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was a stage of the
Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...
following Early Middle Japanese and preceding
Early Modern Japanese was the stage of the Japanese language after Middle Japanese and before Modern Japanese. It is a period of transition that shed many of the language's medieval characteristics and became closer to its modern form. The period spanned roughly 2 ...
. It was a period of transition in which the language shed many of its archaic features and became closer to its modern form. The period spanned roughly 500 years from the 12th century to the 16th century and is customarily divided into Early and Late periods. Politically, the first half of Late Middle Japanese was the end of the
Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...
, known as ''Insei'' and the
Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...
. The second half of Late Middle Japanese was the
Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
.


Background

The late 12th century was a time of transition from the
aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word' ...
society of nobles in the
Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...
to the feudal society of the
warrior class A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...
. Accompanying that change, the political center moved with the establishment of various shogunates in the east. Various new Buddhist movements began and
literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...
increased because of their spread. In the mid-16th century,
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...
aries arrived in Japan. They introduced western concepts and technology but also shared their language. Various Portuguese loanwords entered the language. In an attempt to spread their religion, the Portuguese missionaries studied and learned Japanese. They created a number of linguistic grammars such as the ‘’ Arte da Lingoa de Iapam’’ and dictionaries like the ''
Nippo Jisho The or ''Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam'' (''Vocabulário da Língua do Japão'' in modern Portuguese; "Vocabulary of the Language of Japan" in English) is a Japanese to Portuguese dictionary compiled by Jesuit missionaries and published in ...
'' and even translated some Japanese literature. Those resources have proven extremely valuable in the study of Late Middle Japanese.


Phonology


Vowels

There were five
vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...
s: /i, e, a, o, u/. * /i/: * /e/: , ? * /a/: * /o/: , ? * /u/: Initially, /e/ and /o/ were realized with
semivowel In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Examples of semivowels in English are the c ...
s and , respectively, a result of earlier mergers inherited from Early Middle Japanese. However, it is unclear debated as to how they were realized when they were preceded by a consonant. In addition, there were two types of long ''o'': and . The vowel sequence /au/ contracted into , and /ou/ and /eu/ contracted into and , respectively: */hayaku/ "quickly" > /hayau/: > > */omou/ "think": >


Consonants

Late Middle Japanese had the following
consonants In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wit ...
: In addition were two
phonemes In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...
: /N/ and /Q/. "Before a pause, /N/ is a uvular ; it assimilates to the place of articulation of a following stop, affricate, or nasal." "/Q/ becomes a phonetic copy of a following obstruent." */s, z/, /t, d/, /n/, /h, b/, /p/, /m/, and /r/ could be palatalized.
Labialized Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve ...
consonants /kw, gw/ appeared during Early Middle Japanese. Labialized consonants before -i and -e merged with their non-labial counterparts. Specifically: */kwi/ > /ki/ */gwi/ > /gi/ */kwe/ > /ke/ */gwe/ > /ge/ The distinction between /ka/ and /kwa/ remained. The
sibilants Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...
/s, z/ were palatalized before /i/ and /e/ and had the following distribution: */sa, za/: */si, zi/: */su, zu/: */se, ze/: */so, zo/: João Rodrigues noted in ''Arte da Lingoa de Iapam'' that the eastern dialects were known for realizing /se/ as , rather than . Note that /se, ze/ has become in Modern Japanese but retained for /si, zi/. /t/ and /d/ were distinguished from the sibilants in all positions but undergo affrication before /i, u/: */ti, di/: */tu, du/:


Prenasalization

Voiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to refer ...
stops and
fricatives A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
were
prenasalized Prenasalized consonants are phonetic sequences of a nasal and an obstruent (or occasionally a non-nasal sonorant such as ) that behave phonologically like single consonants. The primary reason for considering them to be single consonants, rather ...
: */g/: */z/: */d/: */b/: João Rodrigues made that observation in ''Arte da Lingoa de Iapam''. In addition, the Korean text '' Ch'ŏphae Sinŏ'' spelled ..b, d, z, g with the
Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...
letter sequences -mp-, -nt-, -nz-, -ngk-" indicating prenasalization. The effects of prenasalization may also be seen in the transcription of words such as ''muma'' < /uma/ "horse" and ''mube'' < /ube/ "truly".


/h/ and /p/

Proto-Japanese Proto-Japonic or Proto-Japanese–Ryukyuan is the reconstructed language ancestral to the Japonic language family. It has been reconstructed by using a combination of internal reconstruction from Old Japanese and by applying the comparative meth ...
contained , but by
Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial. Old Jap ...
, it had become . Late Middle Japanese reintroduced , which contrasted with and so was treated as a new
phoneme In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...
. In Early Modern Japanese, became in many dialects, as it still is. is found in mimetic words, such as ''pinpin'' and ''patto'', as well as in Chinese loanwords such as ''sanpai'' and ''nippon''. Medial /ɸ/ became before /a/. Before all other vowels, it became silent: */-ɸa/: */-ɸi/: */-ɸu/: */-ɸe/: */-ɸo/:


Glides

/w/ had the following distribution: */wa/: */wi/: */we/: */wo/: The prior merger between /o/ and /wo/ into during Early Middle Japanese continued into Late Middle Japanese, with /e/ and /we/ merging into by the 12th century. /y/ had the following distribution: */ya/: */yu/: */ye/: */yo/: Various mergers, /e/, /we/ and /ye/ made all realized as and thus indistinguishable.


Syllable structure

Traditionally, syllables were of (C)V structure and so there was no need to distinguish between syllables and morae. However, Chinese loanwords introduced a new type of sound that could end in -m, -n, or -t. That structure is the syllable (C)V(C). The mora is based on the traditional (C)V structure. The final syllables -m and -n were initially distinguished; but by the end of the Early period, both had merged into /N/.


Medial gemination

The final syllables -m, -n, -t before a vowel or a
glide Glide may refer to: * Gliding flight, to fly without thrust Computing *Glide API, a 3D graphics interface *Glide OS, a web desktop *Glide (software), an instant video messenger *Glide, a molecular docking software by Schrödinger (company), Schr� ...
underwent
gemination In phonetics and phonology, gemination (), or consonant lengthening (from Latin 'doubling', itself from ''gemini'' 'twins'), is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct from s ...
and became the consonant clusters -mm-, -nn-, and -tt-. -m > -mm-: *samwi > sammi "third rank" -n > -nn-: *ten'wau > tennau > "
Emperor of Japan The Emperor of Japan is the monarch and the head of the Imperial Family of Japan. Under the Constitution of Japan, he is defined as the symbol of the Japanese state and the unity of the Japanese people, and his position is derived from "the ...
" *kwan'on > kwannon "
Guanyin Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...
" *kon'ya > konnya "tonight" -t > -tt-: *set'in > settin 雪隠 "
toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popu ...
" *konnitwa > konnitta "as for today" *but'on > button "blessing of Buddha"


Onbin

are a type of sporadic sound changes and "were not automatic or exceptionless," and their exact causes are still debated. They also appear in earlier stages of the language but were particularly prevalent throughout Late Middle Japanese and had a great effect on its verbal and adjectival morphology. Verbs: *''yom-'' "read": /yomite/ > /yoNde/ *''kuh-'' "eat": /kuhite/ > /kuute/ :: /kuQte/ The ''kuh-'' example had two possible outcomes. The former was particular of the western dialects, and the latter was particular of the eastern dialects. Adjectives: */hayaku/ "quickly" > /hayau/: �ajaku> �ajau> �ajɔː*/kataki/ "hard" > /katai/ In both words, the medial
velar Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum). Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...
-k- became silent by elision.


Morphology

A number of archaic grammatical forms were lost and made the language closer to its modern form. One of the most prominent developments was the replacement of the conclusive form by the attributive, which has a number of effects: *It was instrumental in changing from bigrade to monograde verbs. *It caused a chain of events in the two adjectival classes that eventually resulted in both merging into one. *It weakened the system. *The verb ''ar-'' "be", which was once irregular, began to regularize as a quadrigrade.


Verbs

Late Middle Japanese inherited all nine
verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
al conjugations from Early Middle Japanese: However, throughout the period, bigrade verbs gradually changed into monogrades. The process was completed by Early Modern Japanese, partly a result of the merger of the conclusive and attributive forms.


Adjectives

There were two types of adjectives: regular
adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...
s and adjectival nouns.


Regular adjectives

The regular adjective was traditionally subdivided into two types: those whose adverbial form ends in ''-ku'' and those whose ends in ''–siku'': There were three notable changes that eventually collapsed the two-way distinction into one: *In Early Middle Japanese, the ''-siku'' conclusive develops a ''-sisi'' form. *The conclusive and attributive forms merged. *In Late Middle Japanese, adjectival suffix ''-ki'' was reduced to ''-i'' While the grammatical distinction between the two classes has disappeared, the historic distinction was used to explain certain present forms of ''-shii'' adjectives, notably the euphonic changes (音便) that occur in polite form of adjectives (when they are followed by ござる ''gozaru'' 'to be' or 存じる ''zonjiru'' 'to know').


Adjectival nouns

There were two classes of adjectival nouns inherited from Early Middle Japanese: ''-nar'' and ''-tar''. The most prominent development was the reduction of attributive ''-naru'' to ''-na''. When the conclusive and attributive merged, they both share the new ''-na''. The ''tar-'' type becomes more archaic and was continually reduced in distribution. In Modern Japanese, a few ''naru''-adjectives and ''taru''-adjectives remain as fossils.


Hypothetical

The realis base developed into the hypothetical. The realis described something that had already occurred. That usage began to fade and resulted in the use of the hypothetical for events that have not already occurred. Note that Modern Japanese has only a hypothetical and has lost this realis base.


Imperative

The imperative traditionally ended either with no suffix or with ''-yo''. During Late Middle Japanese, ''-i'' was attached to lower bigrade, k-irregular, and s-irregular verbs: *kure + i: kurei "give me" *ko + i: koi "come" *se + i: sei "do" João Rodrigues Tçuzu noted in ''Arte da Lingoa de Iapam'' that ''-yo'' could be replaced with ''-ro'', as in ''miyo'' > ''miro'' "look." Note that the eastern dialects of Old Japanese in the 8th century also contained the ''-ro'' imperative, which is the standard imperative in Modern Japanese.


Tense and aspect

The tense and aspect systems underwent radical changes. The perfective ''n-'', ''t-'', and ''r-'' and the past ''k-''/''s-'' and ''ker-'' became obsolete and were replaced by ''tar-'' which developed from the perfective aspect into a common past tense. It eventually became ''ta-'', the modern past tense.


Particles

The new case particle ''de'' was developed from ''ni te''. The conjectured suffix ''-mu'' underwent a number of phonological changes: ''mu'' > ''m'' > ''N'' > ''ũ''. Combining with the vowel from the irrealis base to which it attached, it then became a long vowel, sometimes with -y- preceding it.


See also

* Glossary of Japanese words of Portuguese origin


Notes


References

* * * * * Frellesvig, Bjarke (2010). ''A history of the Japanese language''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Japanese language Archaic Japanese language Japanese, 1 * * Languages attested from the 12th century