Philoglosse!

by M. N. G. Einstein
Sonntag, 3. Januar 2016
Sunday, 3. January 2016
, 2016

For the languages of this World.

and
for all who fell victim to earthquakes and tsunamis.

Any usage of the document is only allowed with my full name and my written agreement.
All rights reserved. The pdf is free to /for share!

Part Three
Japanisch Japanese Japonais p&
onski@i

[R Bn] [Nippon No]

Number Ten 10

[Sh Ho] 10 [Su To] :

While the Chinese font (which is referred to as Kanji in the Japanese language, meaning as much as sign of Han) is formed by so called logograms, characters
that reflect the meaning of the individual language expressions through graphical
signs, the Japanese writing includes additionally to these Kanji two other writing systems, the Hiragana and Katakana, which are called Mora writings. Here
syllables are distinguished by length; to illustrate the difference, the Moras are
regarded as a time unit (in metrics), that associate, depending on their length,
onto the syllables a weight. It is also referred to, as the division of the syllables in
time units (Moras).

Number Nine 9
Kokonotsu] :

[Jiu Ho] 9 [Su

The Chinese characters are the starting point of the entire Japanese writing system. Because initially Japanese scholars began to reduce those logograms to their
phonetic value. Then a process began in which the characters, that were already transmitted into Japanese, were used according to their sound as phoneticism
(ideographically as well as phonetically). This type of writing is called Manyogana
in consideration of that anthology. Unfortunately, this sparked countless problems,
starting with the fact that similar sounding phonetics were not used after a particular system, but because of aesthetic effects, according to their appearance, leading
to, as soon as Manyogana and the Chinese characters merged together, that, since both fonts are indifferent in their external form, the problem that readers got
interpretation difficulties (which were related to the content or to the phonetics).
On top came the many syllables in Japanese words, that then needed an enormous
amount of Kanji.

Number Eight 8
Yattsu] :

[Ba Ho] 8 [Su

Thus, it came to the development of the Mora font of Kana, built on a syllablealphabet,
in which the individual strongly simplistic characters reflect sounds and combinations of those with the consequence, that they do not have an independent meaning
of their own anymore. These Kana are today divided into the Hiragana and Katakana, due to small differences in their caption, as well as in their employment and
creation. Both can be clearly distinguished from each other, even as a Japanese
illiterate, as you can see at this short example:
Hiragana:
Subete: all

or:
Uranaiibaba: UranaiBaba
Katakana:
Akushon: action

or:
Dende: Dende

Kanji:
Yubiwa Monogatari: The Lord of the Rings

Number Seven 7
Nanatsu] :

[Qi Ho] 7 [Su

In contrary to the Chinese writing, whose transcriptions, the transfer of the linguistic expressions in Latin phonetics, is implemented in a standard, there is no such
thing for the Japanese font, for which there exists actually three different systems.
Mostly applicated (even worldwide) is the so called Hepburn system (which originates back to the American medical doctor and missionary James Hepburn in
the year 1867). The most striking feature of it is, that (almost) entirely it manages to get along without any tones (while there are four tones in Chinese, which
overwhelmingly occur in the majority of all words). (In its original form there
are only found just two (letters) exceptions). The Japanese government uses the
Kunrei system from 1937 which was developed by themselves. Therefore, Japanese
children learn first this transcription before they are taught the Hepburn system
(this is needed due to English as a second language).

Number Six 6
Muttsu] :

[Li Ho] 6 [Su

The Ainu, who live on the island of Hokkaido and are not Japanese, but have
lived there long before the actual immigrants, speak the language Ainu. This is
so surprising, because this is an isolated language. All attempts of the linguists
to combine it genetically with any known language has failed spectacularly. This
phenomenon we know all too well from Europe, where the Basque and Etruscan,
are facing such an isolation as well.

Number Five 5
Itsutsu] :

[Wu Ho] 5 [Su

The development of the Japanese language is a mystery in itself. Today it is counted as part of the JapaneseRy
uky
ufamily, thus it forms a completely separate
language family. In this, Japanese is an independent branch with more than 125
million speakers, while the other branch includes the Ry
uky
u, OkinawaAmami
and Sakishima, which account together for two million speakers (whereat it is
assumed, that the official government figures have been sugarcoated). Here, the
description of an island language applies actually twice, since on the one hand
these languages are spoken on the Ryukyu Islands, while on the other hand, no
one knows where the Japanese (and with it the Ry
uky
u, which separated itself
500 A.D. from the japanese branch,) comes from. The only thing that seems sure,
is the fact, that there is a connection to Korean. It seems likely, that the original
language was introduced.

Halftime for a story.

The greatest hero of the universe Son Goku from the anime Dragon Ball

[Doragon Boru] [Qi Lng Zhu], emanates from
one of the four classic novels of China, called: the Journey to the West
Xi|Yu|J. In it, there is a Monkey King Sun Wkong who does
all sorts of mischief. This figure is also very popular in Japan, where his name is
pronounced Son Gok
u.

Number Four 4
Yottsu] :

[S Ho] 4 [Su

Due to the geographical conditions, since Japan actually consists of four main
islands and an archipelago of several thousand (6852) islands, many regional dialects in Japan have formed, yet they all can be summarised into three groups: West
Japanese, East Japanese and Ky
ush
u. All have several dialects, from which they
were descended, while those groups in turn consist of dozens of island dialects.
This is usually referred to as dialect cluster.

Number Three 3
Mittsu] :

[San Ho] 3 [Su

A fascinating oddity is the honorific speech. It exist in both, China and Korea,
and of course in Japan, in all cases with serious differences. The Mandarin emphasises explicitly friendliness and modesty (in that probably lies the biggest cultural
shock for Chinese people in Germany with its whole arrogance and egocentrism),
which is indeed fundamental in Confucianism. In the Korean language, above all,
the value is set on the reflection of the Codex and its compliance, whereat this
happens very precise with aid of the articulation, which orientates itself on the
Codex (this means, that the Codex specifies how to behave and with the language
one reflects exactly these manners). The honorific speech in Japan [called
Keigo] however, behaves like a stacked tower. There are several levels of politeness,
each with their own rules of salutation on personal pronouns, up to suffixes, that
can be stacked higher and higher.

Number Two 2
Futatsu] :

[r Ho] 2 [Su

Due to the moras (the emphasis on the syllables) the Japanese language is highly
symmetrical and phonetical incredibly melodic (people do not have an idea of that
extend). Words are not always assembled homogeneous together, but the arrangement of words inevitably leads to an outer harmony, precisely because of the
syllables. It is only marginally noticeable whilst writing as one sees clearly with
this:

Watashi

Senaka

Wo

Kara

Dakishimete

Sasayaku

Anata

No

Sukoshi

Dake

Setsunai

Anata
Io

Konya

Romantik

No

Toriko

sono

prigioniera

Anata

Wa

This is actually Italian. It means: I am your prisoner.

Kuni

No

Kotoba

Wa


Watashi

Keredo

Yasashiku

Tsutsunde

Asa

Terashite

Mo

Sono

Wo

Hitomi

Wa

No

Hi

Kureta

Ni

Kuroi

Watashi

Ni

Mama

Kirameku

No

It does not look very symmetrically, nor melodic. But speaking it, it sounds very
different:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2vxlZkfW-Y

10

Number One 1
Hitotsu] :

[Yi Ho] 1 [Su

The impact that the Japanese culture and thus the language has on our society is completely unknown and or totally ignored. Granted, in the adult sector it
leads a niche existence, but most children usually grow up very naturally with it.
The simple reason for it is, that all Original Anime Anime Orijinaru
, are coming from Japan. And not only that, the whole game
development equipment and software also is produced in the country of the rising
sun.
At the end [Bonbon] a bonbon, a treasure of unimaginable size.
My absolute favorite song from Japan is composed by Nobuo Uematsu and is originally sung by Risa Ohki. A video of it can be watched here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHo6QTW-97E
(if someone wants to practice Karaoke). The text is as follows:
Terras Theme, Terras Melodie

Tina

No

Tema

No

Umi

Haruka

Sabaku

Kami

Tooku

No

Yoru

Koe

11

Wa

Koete

Samayou

Shinkirou

Wasurerareta

Kage

Wa

Hitobito

Shiroku

Yurameki

Ima

Aoku

Towa

Haruka

Hitotabi

Moeru

Ni

Tooku

No

Yuusha

No

Tatsu

Maboroshi

Yume

Nemuru

Hitobito

Yoru

The starting violins at this point are incredibly fantastic.

12

Koete

...