Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/611

LANGUAGE.] JAPAN 585 diplomatic negotiations ensued, by which the matter was settled peaceably, and on February 27, 1876, a treaty was concluded in Corea, by two Japanese high commissioners despatched for that purpose. Japanese officials and traders now reside in Corea on pre cisely the same terms as those on which foreigners have dwelt at the open ports in Japan since 1858. unia It could not, of course, be expected that the numerous reforms rrec- and changes introduced by the present Government would all be accepted without murmur by the people. Riots have of late years occurred in different parts of the country among the farming classes ; and outbreaks of a yet more serious character have been stirred up among the shizoku. The latter took place chiefly in the western provinces, but were soon quelled. The only one of real magnitude was the insurrection in Satsuma, which broke out in the spring of 1877. Excited by various seditious cries, over 10,000 in surgents collected together and marched in a body northwards from Kagoshiina. Their avowed object was to make certain representa tions to the emperor in person. Delaying in their advance to attack the Government garrison stationed in the castle-town of Kumamoto, in Higo, the rebels allowed time for large bodies of troops to be despatched against them from Tokio. The scene of action was thus confined to the island of Kiushiu, and after severe fighting, which lasted for several months, the rebels were annihilated, their leaders either dying on the field or committing suicide. This deplorable attempt was, however, useful inasmuch as it proved the strength of the Government ; and in view of its complete failure it would seem unlikely that any effort of a similar nature should be made in future. The restoration of the ancient regime has united and strengthened the empire, instead of letting it remain broken up into numberless petty territories, each unlike its neigh bours, as was the case under the old feudal system. LANGUAGE. The Japanese language is by some philologists thought to have an affinity with the Aryan family ; but, as the points of resemblance are very slight and the differences exceedingly great, it is evident that, if there be any affinity at all, the divergence must have taken place at a period when the common ancestor of the Japanese and Aryan tongues was a language exceedingly rude and undeveloped. Nor has any relationship been clearly established with any other language of Asia. Japanese thus stands, as it were, by itself, and- must be regarded as an almost entirely separate tongue. Japanese may be considered under the two distinct heads of the spoken and the written languages ; the former is the ordinary colloquial, and the latter the more classical style, of late years to a great degree mixed up with Chinese. According to native historians, the study of the Chinese classics was introduced in 285 A. P. ; but this assertion may certainly be questioned, and it seems probable that the actual date was considerably later. At the present day, however, the Chinese characters occupy by far the most important place in the Japanese style of writing. The Japanese kana, or syllabary, consists of forty-seven syllables, viz., i, ro, ha, ni, ho, he, to, chi, ri, nu, ru, wo, wa, ka, yo, ta, re, so, tsu, ne, na, ra, mu, u, i, no, o, ku, ya, inn, kc, fu, ko, ye, te, a, sa, ki, yu, me, mi, shi, ye, hi, mo, so, sii, to which may be added n final. The following modifications of some of these syllables increase the number to seventy-two : h and/ sometimes become b or p ; t may be modified to d, ts to dz, s to z, sh and ch to j, and k to g. This change is called in Japanese the nigori. a is pronounced like a m father, e ., ,, ay fay. t ., ee meet, o ., o more, u .. oo fool. /and u are frequently almost inaudible ; in such cases they have been written L u. A finnl u, in particular, is very seldom sounded in full. The distinction between long and short vowels, and single and double consonants, demands careful attention, as the meaning often depends upon it. Long vowels generally represent the con traction of two others ; thus au or ou becomes in sound 6, U becomes f, and so on. The consonants are pronounced as in English, with the exception of r, h, f, n, d, t, and g, which differ somewhat from the corresponding English sounds. The true pro nunciation of these letters must be learned from a Japanese. In the case of double consonants, both must be sounded. In writing there is a character for each of the forty-seven and syllables given above ; and each character may be written in either the katakana or the hiragana style. The former is the "square" hand, consisting in each case of a portion of the particular Chinese character whose sound (to the Japanese ear) is most clearly imitated by the sound of the Japanese syllable in question ; the latter is the cursive or " running " hand, adapted from the katakana characters, and having several varying styles. Except by the lower and uneducated classes, these written syllabaries are seldom used in writing letters, &c. , unless as mere terminations to be taken in connexion with a Chinese character immediately preceding, as, for instance, to mark the tense of a verb, &c. As in writing the pure Chinese characters, in the letters of the educated class, the "square" and "running" hands are also used, the syllabic char acters attached are also, according to circumstances, usually written in the katakana or the hiragana for the sake of appearance. The spoken language may be classified under the heads of noun Spoken and particles, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunc- language, tion, and interjection. There is also a distinct class of numerals. The nouns have no inflexions to distinguish gender, number, or case, but they are preceded or followed by particles which serve these and other purposes. Except in the case of a few common words, no distinction is made between the masculine and the feminine ; when necessary, however, there may be used the prefix o or on for the former, and me or men for the latter. The neuter has no prefix at all. In general there is no mark of the plural, but whenever necessary the plural idea may be expressed by the addition of ra, gata, domo, tachi, or other particles ; a few nouns, again, have a kind of plural formed by a repetition of the noun itself. Compound nouns are formed in various ways, the first letter of the second part of such compounds generally changing in sound by the nigori already noted. The personal pronoun does not demand much attention, except as regards that of the second person. Here the word used is differ ent according to the rank or condition of the person or persons addressed. This idea of "honorific" terms is also to be noted in the use of verbs. As a rule, there are three modes of address, to superiors, to equals and friends, and to inferiors. The plural of personal pronouns is often formed by the addition of the plural particles noticed under the heading of nouns. The personal pronoun is not to be used too frequently in speaking ; as a rule, it is not employed by natives except where its omission might cause am biguity. Possessive pronouns are virtually personal pronouns, with the addition of the possessive particles no or ga. Demon strative and interrogative pronouns also exist ; by the addition of certain paiiiclcs to the former, the indefinite pronoun is formed. There are but few reflective pronouns, and the relative pronoun does not exist. To express that idea, however, the verb of the relative clause is put before the word to which the relative pronoun refers. The adjective may be declined, the chief part being what may be termed the root, from which (by the addition of certain syllables) various other forms (including the adverb) are obtained. The Japanese adjective has no degrees of comparison, but an idea of comparison can be expressed by the use of certain particles and by turning the sentence in a peculiar way. Many nouns do duty as adjectives, and are often considered such. The verb has no means of expressing the distinctions of number or person. In the spoken language there are two conjugations of verbs, in each of which there are four principal parts, viz., the root, the base for negative and future forms, the present indicative, and the base for conditional forms. To each of the principal parts of the verb a number of particles or terminations are annexed ; and in this way there are produced forms somewhat similar to the moods and tenses of European grammars. There are, however, a few irregular verbs, in the conjugation of which slight differences are to be noticed. The conjunctions and the interjections are but few in number, and do not call for any special remark. 1 In a sentence the first place is occupied by the nominative case, the second by the objective or other cases, and the last by the verb. The adjective precedes the noun, and the adverb the verb. Pre positions are placed after the nouns to which they refer. Con junctions and interrogative particles are placed at the end of the clause or sentence to which they belong. The above parts of speech are also to be found in use in the Writti> written language. Here, however, there is to be noticed a great Ian- difference in the inflexions, which are in most cases totally distinct guag*. from those used in the ordinary colloquial. Many old expressions and words that have fallen into disuse in conversation are here still retained, and the written language is by far the more classical of the two. 2 In the writing hand at present in use Chinese characters pre dominate. In official documents, despatches, &c., the square char acter is commonly used, generally with katakana terminations. In ordinary letter-writing the cursive hand, more or less abbreviated, is employed, being supplemented, when required, by the hiragana. The characters, though identical with those used in China, arc arranged in different order, so much so that, though the general meaning and sense of a Japanese document might be intelligible to a Chinese, the latter would scarcely be able to give an exact render ing of it. The sounds of the characters are also in most cases en tirely different, the Japanese reading them by what is to them the nearest approach to the true Chinese pronunciation. Thus, a final 1 The student is referred to the Grammar of the Japanese Spoken Language, by W. G. Aston, M.A., London 1873, from .which work the above notes hava been eomjiiled. 2 The student is referred to tlie Grammar of the Japanese Written Language by AV. G. Aston. XIII 74