Early Middle Japanese

Early Middle Japanese (中古日本語 chūko nihongo)[1] is a stage of the Japanese language used between 794 and 1185, a time known as the Heian
Period. It is the successor to Old Japanese. It is also known as Late Old Japanese, but the term "Early Middle Japanese" is preferred, as it is closer to
Early Middle Japanese
Late Middle Japanese (after 1185) than to Old Japanese (before 794). 中古日本語
Region Japan
Era Evolved into Late
Middle Japanese at the
Contents end of the 12th century
Background Language Japonic
Phonology family
Japanese
Phonological developments
Phonetics Early Middle
Vowels Japanese
Consonants Early Old Japanese
Phonetic Realization form
/s, z/ Hiragana, Katakana,
Writing
/ɸ/ system and Han
Grammar Language codes
Nouns and Pronouns
ISO 639-3 ojp (Old Japanese)
Verbs
Conjugation Linguist ojp Described as "The
Verb endings List ancestor of modern
Verb-like endings Japanese. 7th–10th
Conjunction-like endings[19][20] centuries AD." The
Adjectives more usual date for the
change from Old
Writing system
Japanese to Middle
Notes Japanese is ca. 800
See also (end of the Nara era).
References Glottolog None
External links

Background
Whereas Old Japanese borrowed and adapted the Chinese script to write Japanese, during the Early Middle Japanese period two new scripts emerge: kana scripts hiragana and katakana. This
development simplified writing and brought about a new age in literature with such classics as
Genji Monogatari, Taketori Monogatari, Ise Monogatari and many others.

Phonology

Phonological developments
Major phonological changes are a characteristic of this period.

The most prominent difference is the loss of Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai, which distinguished between two types of -i, -e, and -o. While the beginnings of this loss can already be seen at the end of Old
Japanese, it is completely lost early in Early Middle Japanese. The final phonemes to be lost are /ko [2]
1/ and /ko2/.

During the 10th century, /e/ and /je/ merge into /je/ while /o/ and /wo/ merge into /wo/ by the 11th century.[3][4][5]

An increase in Chinese loanwords had a number of phonological effects:

Palatal and labial consonant clusters such as /kw/ and /kj/

Uvular nasal [ɴ]
Length became a phonetic feature with the development of bothlong vowels and long consonants
The development of the uvular nasal and geminated consonants occurred late in the Heian period and brought about the introductionclosed
of syllables (CVC).[6]

Phonetics

Vowels

/a/: [a]
/i/: [i]
/u/: [u]
/e/: [je][3][4][5]
/o/: [wo]

Consonants
 Consonant phonemes
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n
Stop (p) b t d k ɡ
Fricative ɸ s z
Liquid r
Approximant j w

Phonetic Realization

/s, z/
Theories for the realization of /s, z/ include [s, z], [ts, dz], and [ʃ, ʒ]. It may have varied depending on the following vowel, as it does with modern Japanese.

/ɸ/
By the 11th century, intervocalic /ɸ/ had merged with /w/.[7]

Grammar
Syntactically, Early Middle Japanese is an SOV (subject-object-verb) language with topic-comment structure. Morphologically it is agglutinative. Major word classes are nouns and pronouns, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, and various grammatical particles. Nouns may be followed by particles to indicate case, but also occur without a following particle. Verbs are obligatorily marked with affixes, many
of which are inflected as verbs in their own right, allowing the build-up of complex strings of suffixes. Adjectives are largely inflected for the same categories as verbs, and so are often referred to as
'stative verbs'.

Nouns and Pronouns

Nouns occur with postpositive case particles. The major case particles are:

-ga and -no (genitive.)

-wo (accusative). Optional.
-ni (dative/locative).-ni has a wide range of functions ('to' or 'for' a person; 'by' an agent'; 'at' or 'to' a place; 'at' a time), and in some uses, especially when indicating time, it is
optional.
-yori (ablative).
-made (terminative: 'until'; 'as far as').
-to (comitative: 'with'; essive 'as').
-fe (allative: 'to'). -fe is derived from the nounfe (邊 [辺] or 方) 'vicinity; direction', which is occasionally found in the location noun structure Noun -no
+ + Location Noun to mean
'near', or in the noun-deriving suffix -be (< -no-fe) in such words as midube 'beside the water' or yamabe 'around the mountains'.
The nominative function is marked by the absence of a particle in main clauses, and by the genitive particles in subordinate clauses. The dative/locative particle -ni is homophonous with the simple
infinitive form of the copula -ni, which with verbal suffixes supplies more complex case markers -ni-te ('at' a place) and -ni si-te or -ni-te ('by means of'). A number of particle + verb + -te sequences
provide other case functions, e.g.-ni yori-te 'due to' (from yor- 'depend'), -ni tuki-te 'about, concerning' (fromtuk- 'be attached'), and -to si-te 'as' (from se- 'do'). More complex structures are derived from
genitive particle + Location Noun + appropriate case particle (typically locative -ni) and are used particularly to express spatial and temporal relations. Major Location Nouns are mafe 'front' (Noun-no
mafe-ni 'in front of Noun'), ufe 'top' (Noun-no ufe-ni 'on top of Noun' ~ 'above Noun'),sita 'underneath' (Noun-no sita-ni 'under Noun), saki 'ahead' (Noun-no saki-ni 'ahead of Noun)', etc.

Verbs
Early Middle Japanese verb inflection is agglutinative. All verbs are conjugated in a small number of 'stems', and may be combined with grammaticalized verbs that express tense, aspect, mood, voice,
and polarity. Several of these grammaticalized verbs may combine in a string, and each component determines the choice of stem of the preceding component. A small number of other grammatical
endings are not verbs, but carry various coordinating or subordinating functions.

Early Middle Japanese inherits all eight verbal conjugations from Old Japanese and adds one new one:
Lower Monograde.

Conjugation
Traditionally verbs are divided into five regular conjugations: quadrigrade (yodan 四段), upper monograde (kami ichidan 上一段), lower monograde (shimo ichidan 下一段), upper bigrade (kami nidan
上二段), lower bigrade (shimo nidan 下二段). There are also four 'irregular' conjugations: K-irregular (kahen カ変), S-irregular (sahen サ変), N-irregular (nahen ナ変), R-irregular (rahen ラ変). The
conjugation of each is divided into six stems: irrealis (mizenkei 未然形), infinitive (ren'yōkei 連用形), conclusive (shūshikei 終止形), attributive (rentaikei 連体形), realis (izenkei 已然形) and
imperative (meireikei 命令形). The English names for the irrealis and the realis dif
fer from author to author, including negative and evidential, or imperfective and perfective, or irrealis and realis.

Verb Class Irrealis Infinitive Conclusive Attributive Realis Imperative

Quadrigrade -a -i -u -u -e -e
Upper Monograde – – -ru -ru -re -(yo)
Upper Bigrade -i -i -u -uru -ure -i(yo)
Lower Monograde -e -e -eru -eru -ere -e(yo)
Lower Bigrade -e -e -u -uru -ure -e(yo)
K-irregular -o -i -u -uru -ure -o
S-irregular -e -i -u -uru -ure -e(yo)
N-irregular -a -i -u -uru -ure -e
R-irregular -a -i -i -u -e -e

The system of nine conjugation classes appears complex. However, all nine conjugations can be subsumed into variations of two groups, the consonant-root verbs and the vowel-root verbs. Consonant-
root verbs consist of the quadrigrade, N-irregular and R-irregular verbs. The irregularity of N-irregular verbs occurs only in the conclusive and the attributive, and as there are no quadrigrade verbs with
an n-root we can treat quadrigrade and N-irregular verb patterns as being in complementary distribution.[8] Vowel-root verbs consist of bigrade verbs (the majority), a few monograde verbs (especially
mi- 'see' and wi- 'sit'), the K-irregular verb ko- 'come', and the S-irregular verb se- 'do' (or -ze- in some compounds).[9] The difference between 'upper' and 'lower' bigrade or monograde verbs is whether
the vowel at the end of the root is i or e. There is only one 'lower' monograde verb, ke- 'kick', which was a 'lower' bigrade verb kuwe- in Old Japanese, and which changed classes again in later Japanese
to become quadrigrade (Modern Japanese ker-). The difference between bigrade and monograde is whether, in the conclusive, attributive and realis, the initial u of the ending elides the vowel of the root
or the vowel of the roots elides the initialu of the ending.

There are problems with this arrangement of stems. (1.) The irrealis does not occur by itself, but instead always with another ending. There is good evidence that it actually consists of a fusion of the root
of the verb with the a-sound that begins the following ending, e.g. quadrigradeyom- 'recite' + -azu Negative has been interpreted as a stem yoma- + -zu.[10] (2.) The infinitive has two functions, namely a
linking function with another verb or with a verb ending and a nominal function as a verb-noun, and these two functions were distinguished in having different pitch patterns. (3.) The conclusive occurs
as it is in the above table only at the end of a sentence (including before a quotative particle to), whereas before tomo 'even if' monograde verbs use the infinitive instead (quadrigrade yomu tomo 'even if
... recites', but monogrademi tomo 'even if ... sees'),[11] and before endings such as-besi 'have to' R-irregular verbs use the attributive instead (e.g. ari 'is' at the end of a sentence, but aru-besi 'has to be').
The likelihood is that the monograde verb form used before tomo is the earlier true conclusive form, and in Old Japanese this is the only conclusive form attested (always before tomo); in Early Middle
Japanese the attributive form of monograde verbs came to be used also as a conclusive. With endings such as -besi, there is strong evidence that they were originally of the form -ubesi, and that a fusion
of the root of the verb with the u-sound of the ending, e.g. quadrigrade yom- 'recite' + -ubesi, has been interpreted as conclusive yomu + -besi. This means that the apparently anomalous u in aru-besi is
part of the ending, not of the verb stem.[12] In Old Japanese, the root of the ending u- besi, ube, is attested as an independent noun. A more accurate representation of stems, therefore, would be:

Conclusive
Root Conjugation Root Meaning Root + a Infinitive Verb-Noun
+ tomo

Quadrigrade *yom- 'read' yoma- yomi yomu

Consonant-
N-Irregular *sin- 'die' sina- sini sinu
Root
R-Irregular *ar- 'be' ara- ari aru
*mi- 'see' mi- mi mi
Monograde *ke- 'kick' ke- ke ke

*oti- 'fall' oti- oti otu

Vowel-Root Bigrade *kake- 'hang' kake- kake kaku

S-Irregular *se- 'do' se- si su

K-Irregular *ko- 'come' ko- ki ku

Verb endings
Verb endings are attached agglutinatively to the various stems of verbs. They are divided into (a.) endings that behave like verbs themselves, and (b.) endings that act as conjunctions.

Verb-like endings
Verb-like endings behave like verbs, in that they exhibit all or most of the stems that a lexical verb exhibits. The commonest forms are listed below, and the way in which they are attached to the
preceding verb follows the revised system of stems above. A verb may be followed by several such endings in a string.

Voice: 'passive' and 'causative':[13][14]

Consonant-stem verbs + -aru, vowel-stem verbs + -raru (lower bigrade): passive voice; spontaneous voice (expressing lack of volitional control); honorific; potential ('can').
Consonant-stem verbs + -ayu, vowel-stem verbs + -rayu (lower bigrade): passive voice; spontaneous voice (expressing lack of volitional control); honorific; potential ('can').
Consonant-stem verbs + -asu, vowel-stem verbs + -sasu (lower bigrade): causative; honorific.
Any verb + -asimu (lower bigrade): causative; honorific.
Tense/Aspect:[15][16]

-eri (R-irregular): progressive or perfect aspect. Only attached to quadrigrade or S-irregular verbs.
Infinitive + -tari (R-irregular): progressive or perfect aspect. Attached to any verbs.
Infinitive + -nu (N-irregular): perfective aspect.
Infinitive + -tu (lower bigrade): perfective aspect.
Infinitive + -ki (unique conjugation): witnessed past tense. The morpheme has a suppletive conjugation: conclusive ki,- attributive -si, realis -sika, and no other stems.
Infinitive + -keri (R-irregular): unwitnessed past tense, or emotive assertion.
-amasi (unique conjugation): counterfactual ('would have ... ed'). The morpheme has conclusiveamasi,
- attributive -amasi or -amasiki, realis -amasika, and no other stems. The
combination -amasika-ba expresses a counterfactual condition ('if ... had ... ed').
Other aspectual functions can be expressed with auxiliaries that also exist as independent verbs:

Infinitive + -wori (R-irregular): progressive aspect. C.f.wori 'sit; live; be'.

Infinitive + -oku (quadrigrade): preparative aspect, expressing an action performed in readiness for some future action. C.f. oku 'put'.
Infinitive + -miru (monograde): speculative aspect, expressing an action performed experimentally
, to 'see' what it is like. C.f.miru 'see'.
Other auxiliaries express direction, either literally or metaphorically
.

Mood:[15][17]

-amu (quadrigrade): tentative mood, expressing among other functions uncertainty ('maybe', 'shall I?'), intention ('I shall'), and hortative ('let's').
-ubesi (siku-adjective): debitive mood, expressing 'can', 'should', or 'must'.
-unari (R-irregular): hearsay mood.
Polarity:[18]

-azu (unique conjugation): negative. The morpheme has conclusive and infinitiveazu, - attributive -anu, and realis -ane.
-azi (uninflected): negative of the tentative mood, functionally the equivalent ofamu
- + -azu, a combination that does not occur.
-umazi (siku-adjective): negative of the debitive mood, an alternative ofubekarazu
- (< -ubesi + -azu).

Conjunction-like endings[19][20]

Infinitive + -te: 'and (then/so), when, because'. It usually expresses a close sequential link between the verbs that it connects. The subjects of the two verbs connected te
byare
-
usually but not always the same.
Realis + -ba: 'and (then/so), when, because'. It usually expresses a looser sequential link between the verbs that it connects. The subject of the two verbs connected baby are
-
usually but not alway different.
 -ade: negative 'and', 'without ... ing', 'rather than ... ', functionally an alternative toazu-te.
-
Realis + -do or -do-mo: 'although, but'. The longer form involves the addition of the particle-mo 'also, even' to the shorter form.
-aba: 'if'.
Infinitive + -tutu: 'while (at the same time)'.
Various stems + -tomo: 'even if, even though'. Most verbs take the conclusive stem, bigrade verbs take the infinitive in earlier texts, and R-irregular verbs take the attributive stem.
Infinitive + -nagara: 'while, while still' or 'despite'.

Adjectives
There were two types of adjectives: regularadjectives and adjectival nouns.

The regular adjective is sub-classified into two types: those where the adverbial form ends inku- and those that end in -siku. This creates two different types of conjugations:

Adjective Class Irrealis Adverbial Conclusive Attributive Realis Imperative

-ku -si -ki -kere
-ku
-kara -kari -si -karu -kare
-siku -si -siki -sikere
-siku
-sikara -sikari -si -sikaru -sikare

The class of siku-adjectives include a few adjectives that havez rather than s, i.e. adverbial -ziku, conclusive -zi, attributive -ziki., e.g. imizi 'be terrible'. Onazi 'be the same' usually has -zi rather than -ziki
in its attributive form.

The -kar- and -sikar- forms are derived from the verb ar- "be, exists". The adverbial conjugation (-ku or -siku) is suffixed with ar-. The conjugation yields to the R-irregular conjugation of ar-. The
resulting -ua- elides into -a-.

The adjectival noun retains the originalnar- conjugation and adds a newtar-:

Type Irrealis Adverbial Conclusive Attributive Realis Imperative

-nari
Nar- -nara -nari -naru -nare -nare
-ni
-tari
Tar- -tara -tari -taru -tare -tare
-to

The nar- and tar- forms share a common etymology. The nar- form is a contraction of case particle ni and R-irregular verb ar- "is, be": ni + ar- > nar-. The tar- form is a contraction of case particle to
and R-irregular verb ar- "is, be": to + ar- > tar-. Both derive their conjugations from the verbar-.

Writing system
Early Middle Japanese was written in three different ways. It was first recorded in Man'yōgana, Chinese characters used as a phonetic transcription as in Early Old Japanese. This usage later produced
the hiragana and katakana syllabic scripts which were derived from simplifications of the original Chinese characters.

Notes
11. Vovin, Alexander (2008).A Descriptive and Comparative Grammar of W estern Old
1. Martin (1987:77)
Japanese, Part 2: Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Conjunctions, Particles, Postpositions.
2. Yoshida, 2001: 64 London: Global Oriental. pp. 596–598.ISBN 9781905246823.
3. Kondō (2005:67-71) 12. Tranter, Nicolas (2012). The Languages of Japan and Korea. London & New York:
4. Yamaguchi (1997:43-45) Routledge. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-415-46287-7.
5. Frellesvig (1995:73) 13. A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese. pp. 323–336.
6. Nakata (1972:26-29) 14. The Languages of Japan and Korea. pp. 236–237.
7. Vovin 2002, pp. 14–15 15. A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese. pp. 271–323.
8. Vovin, Alexander (2003).A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese Prose
. 16. The Languages of Japan and Korea. pp. 230–233.
London: RoutledgeCurzon. pp. 169–170.ISBN 0-7007-1716-1. 17. The Languages of Japan and Korea. pp. 234–235.
9. A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese Prose
. pp. 170–172. 18. The Languages of Japan and Korea. p. 233.
10. The Languages of Japan and Korea. p. 223. 19. A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese. pp. 242–261, 414–417.
20. The Languages of Japan and Korea. p. 240.

See also
Bungo

References
Katsuki-Pestemer, Noriko (2009). A Grammar of Classical Japanese. München: LINCOM. ISBN 978-3-929075-68-7.
Frellesvig, Bjarke (1995).A Case Study in Diachronic Phonology: The Japanese Onbin Sound Changes
. Aarhus University Press.ISBN 87-7288-489-4.
Frellesvig, Bjarke (2010).A history of the Japanese language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-65320-6.
Kondō, Yasuhiro; Masayuki Tsukimoto; Katsumi Sugiura (2005).Nihongo no Rekishi. Hōsō Daigaku Kyōiku Shinkōkai.ISBN 4-595-30547-8.
Ōno, Susumu (2000). Nihongo no Keisei. Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 4-00-001758-6.
Martin, Samuel E. (1987).The Japanese Language Through Time. Yale University. ISBN 0-300-03729-5.
Miyake, Marc Hideo (2003). Old Japanese : a phonetic reconstruction. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon.ISBN 0-415-30575-6.
Nakata, Norio (1972). Kōza Kokugoshi: Dai 2 kan: On'inshi, Mojishi(in Japanese). Taishūkan Shoten.
Shibatani, Masayoshi (1990).The languages of Japan. Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-36918-5.
Yamaguchi, Akiho; Hideo Suzuki; Ryūzō Sakanashi; Masayuki Tsukimoto (1997). Nihongo no Rekishi. Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai.ISBN 4-13-082004-4.
Yoshida, Kanehiko; Hiroshi Tsukishima; Harumichi Ishizuka; Masayuki T
sukimoto (2001). Kuntengo Jiten (in Japanese). Tōkyō: Tōkyōdō Shuppan. ISBN 4-490-10570-3.
Vovin, Alexander (2002). A Reference Grammar of Classical Japanese Prose
. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-1716-1.
External links
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