Early Middle Japanese

Early Middle Japanese
中古ちゅうこ日本語にほんご
The oldest cursive kana written in early Heian period, indicating the birth of hiragana from Man'yōgana
Region	Japan
Era	Evolved into Late Middle Japanese at the end of the 12th century
Language family	Japonic Japanese Early Middle Japanese
Early form	Old Japanese
Writing system	Hiragana, Katakana, and Han
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ojp (Old Japanese)
Linguist List	ojp Described as "The ancestor of modern Japanese. 7th–10th centuries AD." The more usual date for the change from Old Japanese to Middle Japanese is ca. 800 (end of the Nara era).
Glottolog	None

Early Middle Japanese (中古ちゅうこ日本語にほんご, Chūko-Nihongo) is a stage of the Japanese language between 794 and 1185, which is known as the Heian period (平安へいあん時代じだい). The successor to Old Japanese (上代じょうだい日本語にほんご), it is also known as Late Old Japanese. However, the term "Early Middle Japanese" is preferred, as it is closer to Late Middle Japanese (中世ちゅうせい日本語にほんご, after 1185) than to Old Japanese (before 794).

Background

Old Japanese had borrowed and adapted the Chinese script to write Japanese. In Early Middle Japanese, two new scripts emerged: the kana scripts hiragana and katakana. That development simplified writing and brought about a new age in literature, with many classics such as The Tale of Genji, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and The Tales of Ise.

Writing system

Early Middle Japanese was written in three different ways. It was first recorded in Man'yōgana (万葉仮名まんようがな), literally "ten thousand leaves borrowed labels", in reference to the Man'yōshū poetry anthology and the "borrowing" of the kanji characters as "labels" for the sounds of Japanese. Certain Chinese characters were borrowed to phonetically spell out Japanese sounds. Cursive handwriting gradually gave rise to the hiragana (平仮名ひらがな, "flat/simple borrowed labels") and Buddhist shorthand practices of using pieces of kanji to denote the sounds then developed into the katakana (片仮名かたかな, "partial/piece borrowed labels").

Phoneme and Kana of Early Middle Japanese

phoneme Man'yō, hira, kata	Ø ア行ぎょう	カ行ぎょう		サ行ぎょう		タ行ぎょう		/n/ ナ行ぎょう	ハ行ぎょう		/m/ マ行ぎょう	/j/ ヤ行ぎょう	/r/ ラ行ぎょう	/w/ ワ行ぎょう
		/k/	/g/	/s/	/z/	/t/	/d/		/ɸ/	/b/
/a/ ア段だん	/a/ 安やす、あ、ア	/ka/	/ga/	/sa/	/za/	/ta/	/da/	/na/ 奈、な、ナ	/ɸa/	/ba/	/ma/ 末すえ、ま、マ	/ja/ 也、や、ヤ	/ra/ 良りょう、ら、ラ	/wa/ 和かず、わ、ワ
		加か、か、カ		左ひだり、さ、サ		太ふとし、た、タ			波なみ、は、ハ
/i/ イ段だん	/i/ 以、い、イ	/ki/	/gi/	/si/	/zi/	/ti/	/di/	/ni/ 仁ひとし、に、ニ	/ɸi/	/bi/	/mi/ 美よし、み、ミ	Ø	/ri/ 利り、り、リ	/wi/ 爲ため、ゐ、ヰ
		幾いく、き、キ		之これ、し、シ		知ち、ち、チ			比ひ、ひ、ヒ
/u/ ウ段だん	/u/ 宇、う、ウ	/ku/	/gu/	/su/	/zu/	/tu/	/du/	/nu/ 奴やつ、ぬ、ヌ	/ɸu/	/bu/	/mu/ 武たけ、む、ム	/ju/ 由ゆかり、ゆ、ユ	/ru/ 留とめ、る、ル	Ø
		久ひさ、く、ク		寸すん、す、ス		川かわ、つ、ツ			不ふ、ふ、フ
/e/ エ段だん	/e/ 衣ころも、え、	/ke/	/ge/	/se/	/ze/	/te/	/de/	/ne/ 禰、ね、ネ	/ɸe/	/be/	/me/ 女おんな、め、メ	/je/ 江こう、𛀁、エ	/re/ 礼れい、れ、レ	/we/ 惠めぐみ、ゑ、ヱ
		計けい、け、ケ		世よ、せ、セ		天てん、て、テ			部ぶ、へ、ヘ
/o/ お段だん	/o/ 於、お、オ	/ko/	/go/	/so/	/zo/	/to/	/do/	/no/ 乃、の、ノ	/ɸo/	/bo/	/mo/ 毛もう、も、モ	/jo/ 與あずか、よ、ヨ	/ro/ 呂りょ、ろ、ロ	/wo/ 遠とお、を、ヲ
		己おのれ、こ、コ		曽そ、そ、ソ		止とめ、と、ト			保たもて、ほ、ホ

It is worth noting that the man'yōgana in each cell only indicates one possible option for spelling each Japanese mora – in the table above, each chosen character is the direct origin of the corresponding modern hiragana. See also Hentaigana for a fuller description of how multiple hiragana could be used to spell a single sound. Also note that hiragana forms were not standardized at that time.

Although man'yōgana specify different kanji to represent voiced phonemes versus unvoiced phonemes, it is not until the Meiji period that we see standardized usage of the dakuten diacritic ゛ to explicitly mark voicing for hiragana and katakana.

Japan officially adopted simplified shinjitai (新しん字体じたい, "new character forms") in 1946 as part of a round of orthographic reforms intended to improve literacy rates. The so-called kyūjitai (旧きゅう字体じたい, "old character forms") are equivalent to Traditional Chinese characters, and these forms were the ones used in historical man'yōgana. Modern transcriptions of classical texts are predominantly written in shinjitai. To avoid unnecessary ambiguity, quotes from classical texts would be written in kyūjitai.

Additionally, there are many spelling differences between Modern Japanese and Early Middle Japanese even for the same word. For example, 万葉集まんようしゅう is spelled in modern Japanese hiragana as まんようしゅう (man'yōshū), while in Early Middle Japanese, this would have been まんえふしふ (man'yefushifu). Details on these spelling rules are helpful for understanding historical kana usage.

Phonology

Developments

Major phonological changes were characteristic of the period.

The most prominent difference was the loss of certain spelling distinctions found in the Jōdai Tokushu Kanazukai ("Ancient Special Kana Usage"), which distinguished two types of /i/, /e/, and /o/. While these distinctions had begun to blur already at the end of the Old Japanese stage, they were completely lost in Early Middle Japanese. The final distinction to be lost was /ko₁, go₁/ vs. /ko₂, go₂/. For example, around the year 800 in very early Early Middle Japanese, in the same text /ko₁/ was still represented by cursive 「古ふる」, while /ko₂/ was represented by cursive 「已やめ」.

In the 10th century, /e/ and /je/ progressively merged into /je/, and /o/ and /wo/ had merged into /wo/ by the 11th century.

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

• Introduction of palatal and labial consonant clusters such as /kw/ and /kj/
• Introduction of the uvular nasal /ɴ/
• Length becoming a phonemic feature with the development of both long vowels and long consonants

The development of the uvular nasal and geminated consonants occurred late in the Heian period and brought about the introduction of closed syllables (CVC).

Phonetics

Vowels

• /a/: [a]
• /i/: [i]
• /u/: [u]
• /e/: [je]
• /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 [ɕ, ʑ]. It may have varied depending on the following vowel, as in Modern Japanese.

/ɸ/

By the 11th century, /ɸ/ had merged with /w/ between vowels.

Grammar

Syntactically, Early Middle Japanese was a subject-object-verb language with a topic-comment structure. Morphologically, it was an agglutinative language.

Phrase

A paragraph of Early Middle Japanese can be divided into the following units from large to small.

• Sentence (文ぶん(ぶん)) ：A series of meaningful words divided from a paragraph by 「。」(period).

今いまは昔むかし(むかし)、竹たけ(たけ)取と(とり)の翁おう(おきな)といふ者もの(もの)ありけり。

(from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter)

Romanization: ima wa mukasi, taketori no okina to ifu mono arikeri.

Modern Japanese translation：今いまからみるともう昔むかしのことだが、竹たけ取との翁おうという者ものがいた。

English translation: Long before the present, it is said that there was someone called Old Man Bamboo Cutter.

It is to be noted that the noun「昔むかし(むかし)」("long past") is actually a predicate (means "is long past"). The predicate is not necessarily a verb in Early Middle Japanese.

• Phrase (文ぶん(ぶん)節ふし(せつ)): The smallest unit naturally divided from the rest of a sentence by its meaning.

今いまは

昔むかし

、

竹たけ取との

翁おうと

いふ

者もの

ありけり

。

The function of the auxiliary particle「は」is to highlight the noun「今いま」(now), which cannot be separately explained, so they should be in the same phrase. Similarly, the particle 「の 」 represents the relation between the modifier「竹たけ取と」("bamboo cutter", a compound noun) and the modified noun 「翁おう」(old man), like the preposition "of". Additionally, the particle 「と」 connects the called name 「翁おう」(modified by 「竹たけ取と」) to the verb「いふ」( "call"), just like a preposition. As for the auxiliary verb「けり」, it further clarifies that what the verb「あり」 ("be, exist") describes is a rumor about the past, but not a direct experience (i.e. 間あいだ(かん)接せっ(せつ)過か(か)去さ(こ)), so it should be included in the same phrase as 「あり」. In contrast, even if the verb 「いふ」 does modify the noun「者もの」 ("someone"), its meaning can still be realized naturally without any help from other words.

• Word (単たん(たん)語かたり(ご)): The smallest grammatical unit.

今いま

は

昔むかし

、

竹たけ取と

の

翁おう

と

いふ

者もの

あり

けり

。

Although 「竹たけ取と」is a combination of the noun 「竹たけ(たけ)」and the verb 「取と(と)り」("get", infinitive), any compound noun, verb, or adjective should be considered as a single grammatical unit.

Classes of words

Words were classified as follows:

• Cannot stand alone as a phrase
  • (Auxiliary) particle (助すけ(じょ) 詞し(し)): Without inflection. Has various functions like emphasis, acting like a postposition, hinting about the subject or expressing interrogative mood.
  • Auxiliary verb (助すけ(じょ)動どう(どう) 詞し(し)): With inflection. Describes additional information of Yougen like tense, aspect, mood, voice, and polarity. Alternate descriptions include grammaticalized verb or Verb-like ending.
• Can stand alone as phrase
  • Without inflection
    • Cannot be subject
      • Adverb(副ふく(ふく) 詞し(し)): mainly modifies Yougen.
      • Conjunction (接せっ(せつ)続つづけ(ぞく)詞し(し))
      • Interjection (感かん(かん)動どう(どう)詞し(し))
      • Rentaisi (連れん(れん)体からだ(たい)詞し(し)): mainly modifies Taigen.
    • Can be subject: Taigen (体からだ(たい)言げん(げん), the words that are the main body of the sentence)
      • Noun (名な(めい) 詞し(し))
      • Pronoun (代だい(だい) 名な(めい) 詞し(し))
      • Number (数かず(すう) 詞し(し))
  • With inflection: Yougen (用よう(よう)言げん(げん), the words to predicate or to "use" other words)
    • Verb (動どう(どう) 詞し(し))
    • Adjective (形かたち(けい)容よう(よう) 詞し(し)): actually the stative verbs.
    • Adjective verb (形かたち(けい)容よう(よう)動どう(どう) 詞し(し)): a different kind of "adjective", which is derived from a noun. Hence also referred to as adjectival noun in English.

Auxiliary particle

(Auxiliary) Particles had various functions, and they can be classified as follows:

Class of particle	Functions	Example (Particle is labeled in red.)
Case particles 格かく(かく)助すけ(じょ)詞し(し)	indicating the relationship between a phrase and its following phrase. (i.e. not limited to nouns, so slightly differs from "case" in English)	いづ 方ほう(かた)へか 罷やめ(まか)りぬる (The Tale of Genji) In which direction of escape has gone (the bird)? (The verb 「罷まかる」 is the polite form, i.e.「丁寧ていねい語ご」, of the verb 「行くだり(い)く」"go")
Conjunctive particles 接せっ(せつ)続つづけ(ぞく)助すけ(じょ)詞し(し)	indicating the relationship between clauses.	文ぶん(ふみ)を書しょ(か)きてやれども返かえし(かへ)り事こと(こと)もせず。(The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) Even though「文ぶんを書かきてやれ」, but 「返がえり事ごともせず」. (「ども」has to be preceded by the realis mood, e.g.,「やれ」is the realis mood of the verb「やる」, to express the appropriate meaning.)
Adverbial particles 副ふく(ふく)助すけ(じょ)詞し(し)	mainly modifying its following yougen.	ただ浪なみの白しろ(しろ)きのみぞ見み(み)ゆる (Tosa Nikki) ...can only see (exactly) the white wave (actually, 「のみ」 limits the expressive range of 「見みゆる」) (The verb 「見みゆ」is "bound" by the binding particle 「ぞ」, so it occurs in the attributive form「見みゆる」.)
Binding particles 係かかり(かかり)助すけ(じょ)詞し(し)	emphasizing its phrase or making it interrogative, and limiting the inflection form of the ending yougen or auxiliary verb.	いづ 方かたへか 罷まかりぬる In which direction of escape has gone (the bird)? (The perfect auxiliary verb「ぬ」is "bound" by the binding particle 「か」, so it occurs in the attributive form 「ぬる」.)
Final particles 終おわり(しゅ)助すけ(じょ)詞し(し)	mainly at the end of sentence, indicating many kinds of moods (e.g. interrogative mood, emotive assertion)	我わが(われ)はこの比ひ(ごろ)惡あく(わろ)きぞかし(Sarashina Nikki) At that time I'm definitely not good! (Although the binding particle 「ぞ」 is at the end of sentence, it still requires its preceding words to be attributive.)
Interjectory particles 間あいだ(かん)投とう(とう)助すけ(じょ)詞し(し)	similar to final particle, but occurs more freely, and is often used as a short stop between sentences.	朝あさ(あ)臣しん(そん)や。さやうの落(お)ち葉は(ば)をだに拾ひろえ(ひろ)へ (The Tale of Genji) (Yugiri) Ason! At least pick these kinds of falling leaves up!

Case particle

• 「が」 (ga) and 「の」 (no) : "of, ...'s". It hints the present of subject, relation of modification between phrases or nouns.
• 「を」(wo) (accusative). Optional.
• 「に」(ni) (dative/locative). It had 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 was optional.
• 「より」(yori) (ablative).
• 「まで」(made) (terminative: 'until'; 'as far as').
• 「と」(to) (comitative: 'with'; essive 'as').
• 「へ」(fe) (allative: 'to'). 「へ」 was derived from the noun「 邊あたり(へ)」'vicinity; direction', which 「わ」 occasionally found in the location noun structure Noun + 「の」 + Location Noun to mean 'near', or in the noun-deriving suffix 「べ」 (< 「のへ」) in such words as 水みず(みづ)べ 'beside the water' .

The nominative function was marked by the absence of a particle in main clauses and by the genitive particles in subordinate clauses. The dative/locative particle -ni was homophonous with the simple infinitive form of the copula -ni, 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 provided other case functions: -ni yori-te 'due to' (from yor- 'depend'), -ni tuki-te 'about, concerning' (from tuk- 'be attached'), and -to si-te 'as' (from se- 'do'). More complex structures were derived from genitive particle + Location Noun + appropriate case particle (typically locative -ni) and were used particularly to express spatial and temporal relations. Major location nouns were mafe 'front' (Noun-no mafe-ni 'in front of Noun'), ufe 'top' (Noun-no ufe-ni 'on top of Noun' ~ 'above Noun'), sita 'under' (Noun-no sita-ni 'under Noun), saki 'ahead' (Noun-no saki-ni 'ahead of Noun)', etc.

Conjunctive particle

• Infinitive + 「て」(te): 'and (then/so), when, because'. It usually expressed a close sequential link between the predicates that it connects. The subjects of the two verbs connected by「て」 were usually the same.
• Realis + 「ば」(ba): 'and (then/so), when, because'. It usually expressed a looser sequential link between the predicates that it connected. The subject of both verbs connected by 「ば」 was usually different.
• Irrealis + 「ば」(ba): 'if...', It usually expressed a unreal condition.
• Irrealis + 「で」(de): negative 'and', 'without ... ing', 'rather than ... ', derived from old infinitive of negative auxiliary verb「ず」(i.e. 「に」) + the particle 「て」with sound change.
• Various forms + 「と/とも」 (do / domo): 'even if, even though'. Most yougens and auxiliary verbs took the conclusive form, bigrade verbs take the infinitive in earlier texts, r-irregular verbs took the attributive form,and some auxiliary verbs inflecting like adjective and negative auxiliary verbs「ず」also took the attributive.
• Infinitive + 「つつ」 (tutu): 'while (at the same time)'.
• Infinitive of verb / stem of adjective + 「ながら」(nagara): 'while, while still' or 'despite'.

Binding particle

There were some special particles that limited the inflectional form of the yougen or auxiliary verb at the end of a sentence. These particles are called binding particles(係かかり(かかり)助すけ(じょ)詞し(し)). These limitations are called binding rules(係かかり(かか)り結ゆい(むす)びの法ほう(ほう)則のり(そく)).

Binding particle	Meaning	Ending form	Example
ぞ	emphasis on its phrase	attributive	ふるさとは花はなぞ昔むかし(むかし)の香こう(かおり)に匂におい(にほ)ひける　(Kokin Wakashū, 42th) attributive of「けり」(Auxiliary verb of unwitnessed past or emotive assertion)
なむ			もと光ひかる竹たけ(たけ)なむ一いち(ひと)筋すじ(すぢ)ありける　(The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter) attributive of「けり」
や(やは)	question, or rhetorical question		春はる(はる)やとき花はなやおそきと聞ききわかむ　(Kokin Wakashū, 10th) attributive of adjectives「疾やまし(と)し」and「遲おそ(おそ)し」
か(かは)			生いきとし生いけるもの　いづれか歌うたを詠えい(よ)まざりける　(Kokin Wakashū, Kana preface) attributive of「けり」
こそ	strong emphasis on its phrase	realis	男おとこはこの女おんなをこそ得とく(え)めと思おもふ　(The Tales of Ise) realis of modal auxiliary verb「む」

Note that the case particle「と」indicates a preceding quote, and when it is used, a quote should be considered an independent sentence when using the linking rule.

Susumu Ōno assumed that these binding particles originally acted as final particles. For example:

Man'yōgana: 苦く毛げ 零れい來き雨あめ可か (from Man'yōshū, 265th)

Modern transliteration: 苦く(くる)しくも　降くだ(ふ)り来き(く)る雨あめ(あめ)か

Notice that 「来くる」 is attributive(Due to the modification to the noun 「雨あめ」). According to Susumu Ōno's assumption, if we want to emphasize the noun in question(i.e.「雨あめ」), we can invert the whole sentence as the following:

雨あめか降おり来くる

Obviously, this gives birth to the binding rule. Since other binding particles can also be considered final particles in Old Japanese, this assumption is reasonable.

Verbs

Early Middle Japanese verb inflection was agglutinative. Most verbs were conjugated in 6 forms and could be combined with auxiliary verbs to express tense, aspect, mood, voice, and polarity. Several of the auxiliary verbs could be combined in a string, and each component determined the choice of form of the preceding component.

In Japanese there are many different yougens with the same pronunciation, or the same yougen has various meanings. To distinguish, modern transliteration uses Kanji to highlight these differences. For example, the Upper bigrade verbs「慣(な)る」means "get used to", but its also means "become familiar" which is represented by「馴(な)る」. Meanwhile, the quadrigrade verb「成なり(な)る」has the same pronunciation with 「慣(な)る」but it actually means "become".

Conjugation

Early Middle Japanese inherited all eight verbal conjugations class from Old Japanese and added new one: Lower Monograde, but there's only 「蹴け(け)る」("kick by foot") classified as Lower Monograde in Early Middle Japanese.

Early Middle Japanese Verbs were divided into 5 class of regular conjugations:

Quadrigrade (四よん段だん, yodan), Upper monograde (上うえ一いち段だん, kami ichidan), Lower monograde (下した一いち段だん, shimo ichidan), Upper bigrade (上うえ二に段だん, kami nidan), Lower bigrade (下した二に段だん, shimo nidan).

There were also 4 "irregular" (変格へんかく) conjugations:

K-irregular (カ変へん, kahen), S-irregular (サ変さへん, sahen), N-irregular (ナ変へん, nahen), R-irregular (ラ変へん, rahen).

The conjugation of each is divided into 6 Inflectional forms(活かつ(かつ)用よう(よう)形かたち(けい)):

• Irrealis (未然みぜん形がた, mizenkei, "imperfect form")
• Infinitive (連用形れんようけい, ren'yōkei, "form linking to Yougen")
• Conclusive (終止しゅうし形がた, shūshikei, "form to end [a sentence]")
• Attributive (連体れんたい形がた, rentaikei, "form linking to Taigen")
• Realis (已然いぜん形がた, izenkei, "perfect form")
• Imperative (命令めいれい形がた, meireikei,"form to give order")

The English names for the irrealis and the realis differ from author to author, including negative and evidential, or imperfective and perfective.

In following table, red part means stem, while blue part means Inflectional suffix.

• Inflectional form = (stem) + Inflectional suffix (活かつ(かつ)用よう(よう)形かたち(けい) = 語かたり(ご)幹みき(かん) + 活用かつよう語かたり(ご)尾お(び))
• Inflectional suffix = root consonant + real suffix (root consonant is unique to every verb.)

Inflectional class 活用かつようの種類しゅるい	stem 語幹ごかん	Inflectional form 活用かつよう形がた						Translation
		Irrealis 未然みぜん形がた	Infinitive 連用形れんようけい	Conclusive 終止しゅうし形がた	Attributive 連体れんたい形がた	Realis 已然いぜん形がた	Imperative 命令めいれい形がた
Quadrigrade 四よん段だん	聞(き)	きか (-a)	きき (-i)	きく (-u)		きけ (-e)		'hear'
Upper Monograde 上うえ一いち段だん	-	み (-i)		見み(み)る (-iru)		みれ (-ire)	みよ (-i[yo])	'see'
	用よう(もち)	もちゐ		もちゐる		もちゐれ	もちゐよ	'use'
Lower Monograde 下した一いち段だん	-	け (-e)		蹴け(け)る (-eru)		けれ (-ere)	けよ (-e[yo])	'kick'
Upper Bigrade 上うえ二に段だん	過か(す)	すぎ (-i)		すぐ (-u)	すぐる (-uru)	すぐれ (-ure)	すぎよ (-iyo)	'pass'
Lower Bigrade 下した二に段だん	受(う)	うけ (-e)		うく (-u)	うくる (-uru)	うくれ (-ure)	うけよ (-e[yo])	'receive'
K-irregular カ変へん	-	こ (-o)	き (-i)	来き(く) (-u)	くる (-uru)	くれ (-ure)	こ (-o)	'come'
S-irregular サ変さへん	-	せ (-e)	し (-i)	爲ため(す) (-u)	する (-uru)	すれ (-ure)	せよ (-e[yo])	'do'
	期き(き)	きせ	きし	きす	きする	きすれ	きせよ	'set the date' *
N-irregular ナ変へん	死し(し)	しな (-a)	しに (-i)	しぬ (-u)	しぬる (-uru)	しぬれ (-ure)	しね (-e)	'die'
R-irregular ラ変へん	有ゆう(あ)	あら (-a)	あり (-i)		ある (-u)	あれ (-e)		'be, exist'

*Noted that most S-irregular is the combination of a noun and 「爲ため(す)」, for example, 「期き(き)す」 is a combination of the noun 「期き(き)」 ('date') and 「爲ため(す)」.

The 「よ」 at the end of the imperative forms is optional, although exceedingly common.

The system of 9 conjugation classes appears to be complex. However, all nine conjugations can be subsumed into variations of two groups:

• the consonant-root verbs (quadrigrade, N-irregular and R-irregular verbs)
• the vowel-root verbs (others)

The irregularity of N-irregular verbs occurred only in the conclusive and the attributive, and as there are no quadrigrade verbs with n-roots, quadrigrade and N-irregular verb patterns may be treated as being in complementary distribution. Vowel-root verbs consist of bigrade verbs (the majority), a few monograde verbs (especially 見み(み)る 'see' and 居きょ(ゐ)る 'sit'), the K-irregular verb 来き(く) 'come', and the S-irregular verb se- 'do' (or -ze- in some compounds). The difference between 'upper' and 'lower' bigrade or monograde verbs is whether the vowel at the end of the root was i or e. The difference between bigrade and monograde was whether in the conclusive, attributive, and realis, the initial u of the ending elided the vowel of the root or the vowel of the roots elides the initial u of the ending.

There are some questions about this arrangement of forms:

• The irrealis is not used as an independent verb form: it must be followed by an auxiliary.

  That said, there is a limited set of nouns appearing in Old Japanese and ending in -a, that appear to overlap phonetically and semantically with the irrealis form of certain verbs. These could be analyzed as resultative deverbal nouns.

• The classical passive auxiliary verb 「る」 (「ゆ」in Old Japanese) attaches to the irrealis stem with an -a ending (i.e. quadrigrade, N-irregular and R-irregular), while the other classical passive auxiliary 「らる」 (「らゆ」in Old Japanese) attaches to the irrealis stem without an -a ending (i.e. for the bigrade verbs, whose stems end in either -e or -i). This raises the assumption that this -a ending appears to be part of the auxiliary verb, but not part of the verb conjugation stem. (The causative auxiliary verbs 「す」 and 「さす」have same distribution and vowel arrangement.) According to this assumption, some scholars like Nicolas Tranter argue that the irrealis does not exist, per se, interpreting this instead as a more primitive "stem" plus an -a element that is the start of a following word. However, this rejection of the irrealis cannot explain the attested forms seen where the irrealis stem ending in -a is followed by the conditional particle 「ば」("if"), expressing an unreal condition (i.e. subjunctive mood) in classical Japanese. In actuality, the Japanese term 「未然みぜん形がた」 (mizenkei), while often translated as "irrealis", literally means "imperfect form", and it is named after this kind of usage. Additionally, the rejection cannot explain the modal auxiliary verb 「む」("seems as if, looks like, as though it should/could..."), which also attaches to the irrealis. Various examples:

Quadrigrade verb: 物もの(もの)に襲かさね(おそ)はるる心しん(ここ)地ち(ち)して (The Tale of Genji)

Quadrigrade verb: 名な(な)にし負まけ(お)はばいざ言げん(こと)問とい(と)はむ (Kokin Wakashū, 411th)

Lower Bigrade: 舅しゅうと(しうと)に譽ほまれ(ほ)めらるる婿むこ(むこ) (The Pillow Book)

K-irregular: 月つき(つき)の都と(みやこ)の人ひと(ひと)まうで来き(こ)ば捕と(と)らへさせむ (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter)

Note that auxiliary verbs have their own inflections. For example, 「るる」 is the attributive of passive / spontaneous / potential auxiliary 「る」, while「らるる」 is the attributive of synonymous 「らる」 (the form attaching to bigrade verbs, whose stems end in vowels -e or -i). Additionally, both of these auxiliaries inflect according to the lower bigrade conjugation paradigm.

• The infinitive had two functions: a linking function with another yougen or auxiliary verb, and a nominal function as a deverbal noun, but these two functions have different pitch patterns.
• Generally, The yougen or auxiliary verb occurred before conjunction particle 「とも」 ("even if") in the conclusive form, but in some instances in Old Japanese poetry, the upper monograde verb 「見み(み)る」 appears in the infinitive form instead before「とも」:

Man'yōgana: 之これ婆ばば之の婆ばば美よし等とう母はは 安あん加か無む伎禰加か毛げ (Man'yōshū, 4503th)

Modern transliteration: しばしば見み(み)とも、飽(あ)かむ君きみ(きみ)かも

It is possible that the monograde verb infinitive form mi above that was used before 「とも」 was the earlier true conclusive form. Alternatively, the form above may have been an instance of poetic contraction to limit the number of morae on the line to the expected seven.

• Additionally, before auxiliary verb 「べし」(beshi, "should/could"), any yougen should generally use the conclusive, while R-irregular verbs use the attributive instead (「あり」 ari, 'be' at the end of a sentence but 「あるべし」 aru beshi, 'should be'). With endings such as 「べし」 (beshi), there is strong evidence that this word was originally the adverb 「宜むべ(うべ)し」 (ubeshi, "certainly"), and thus the observed combination of aru beshi is probably a fusion of the root ar- of the verb with the initial u sound of the auxiliary — suggesting that, in 「あるべし」 (aru beshi), when we would expect ari beshi, the apparently anomalous u was actually part of the following word, and not part of the verb form.

Auxiliary verbs

Auxiliary verbs are attached to the various forms of yougen, and a yougen could be followed by several such endings in a string. Auxiliary verbs are classified into many inflectional class like verbs.

Generally, To learn how to use a Auxiliary verb, we need to know (1)its inflection, (2)required forms of its preceding word, and (3) various function. The following is a detail example about 「る」and 「らる」.

Inflectional Class 活用かつようの種類しゅるい	Irrealis 未然みぜん形がた	Infinitive 連用形れんようけい	Conclusive 終止しゅうし形がた	Attributive 連体れんたい形がた	Realis 已然いぜん形がた	Imperative 命令めいれい形がた
Lower Bigrade 下した二に段だん	れ (-e)		る (-u)	るる (-uru)	るれ (-ure)	れよ (-u[yo])
	られ (-e)		らる (-u)	らるる (-uru)	らるれ (-ure)	られよ (-u[yo])

「る」 requires to be preceded by irrealis with -a ending (i.e. quadrigrade, N-irregular and R-irregular), while 「らる」requires irrealis without -a ending(i.e. other classes).

They have 4 different functions.

1. Representing passive mood:
   人ひと(ひと)にあなづらるるもの (The Pillow Book)
   translation: thing that is despised by people
2. Representing slight respect to someone (by means of passive mood):
   母ははの悲(かな)しがらるること (Tosa Nikki)
   translation: the thing that make the mother (author's wife) sad (i.e. representing slight respect to his own wife)
3. Expressing possibility or potential.
   弓ゆみ(ゆみ)矢や(や)して射い(い)られじ (The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter)
   translation: It doesn't seem bow and arrow can shoot (it down). (Noted that 「じ」is a modal auxiliary verb that requires to be preceded by irrealis)
4. Representing a spontaneous voice(i.e. without volitional control).
   風ふう(かぜ)の音おと(おと)にぞ驚おどろき(おどろ)かれぬる (Kokin Wakashū, 169th)
   translation: the sound of wind (exactly) has made me startled.
   (Noted that「ぬる」is attributive of perfect auxiliary verb「ぬ」. Since it's "bound" by binding particle「ぞ」, it has to occur as attributive.)

Rough classification

Voice: 'passive' and 'causative':

• Consonant-stem verbs + 「る」, vowel-stem verbs + 「らる」 (lower bigrade): passive voice; spontaneous voice (expressing lack of volitional control); honorific; potential ('can').
• Consonant-stem verbs + 「す」, vowel-stem verbs + 「さす」 (lower bigrade): causative; honorific.
• Any verb + 「しむ」 (lower bigrade): causative; honorific. It often occurs in Kanbun.

Tense/Aspect:

• Irrealis +「り」 (R-irregular): progressive or perfect aspect. Only attached to quadrigrade or S-irregular verbs.
• Infinitive + 「たり」 (R-irregular): progressive or perfect aspect. Attached to any verbs.
• Infinitive + 「ぬ」 (N-irregular): perfective aspect.
• Infinitive + 「つ」 (lower bigrade): perfective aspect.
• Infinitive + 「き」(unique conjugation): witnessed past tense.
• Infinitive + 「けり」 (R-irregular): unwitnessed past tense, or emotive assertion.
• Irrealis + 「まし」 (unique conjugation): counterfactual ('would have ... ed'). The combination 「ましかば」(Irrealis + ば) expresses a counterfactual condition ('if ... had ... ed').

Mood:

• 「む」 (quadrigrade): tentative mood, expressing among other functions uncertainty ('maybe', 'shall I?'), intention ('I shall'), and hortative ('let's').
• 「べし」 (siku-adjective): debitive mood, expressing 'can', 'should', or 'must'.
• 「なり」 (R-irregular): hearsay mood.

Polarity:

• 「ず」(unique conjugation): negative.
• 「じ」 (uninflected): negative of the tentative mood (not seem...).
• 「まじ」(siku-adjective): negative of the dubitative mood.

Adjectives

There were two types of adjectives: regular adjectives and adjectival nouns.

The regular adjective was subdivided into two types: those for which the adverbial form ended in 「-く」(-ku) and those that ended in 「-しく」(-siku).

Class of inflection	subclass	stem 語幹ごかん	Irrealis 未然みぜん形がた	Adverbial 連用形れんようけい	Conclusive 終止しゅうし形がた	Attributive 連体れんたい形がた	Realis 已然いぜん形がた	Imperative 命令めいれい形がた	meaning
-ku ク活用かつよう	(main) 本ほん活用かつよう	高こう(たか)	(たかく / たかけ)	たかく (-ku)	たかし (-si)	たかき (-ki)	たかけれ (-kere)		'be high'
	(-kari) カリ活用かつよう		たかから (-kara)	たかかり (-kari)		たかかる (-karu)		たかかれ (-kare)
-siku シク活用かつよう	(main) 本ほん活用かつよう	美よし(うつく)	(うつくしく / うつくしけ)	うつくしく (-siku)	うつくし (-si)	うつくしき (-siki)	うつくしけれ (-sikere)		'be beautiful'
	(-kari) カリ活用かつよう		うつくしから (-sikara)	うつくしかり (-sikari)		うつくしかる (-sikaru)		うつくしかれ (-sikare)

The class of siku-adjectives included a few adjectives that had 「-じ」(-z), rather than 「-し」:

Class of inflection	subclass	stem 語幹ごかん	Irrealis 未然みぜん形がた	Adverbial 連用形れんようけい	Conclusive 終止しゅうし形がた	Attributive 連体れんたい形がた	Realis 已然いぜん形がた	Imperative 命令めいれい形がた	meaning
-siku シク活用かつよう	main 本ほん活用かつよう	同どう(おな)	(-じく)	-じく	-じ	-じき	-じけれ		'be the same'
	kari カリ活用かつよう		-じから	-じかり		-じかる		-じかれ

They usually had 「-じ」 rather than 「-じき」 in its attributive form.

The -kar- and -sikar- forms (カリ活用かつよう) were derived from the verb 「有ゆう(あ)り」"be, exists.":

Man'yōgana: 可奈かな之これ久安ひさやす里さと家いえ牟 (Man'yōshū, 4333th)

Modern transliteration:悲(かな)しくありけむ

Since the auxiliary verb of pass tentative mood「けむ」needs to be preceded by infinitive, 「あり」is in infinitive form. And then naturally, the adjective 「悲(かな)し」links to 「あり」 by infinitive (連用形れんようけい). In Man'yōshū there's also example of 「-かり」.

Man'yōgana: 加奈かな之これ可か利り家いえ理り (Man'yōshū, 793th)

Modern transliteration:悲(かな)しかりけり

Since the auxiliary verb of unwitnessed past「けり」needs to be preceded by infinitive, 「悲(かな)し」is in infinitive form.

So it's reasonable to assume that the infinitive suffix「-かり」is derived from 「-くあり」that had lost its initial u-sound(i.e. sound change of infinitive suffix + 「あり」). There's also similar example about other forms in Man'yōshū.

From above paragraph, we can realize that kari inflection is generally used to link to a auxiliary verbs(so it's also called 「補ほ(ほ)助すけ(じょ)活かつ(かつ)用よう(よう)」, "complement and auxiliary inflection"), but there's an example to show that the imperative form of kari inflection is an exception of this rule:

はげしかれとは (Senzai Wakashū, 708th)

That is, the imperative form of kari inflection is independently used without linking to any auxiliary verb.(However, it actually expresses a wish but not a order.)

Adjectival noun

Class of inflection	stem 語幹ごかん	Irrealis 未然みぜん形がた	Adverbial 連用形れんようけい	Conclusive 終止しゅうし形がた	Attributive 連体れんたい形がた	Realis 已然いぜん形がた	Imperative 命令めいれい形がた	meaning
Nari ナリ活用かつよう	静せい(しづ)か	しづかなら(-nara)	しづかなり(-nari)	しづかなり(-nari)	しづかなる(-naru)	しづかなれ(-nare)		'be static'
			しづかに(-ni)
Tari タリ活用かつよう	悄(せう)然しか(ぜん)*	悄然しょうぜんたら(-tara)	悄然しょうぜんたり(-tari)	悄然しょうぜんたり(-tari)	悄然しょうぜんたる(-taru)	悄然しょうぜんたれ(-tare)		''be quiet, soft"
			悄然しょうぜんと(-to)

*The Japanese term 悄然しょうぜん (seuzen, modern shōzen) is a borrowing from Middle Chinese word 悄然しょうぜん with reconstructed pronunciation /tsʰjɑu nʑǐɛn/, meaning ‘quietly, softly’. Like 悄然しょうぜん (seuzen), most tari adjectives are derived from Chinese borrowings.

The nari and tari inflections shared a similar etymology. The nari form was a contraction of the adverbial particle「に」and the -r irregular verb「有ゆう(あ)り」"be, exist": に + あり → なり, while the tari inflection was a contraction of the adverbial particle と and 有ゆう(あ)り: と + あり → たり.

Yougen in auxiliary form

• 「居きょ(を)り」 (R-irregular): progressive aspect. 'sit; live; be'.
• 「居きょ(ゐ)る」 (Upper monograde): progressive aspect. 'continue, …ing'.
• 「置おけ(お)く」 (Quadrigrade): preparative aspect, expressing an action performed in readiness for some future action. 'put'.
• 「見み(み)る」(Upper monograde): speculative aspect, expressing an action performed experimentally, to 'see' what it is like. 'see'.

See also

• Bungo

Sources

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