch (さんみやく)(writtensanmiyaku,but pronouncedsanmyaku)
• Lược (りやく)(writtenriyaku,but pronouncedryaku)
• Thực (しよく)(writtenshiyoku,but pronouncedshoku)
• Thụ lập (じゆりつ)(writtenjiyuritsu,but pronouncedjuritsu)
• Trà (ちや)(writtenchiya,but pronouncedcha)
• ～ trung (ぢゆう)(written-jiyū,but pronounced-jū)
• Bách (ひやく)(writtenhiyaku,but pronouncedhyaku)

This is the only historical kana rule that does not reflect a historical pronunciation. It is also one of only two rules (along with the geminate rule) that create ambiguity for the reader (excluding the exceptions listed above for the H-row rule). For instance, the aforementioned wordKhách(kyaku) is not differentiated in historical kana from the wordQuy ước(kiyaku"agreement" ) when written in historical kana: both are writtenきやく(kiyaku).

Geminate (Xúc âm,sokuon) rule

The other use of small kana in modern Japanese is in the geminate consonant mark (Xúc âmSokuon),っ/ッ,which is a small version ofつ/ツ(tsu). In native Japanese words, this symbol can be used before kana of the K-, S-, T-, and P-rows. For example,

• かっか(kakka"burning hotly" )
• ChânっTrực ぐ (まっすぐ)(massugu"straight" )
• Ngật độ (きっと)(kitto"surely" )
• Diệpっぱ(はっぱ)(happa"leaf" )

Voiced geminates are generally prohibited by Japanese phonological rules, but they occur in a few loanwords (although they are sometimes pronounced by native speakers as if they were their voiceless counterparts). For example:

• スラッガー(suraggā"slugger" )
• キッド(kiddo"kid" )

Kana of the N- and M-rows can also be geminate, but they are preceded byん(n) to indicate gemination instead.

Gemination can occur in Japanese for a variety of reasons. In native words, it occurs either when a historical long vowel elides, as in the aforementionedChân っ trực ぐ(massugu,originallyまあすぐmaasugu), or randomly, as in the aforementionedNgật độ(kitto,originallyきとkito). These examples of the geminate consonant marker, along with those found in loanwords, are written with largeつ(tsu) in historical kana. Therefore,

• かつか(writtenkatsuka,but pronouncedkakka)
• ChânつTrực ぐ (まつすぐ)(writtenmatsusugu,but pronouncedmassugu)
• Ngật độ (きつと)(writtenkitsuto,but pronouncedkitto)
• Diệpつぱ(はつぱ)(writtenhatsupa,but pronouncedhappa)
• スラツガー(writtensuratsugā,but pronouncedsuraggā)
• キツド(writtenkitsudo,but pronouncedkiddo)

In these cases, the historical usage is not reflecting any historical pronunciation. However, in Sino-Japanese words, geminate consonants are produced by different, more regular processes, and the historical usage for these words reflects historical pronunciations.

The most common way for geminates to be produced in Sino-Japanese words is by the elision of a vowel from the kanaき,く,ち,orつ(ki,ku,chi,ortsu). For example:

• Thích cách (てっかく)(tekkaku"eligible", fromteki+kaku)
• Học kỳ (がっき)(gakki"semester", fromgaku+ki)
• Nhật trình (にってい)(nittei"schedule", fromnichi+tei)
• Tạp chí (ざっし)(zasshi"magazine", fromzatsu+shi)

In historical kana, where the geminate mark is used in the first, second, and fourth examples, a full-sized version of theoriginalkana is used. However, in the third example,つ(tsu) is used, even though an/i/has been elided. The reason for this is that in Early Middle Japanese, when these sounds were borrowed from Middle Chinese, the Japanese language acquired a final/t/in the Sino-Japanese morphemes that currently end inち(chi,/ti/) orつ(tsu,/tu/). Later on, these acquired two forms, one with/i/and one with/u/(although in syllables beginning with/ni/,one form usually begins with/zi/,as is the case withNhật). So the semantic difference between Sino-Japanese syllables ending in/ti/or/tu/is almost always trivial, and the historical pronunciation was identical, so they were not distinguished in writing. Therefore, the previous examples would be written:

• Thích cách (てきかく)(tekikaku)
• Học kỳ (がくき)(gakuki) (note the old character form)
• Nhật trình (につてい)(nitsutei)
• Tạp chí (ざつし)(zatsusi) (note the old character form)

Occasionally, gemination may also result from a loss of a vowel afterふ(fu,originally/pu/). These cases are complicated by the H-row rule, and perhaps because of that, are also written withつin historical kana. For example,

• Pháp sư (ほっし)(hosshi"Buddhist priest", fromhofu+shi)

is written

• Pháp sư (ほつし)(hotsushi)

in historical kana.

While this usage does reflect a historical pronunciation, it, like the Y-row rule, produces ambiguity. Furthermore, since these vowels are elided in some compounds but not others, this usage obscures the difference in a way that is essentially impossible to predict.

While there are a few other processes that can cause geminates in Sino-Japanese words, they all apply to N- and M-row kana, and are not written differently in historical and modern kana.

Labialized consonant (Hợp ảo âm,gōyōon) rule

Starting in Early Middle Japanese, as more and more Chinese characters were borrowed into Japanese, the language acquired consonants fronted with glides. Those fronted with the palatal glide are described in the Y-row rule, but Early Middle Japanese also introduced consonants fronted with labial glides (i.e., CwV). These were far more limited in range than their palatal counterparts, however, affecting only the K- and G- rows. instead of/a/,/u/,and/o/for the vowels of onset, like the palatal glides, the vowels of onset for the labial glides were/a/,/i/,and/e/,and used the kanaわ,ゐ,andゑ(wa,wi,andwe). Finally, while the palatal glides are written with an I-column kana, the labial glides are written with a U-column (ウ đoạnU-dan) kana. However, when historical kana was standardized in the Meiji Period, only the syllables with historical/wa/were indicated. Nevertheless, some classical texts may indicate the other differences, and some resources will refer to them, so it is useful to be familiar with them. This rule applies exclusively to Sino-Japanese words. Some examples:

くわ(writtenkuwa,but pronouncedkwa) andぐわ(writtenguwa,but pronouncedgwa) (indicated in standard historical kana)

• Quả tử (くわし) → quả tử (かし)(kwashi→kashi"sweets" )
• Nguyên đán (ぐわんたん) → nguyên đán (がんたん)(gwantan→gantan"New Year's Day" )

くゐ(writtenkuwi,but pronouncedkwi),ぐゐ(writtenguwi,but pronouncedgwi),くゑ(writtenkuwe,but pronouncedkwe), andぐゑ(writtenguwebut pronouncedgwe) (not indicated in standard historical kana)

• Quy tỉnh (くゐせい) → quy tỉnh (きせい)(kwisei→kisei"homecoming" ) (note the old character form)
• Ngụy thiện (ぐゐぜん) → ngụy thiện (ぎぜん)(gwizen→gizen"hypocrisy" ) (note the old character form)
• Phiên khuyển (ばんくゑん) → phiên khuyển (ばんけん)(bankwen→banken"watchdog" )
• Đồng nguyệt (どうぐゑつ) → đồng nguyệt (どうげつ)(dougwetsu→dougetsu"same month" )

Labialized consonantssometimes occur in modern loanwords, and they are generally dealt with in one of two ways. Firstly, the labialized consonant may be changed from a sequence/CwV/to a sequence/CuwV/,both in writing and in speech. For example,

• クイック(kuikku"quick", from English "quick" with original/kw/)

In other cases, they may be indicated with a U-column kana followed by a small A-row kana, indicating a labialized consonant. For example,

• クィーン(kwīn"queen", from English "queen" with original/kw/)

However, in these cases, an alternative version with large A-row kana generally exists (as it does in this case), indicating a monophthong pronunciation, and many speakers use the monophthong pronunciation regardless of how it is written.

There are no known exceptions to this rule, but some dialects (such as theKagoshima dialect) preserve the distinction.

Classical auxiliary verbむ(mu) rule

Modern Japanese has the moraic nasalん(n), which can represent a variety of sounds depending on what sounds come before and after it. Syllable final nasals are believed by many scholars to have existed in Proto-Japonic, but all agree that they were lost by the time of Old Japanese. They first re-appeared in Early Middle Japanese, with the introduction ofMiddle Chineseloanwords ending in-nand-m.Therefore, the majority of occurrences ofん(n) in modern Japanese occur in Sino-Japanese vocabulary. Originally, syllabicnandmwere phonemically and phonologically distinct, although the distinction was never written down, and was lost byEarly Modern Japanese.For example,

• Hán tự (かんじ)(kanzi,from Middle Chinesehɑnᴴd͡zɨᴴ)
• Âm nhạc (おんがく)(ongaku,from Middle Chineseʔiɪmŋˠʌk̚;originally pronouncedomgaku) (note the old character form)

However, some native Japanese words also haveん(n). This happens exceedingly rarely, and usually results from sound elision. An exhaustive list of every example out of allregular-use characterswith the syllabic nasal in their native Japanese readings numbers only 13 characters (0.61% of the regular-use set) giving rise to 14 readings. They are

From the elision of a vowel following /m/ or /n/

• Hà (なん)(nan"what" ), fromなに(nani"what" )
• Nữ (をんな)(wonna"woman" ), originally pronouncedwomna;fromをみな(womina"woman" ) (in modern orthography,おんなonnaandおみなomina)
• Khẩn ろ (ねんごろ)(nengoro"courteous" ), originally pronouncednemkoro;fromねもころ(nemokoro"courteous" )
• Thần (かん)(kan"god" in some compounds), originally pronouncedkam;fromかみ(kami"god" ) (in modern orthography,Thần,using a new character form)
• Khảo ふ (かんがふ)(kangaf-u"consider" ), fromかむがふ(kamugaf-u"consider" ); note that these are the classical versions of the modern verbsKhảo へる (かんがへる)(kangahe-ru) andKhảo へる (かうがへる)(kaugahe-ru), respectively (in modern orthography,かんがうkangau,こうがうkōga-u,かんがえるkangae-ru,andこうがえるkōgae-ru,respectively)

From the elision of a full mora

• Quan (かんむり)(kanmuri"crown" ), fromかうぶり(kauburi"rank" ); note also the sound change from/b/to/m/(in modern orthography,かうぶりkauburiisこうぶりkōburi)
• Vấn (とん)(ton"wholesale" in the compoundVấn ốcton'ya"wholesale store" ), fromとひ(tohi"query" ) (in modern orthography,とひtohiisといtoi)
• Thịnhん(さかん)(sakan"prosperous" ), fromさかり(sakari"one's best days" )
• Phương し (かんばし)(kanba-shi"fragrant" ), fromかぐはし(kaguha-si"fragrant" ); note also the sequential voicing of/h/to/b/,and that these are the classical forms of the adjectivesPhương しい (かんばしい)(kanba-shii) andPhương しい (かぐはしい)(kaguha-shii) (in modern orthography,かぐはしkaguha-shiisかぐわしkaguwa-shiandかぐはしいkaguha-shiiisかぐわしいkaguwa-shii)

From the preservation of an Old Japanese pre-nasalized consonant in a modern Japanese word

• Giam みる (かんがみる)(kangami-ru"learn from" ), fromかゞみる(kagami-ru"learn from" ) (in modern orthography,かゞみるkagami-ruisかがみるkagami-ru,without iteration marks)
• Tỉnh(どんぶり) (donburi"porcelain bowl" ), fromどぶり(doburi"[sound symbolism for something big and soft plopping down]" )

From abbreviation of another pronunciation on this list

• Tỉnh(どん) (don"porcelain bowl" ), originally pronounceddom;from aforementionedどんぶり(donburi"porcelain bowl" )

From multiple processes

• Ngự (おん)(on"[honorific prefix]" ), originally pronouncedom;fromĐại (おほ)(oho"great" ) +Ngự (み)(mi"august" ), which becameĐại ngự (おほみ)(ohomi"august" ), and thenNgự (おほん)by elision of/i/after/m/,and finallyNgự (おん)(on) by elision of the full mora/ho/;note the use of the characterNgựinstead ofĐại ngựis ateji (in modern orthography,おほohoisおおō,おほみohomiisおおみōmi,andおほんohonis おおんōn)

From some semantic (rather than phonetic) process

• Tứ (よん)(yon"four" ), fromよ(yo"four) by analogy with Sino-JapaneseTam (さん)(san"three", originally pronouncedsam)

Of course, there are also some words with this sound that either lack Chinese characters or were coined in the modern or Early Modern Japanese eras, whenん(n) had been fully incorporated into the language. For example,

• さん(san"[all-purpose honorific]" ), originally pronouncedsam;fromDạng (さま)(sama"[respectful honorific]" ) (in modern orthography, the new character formDạngis used)

Regardless of how it came to be, the Japanese orthography lacked the characterん/ン(n) or any equivalent. Therefore, until the spelling reforms of 1900,む/ム(mu) was generally used to represent the syllabic nasal. Sometimes, this convention may be preserved by modern writers, but standard historical kana distinguishesむ(mu) fromん(n).

There is one exception. In classical Japanese, there is an auxiliary verb (Trợ động từjodōshi)む(mu) which indicated the volitional. It, too, underwent vowel elision, and came to be pronounced as/m/and then/n/.However, the conventions of standard historical kana call for this auxiliary verb (and any word derived from it) to be written withむ(mu) even though they are pronounced asん(n).

Since the auxiliary verbむ(mu) is non-existent in modern Japanese, there are no dialects that preserve the distinction expressed in this rule. However, some may preserve the distinction between final/m/and/n/.

Miscellaneous

Two other significant differences involve thewaythat kana are used in general, rather thanwhichkana are used. The first is that Chinese characters in classical texts are often fully marked withruby text(Chấn り仮 danhFurigana), especially in old laws and other very important documents. Ruby text is still widely used in modern Japanese, but only for characters with non-standard or ambiguous pronunciations, or sometimes in materials designed for children or foreigners. The second difference is that, especially in legal documents, Katakana were often used in the way that Hiragana are used in modern Japanese, to write out adjective and verb inflections, suffixes, and particles (Tống り仮 danhOkurigana), and for the aforementioned ruby text.

Finally,kana iteration markswere far more common in classical Japanese, and sometimes used in ways that are considered completely obsolete in modern Japanese.

For an example of a major document written in the classical style, see as an examplethe original textof the 1890Meiji Constitution,which is written in classical Japanese using historical kana, old character forms, kana iteration marks, and Katakana in place of Hiragana (although it lacks universal ruby text).

Grammar

Verbs(Động từ,dōshi)

Conjugation table

Classical Japanese has the following verb classes and stem forms:

Inflectional form = (stem) +Inflectional suffix

Inflectional Class Hoạt dụng の chủng loại	Inflectional form Hoạt dụng hình							Translation
	stem Ngữ càn	Irrealis Vị nhiên hình	Infinitive Liên dụng hình	Conclusive Chung chỉ hình	Attributive Liên thể hình	Realis Dĩ nhiên hình	Imperative Mệnh lệnh hình
Quadrigrade Tứ đoạn	Văn(き)(-i)	きか(-a)	きき(-i)	きく(-u)		きけ(-e)		'hear'
Upper Monograde Thượng nhất đoạn	–	み(-i)		Kiến(み)る(m-iru)		みれ(-ire)	みよ(-i[yo])	'see'
	Dụng(もち)	もちゐ(-wi)		もちゐる(-wiru)		もちゐれ(-wire)	もちゐよ(-wiyo)	'use'
Lower Monograde Hạ nhất đoạn	–	け(-e)		Xúc(け)る(-eru)		けれ(-ere)	けよ(-e[yo])	'kick'
Upper Bigrade Thượng nhị đoạn	Quá(す)	すぎ(-i)		すぐ(-u)	すぐる(-uru)	すぐれ(-ure)	すぎよ(-iyo)	'pass'
Lower Bigrade Hạ nhị đoạn	Thụ(う)	うけ(-e)		うく(-u)	うくる(-uru)	うくれ(-ure)	うけよ(-e[yo])	'receive'
K-irregular カ変	–	こ(-o)	き(-i)	Lai(く)(-u)	くる(-uru)	くれ(-ure)	こ(-o)	'come'
S-irregular サ変	–	せ(-e)	し(-i)	Vi(す)(-u)	する(-uru)	すれ(-ure)	せよ(-e[yo])	'do'
	Kỳ(き)	きせ(-se)	きし(-si)	きす(-su)	きする(-suru)	きすれ(-sure)	きせよ(-seyo)	'set the date'
N-irregular ナ変	Tử(し)	しな(-a)	しに(-i)	しぬ(-u)	しぬる(-uru)	しぬれ(-ure)	しね(-e)	'die'
R-irregular ラ変	Hữu(あ)	あら(-a)	あり(-i)		ある(-u)	あれ(-e)		'be, exist'

Note that most S-irregular is the combination of a noun andVi(す);for example,Kỳ(き)すis a combination of the nounKỳ(き)('date') andVi(す).

Theよ(yo) at the end of the imperative forms is optional in classical Japanese, although exceedingly common.

Verb class distribution

While the many conjugation classes may seem overwhelming, most of them contain few verbs. The quadrigrade and lower bigrade classes are the primary, containing about 75% and 20% of the verbs in the language, respectively. The upper bigrade class is small (about 56 non-compound verbs), but sizable enough to make an exhaustive list difficult. The other 6 classes all together contain between 22 and 28 verbs, depending on whether basic compound verbs are included or not. An exhaustive list of these follows, with verbs in the conclusive form, as is the most common standard. Chinese character pronunciations are indicated by hiragana in parentheses following the given character. The first spelling listed for a given verb is the most common, and those that follow are alternative spellings. Some of these spellings are generally used for slightly different connotations of the same verb, while others are simple alternatives. In later reference, only the first spelling (in pre-World War II orthography) will be used, and the transcription will be based on the historical spelling. A blank cell in one (or both) of the "modern" columns indicates that the modern spelling and/or transcription is the same as the pre-World War II version.

Japanese (Pre-World War II orthography)	Japanese (Modern orthography)	Romanization (Pre-World War II orthography)	Romanization (Modern orthography)	Translation
Thượng nhất đoạn hoạt dụng động từ(Kami ichidan katsuyō dōshi"Upper monograde conjugation class verbs" )
Trứ る (きる)		Ki-ru		To wear
Tự る (にる)		Ni-ru		To resemble
Chử る (にる)		Ni-ru		To boil
Đế る (ひる)		Hi-ru		To sneeze
Càn る, càn る (ひる)		Hi-ru		To dry
Bá る (ひる)		Hi-ru		To winnow
Hồi る, hồi る (みる)		Mi-ru		To go around
Kiến る, thị る, quan る (みる)	Kiến る, thị る, quan る (みる)	Mi-ru		To see
Giam みる (かゞみる)	Giam みる (かがみる)	Kagami-ru		To learn from
Cố みる, tỉnh みる (かへりみる)	Cố みる, tỉnh みる (かえりみる)	Kaherimi-ru	Kaerimi-ru	To reflect upon
Thí みる (こゝろみる)	Thí みる (こころみる)	Kokoromi-ru		To try
Xạ る (いる)		I-ru		To shoot (an arrow)
Ốc る (いる)		I-ru		To douse (with water)
Chú る (いる)	鋳る (いる)	I-ru		To cast (metal)
Cư る (ゐる)	Cư る (いる)	Wi-ru	I-ru	To sit
Suất る, tương る (ゐる)	Suất る, tương る (いる)	Wi-ru	I-ru	To carry (constantly)
Suất ゐる (ひきゐる)	Suất いる (ひきいる)	Hikiwi-ru	Hikii-ru	To lead (an army)
Dụng ゐる (もちゐる)	Dụng いる (もちいる)	Mochiwi-ru	Mochii-ru	To use
Hạ nhất đoạn hoạt dụng động từ(Shimo ichidan katsuyō dōshi"Lower monograde conjugation class verbs" )
Xúc る (ける)		Ke-ru		To kick
カ hành 変 cách hoạt dụng động từ(Ka-gyō henkaku dōshi"K-irregular verbs" )
Lai (く)	Lai (く)	K-u		To come
サ hành 変 cách hoạt dụng động từ(Sa-gyō henkaku katsuyō dōshi"S-irregular conjugation class verbs" )
Vi (す)	Vi (す)	S-u		To do
Ngự tọa す (おはす)	Ngự tọa す (おわす)	Ohas-u	Owas-u	To be/go/come (honorific form)
ナ hành 変 cách hoạt dụng động từ(Na-gyō henkaku katsuyō dōshi"N-irregular conjugation class verbs" )
Vãng ぬ, khứ ぬ (いぬ)		In-u		To go away
Tử ぬ (しぬ)		Shin-u		To die
ラ hành 変 cách hoạt dụng động từ(Ra-gyō henkaku katsuyō dōshi"R-irregular conjugation class verbs" )
Hữu り, tại り (あり)		Ar-i		To exist
Tại すかり, tọa すかり (いますかり)		Imasukar-i		To exist (honorific form)
Thị り (はべり)		Haber-i		To serve (humble form)
Cư り (をり)	Cư り (おり)	Wor-i	Or-i	To be

Table notes

Note that these translations are glosses, and may not reflect certain nuances or rare alternative meanings.

In addition, the translations are for the classical meaning of the verb, which may differ from the modern meaning of the verb if it has survived into modern Japanese either slightly (e.g.,Trứ る (きる)ki-ru,which meant "to wear [in general]" in classical Japanese, but means "to wear [from the waist up]" in modern Japanese), or significantly (e.g.,Cư る (ゐる)wi-ru,which meant "to sit" in classical Japanese, but primarily means "to be" (for animate objects) in modern Japanese). Some may have the same meaning, but a different pronunciation (e.g.,Giam みる (かゞみる)kagami-ru"to learn from", which is generally pronounced and writtenGiam みる (かんがみる)kangami-ruin modern Japanese). Also, even for those verbs which have survived with the same meaning and form, many are archaic and rarely used in modern Japanese (e.g.,Đế る (ひる)hi-ru"to sneeze", with the same modern meaning and form, but almost never used). On the other hand, some have kept the same meaning, form, and prominence into the modern language (e.g.,Kiến る (みる)mi-ru"to see", one of the oldest surviving verbs in the language and also one of the most common, both in classical and modern texts).

Tại すかり(imasukar-i"to exist", honorific form) has three pronunciation variants, each of which can use either Chinese character:Tại すがり (いますがり) / tọa すがり (いますがり)(imasugar-i),Tại そかり / tọa そかり(imasokar-i), andTại そがり / tọa そがり(imasogar-i).

Finally, the "modern" transcriptions are purely orthographic. For example, the modern version conclusive form of the classical verbLai (く)(k-u"to come" ) isLai る (くる)(k-uru), but the modern form is given in the table asLai (く)(k-u), which is the way that a modern Japanese writer would write theclassicalJapanese word, rather than the way they would write themodernJapanese word.

Adjectives(Hình dung từ,keiyōshi)

Classical Japanese has the following classes of adjectives and stem forms:

Class of Inflection	subclass	stem Ngữ càn	Irrealis Vị nhiên hình	Adverbial Liên dụng hình	Conclusive Chung chỉ hình	Attributive Liên thể hình	Realis Dĩ nhiên hình	Imperative Mệnh lệnh hình	Translation
-ku ク hoạt dụng	main Bổn hoạt dụng	Cao(たか)	(たかく/たかけ)	たかく(-ku)	たかし(-si)	たかき(-ki)	たかけれ(-kere)		'be high'
	-kari カリ hoạt dụng		たかから(-kara)	たかかり(-kari)		たかかる(-karu)		たかかれ(-kare)
-siku シク hoạt dụng	main Bổn hoạt dụng	Mỹ(うつく)	(うつくしく/うつくしけ)	うつくしく(-siku)	うつくし(-si)	うつくしき(-siki)	うつくしけれ(-sikere)		'be beautiful'
	-kari カリ hoạt dụng		うつくしから(-sikara)	うつくしかり(-sikari)		うつくしかる(-sikaru)		うつくしかれ(-sikare)

Table notes

The existence of irrealis form is still a controversy. Some scholars assume that the ancient construction calledク ngữ pháp(Ku-gohō"Ku-grammar" ) uses the irrealis form to form nouns from verbs and adjectives; e.g.,An し (やすし)(yasu-shi"peaceful" ) →An け (やすけ)(yasu-ke) +～く(-ku) →An けく (やすけく)(yasukeku"peace of mind" ). Meanwhile, others assumed the construction～くば(-kuba) /～しくば(-shikuba) appears to be an irrealis form～く(-ku) /～しく(-shiku) + particle～ば(-ba) (since that particle usually attaches to the irrealis form). However, the scholars agreeing with "Ku-grammar theory" argue that it's actually～く(-ku) /～しく(-shiku) + particleは(ha;modern pronunciationwa) with a sequential voicing sound change fromは(ha) toば(ba).

The compound forms are derived from continuitive form～く(-ku) /～しく(-shiku) +Hữu り(ar-i) →～くあり(-kuar-i) /～しくあり(-shikuar-i), which then became～かり(-kar-i) /～しかり(-shikar-i) by regular sound change rules from Old Japanese. The forms then follow the R-irregular conjugation type likeHữu り(ar-i), but lack the conclusive form.

Similarly, the basic conjugations have no imperative form. When it is used, therefore, the～かれ(-kar-e) /～しかれ(-shikar-e) forms are used. It is however, relatively rare, even in classical Japanese.

Adjectival verbs(Hình dung động từ,keiyō dōshi)

There are the following classes for adjectival verbs:

Class of inflection	stemNgữ càn	IrrealisVị nhiên hình	AdverbialLiên dụng hình	ConclusiveChung chỉ hình	AttributiveLiên thể hình	RealisDĩ nhiên hình	ImperativeMệnh lệnh hình	Translation
Nari ナリ hoạt dụng	Tĩnh(しづ)か	しづかなら(-nara)	しづかなり(-nari)	しづかなり(-nari)	しづかなる(-naru)	しづかなれ(-nare)		'be static'
			しづかに(-ni)
Tari タリ hoạt dụng	Tiễu(せう)Nhiên(ぜん)	Tiễu nhiênたら(-tara)	Tiễu nhiênたり(-tari)	Tiễu nhiênたり(-tari)	Tiễu nhiênたる(-taru)	Tiễu nhiênたれ(-tare)		''be quiet, soft "
			Tiễu nhiênと(-to)

Table notes

Adjectival verbs are essentially nouns(or stems of the adjectives) combined with an auxiliary verb, either～なり(-nar-i) or～たり(-tar-i).

Most tari-adjectival nouns are derived fromSino-Japanese vocabulary.For example, “Tiễu(せう)Nhiên(ぜん)たり”is derived from “Tiễu nhiên”,aChineseword meaning “quietly, softly”.

The auxiliary verbs are derived from directional particlesに(ni) +～ hữu り(-ar-i) andと(to) +～ hữu り(-ar-i), respectively, yieldingにあり(niar-i) andとあり(toar-i), respectively, which then lead toなり(nar-i) andたり(tar-i), respectively, by regular sound change rules. They therefore follow the R-irregular conjugation likeHữu り(ar-i).

As with adjectives, the imperative form is rare, but is used.

Miscellaneous

Đăng(とう)Đài(だい)

Toudai

Hạ(もと)

moto

Ám(くら)し

kurashi

Đăng(とう)Đài(だい)Hạ(もと)Ám(くら)し

Toudai moto kurashi

The particleはis omitted more often than in the spoken style.

Nữ(をんな)

Wonna

は

wa

Tam giới(さんがい)に

sangai-ni

Gia(いへ)なし

ihe-nashi

Nữ(をんな)はTam giới(さんがい)にGia(いへ)なし

Wonna wa sangai-ni ihe-nashi

See also

• Old Japanese
• Literary language

Further reading

• Katsuki-Pestemer, Noriko (2009).A Grammar of Classical Japanese.München: Lincom Europa.
• Shirane, Haruo (2005).Classical Japanese: A Grammar.New York:Columbia University Press.
• Wixted, John Timothy (2006).A Handbook to Classical Japanese.Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University.

External links

• Bungo Nyūmon: A Brief Introduction to Classical Japanese
• Bibliography of premodern Japanese texts and translations
• Bart. "Book Review:A Grammar of Classical Japaneseby Akira Komai ",Monumenta Nipponica,Vol. 34, No. 4 (Winter, 1979), pp. 501–504.
• Dictionaries for Classical Japanese