- Classical Japanese language
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The Classical Japanese language (文語 bungo) is the literary form of the Japanese language that was the standard until the early Shōwa period (1926–89). It is based on Early Middle Japanese, the language as spoken during the Heian era (794–1185), but exhibits some later influences. Its use started to decline during the late Meiji period (1868–1912) when novelists started writing their works in the spoken form. Eventually, the spoken style came into widespread use, including in major newspapers, but many official documents were still written in the old style. After World War II, most documents switched to the spoken style, although the classical style continues to be used in traditional genres such as haiku. Old laws are also left in the classical style unless fully revised.
Contents
Orthography
Main article: Historical kana usageGrammar
Main article: Early Middle Japanese#Grammar灯 台 下 暗 し- Tōdai moto kurashi
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- The particle は is omitted more often than in the spoken style.
女 は三界 に家 なし- Onna wa sangai-ni ie-nashi
See also
External links
- Online Classical Japanese Dictionary at Tangorin.com[dead link]
- Bungo Nyūmon: A Brief Introduction to Classical Japanese
- Classical-Japanese.net
- Bibliography of premodern Japanese texts and translations
- Bart. "Book Review: A Grammar of Classical Japanese by Akira Komai," Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Winter, 1979), pp. 501-504.
- Dictionaries for Classical Japanese
Japanese language Stages Old Japanese · Early Middle Japanese · Late Middle Japanese · Early Modern Japanese · Modern JapaneseDialects Literature Writing system OrthographyGrammar and
vocabularyJapanese grammar · Verb conjugations and adjective declensions · Consonant and vowel verbs · Pronouns · Adjectives · Possessives · Particles · Topic marker · Counter words · Numerals · Native words (yamato kotoba) · Sino-Japanese vocabulary · Loan words (gairaigo) · Honorific speech · Honorifics · Gender differencesPhonology Romanization Categories:- Archaic Japanese language
- Classical languages
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