Japanese is spoken by more than 130 million people and is considered one of the most difficult languages in the world, but what do we know about its origins?
The origin of the Japanese language is not entirely clear and there are various theories about where it comes from. Despite its some 2,000-year history, there aren’t many records about the prehistory or origin of Japanese as a language.
One of the most recent theories suggests that Japanese originated in the islands of Japan around 2,200 years ago. It’s thought that the language descends from the language used by the rice farmers who arrived in Japan from the Korean Peninsula, and not the hunter-gatherers who inhabited the islands 30,000 years ago.
It seems that Japanese did not have a writing system until Chinese characters were first imported during the Kofun period (3rd and 4th centuries); these characters, known as kanji, began to merge with the existing language, bringing with it vocabulary and phonology. During the Heian period (794–1185), Japanese invented its own syllabic writing systems called hiragana and katakana.
In the mid-Samurai period (1185–1600), the Japanese language evolved to the point of resembling what we currently know as Japanese. This is the period in which the first European loanwords also appeared. In 1853, following the end of Japan’s self-imposed period of isolation, the influx of loanwords from western languages increased considerably.
Features and Characteristics of Japanese
Now that we’ve briefly touched on the origin and history of Japanese, we’re going to look at some of its features:
The Three Writing Systems in Japanese
Japanese is not only characterised by its uncertain origin, but also by its three different writing systems: kanji, hiragana and katakana.
Kanji is the oldest of the three and is a system based on symbols adopted from the Chinese language. It is formed by logograms which are characters that represent a complete word.
Katana and hiragana are syllabic writing systems native to Japan and together, they are referred to as kana. The differences between these systems are comparable to italics and “unformatted” printed characters. Hiragana is used to write Japanese words while katakana is used to write western words adopted by Japanese.
These three writing systems are used today, at times even in the same phrase, making it even harder for non-native speakers to understand the language.
Spoken Japanese
Unlike the majority of Asian languages, Japanese uses pitch accents to express different words which would otherwise be phonetically identical.
For example, the word hashi has three different meanings according to the syllable on which the pitch accent falls:
Accent on the first syllable: chopsticks
Accent on the second syllable: bridge
No accent: edge
Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that most words don’t have pitch accents; that’s why, if you hear someone speaking Japanese, you might get the impression that the conversation is monotonous and the cadence, very controlled. This is necessary to clearly differentiate those words with pitch accents from those without.
Formal and Informal Japanese
Different words and expressions are used when addressing a stranger or superior in Japanese compared to speaking to a child, family member or friend. For example, there are more than five different words in Japanese for ‘I’ that are used according to the context.
In situations requiring a formal form of address, honorific speech called keigo is normally used, which literally means ‘respectful word’.
Japanese Dialects and Accents
It comes as no surprise that it’s hard to pinpoint the origin of Japanese if we consider that Japan is made up of more than 6,800 islands, many of which are mountainous. This has caused numerous language variants to develop over centuries.
In Japan, it’s wrong to refer to the differences in language as dialects since they are in fact the same language with the same vocabulary, and only minor grammatical differences and variations in the use of pitch accents.
Normally, the Tokyo accent is taught in schools, however it’s also very common to hear the accent from Osaka. The inhabitants of the main cities in Japan can speak and understand both accents, which are considered the clearest. However, the same cannot be said for those who live in the countryside or on remote islands, who tend to develop their own pronunciation.
Japanese Words Incorporated in English
The widespread presence of Japanese culture throughout the world is nothing new; its customs, language, history, animated series, etc., have made many foreigners look to Japan as a reference country.
Everyday conversations are loaded with foreign terms from different languages, including Japanese.
The Japanese words used in modern-day English mainly belong to groups of words associated with martial arts and sport, cooking and food, arts and leisure, among others.
Some examples of Japanese words that we’ve incorporated into our speech are:
| Aikido | Bento | Biombo |
| Bonsai | Kamikaze | Karaoke |
| Karate | Karateka | Katana |
| Zen | Futon | Jaraquiri |
| Manga | Matcha | Mikado |
| Nippon | Origami | Ramen |
| Samurai | Sake | Sashimi |
| Sensei | Soja | Sudoku |
| Sumo | Tsunami | Surimi |
| Tempura | Tofu | Yudoca |
Japanese loanwords are constantly being incorporated into English and these loanwords are in fact becoming more frequent largely due to the arrival of Japanese cuisine.
Do you know any other words that we use on a daily basis that we’ve missed off the list? No doubt you do!