On'yomi
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Japanese writing |
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Components |
Uses |
Transliteration |
On'yomi (
It was often previously referred to as translation reading, as it was recreated readings of the Chinese pronunciation but was not the Chinese pronunciation or reading itself, similar to the English pronunciation of Latin loanwords. Old Japanese scripts often stated that on'yomi readings were also created by the Japanese during their arrival and re-borrowed by the Chinese as their own.
Some kanji were introduced from different parts of China at different times, and so have multiple on'yomi, and often multiple meanings.
Usage
On'yomi primarily occur in multi-kanji compound words (
Kanji invented in Japan (kokuji) would not normally be expected to have on'yomi, but there are exceptions, such as the character
Characteristics
In Chinese, most characters are associated with a single Chinese sound, though there are distinct literary and colloquial readings. However, some homographs (
Classification
Generally, on'yomi are classified into four types according to their region and time of origin:[1]
- Go-on (
呉音 , "Wu sound") readings derive from the pronunciation used in the Northern and Southern dynasties of China during the 5th and 6th centuries, primarily from the speech of the capital Jiankang (today's Nanjing). They are related to Wu Chinese and the Shanghainese language. - Kan-on (
漢音 , "Han sound") readings come from the pronunciation utilized during the Tang dynasty of China in the 7th to 9th centuries, primarily from the standard speech of the capital, Chang'an (modern Xi'an). Here, Kan refers to Han Chinese people or China proper. - Tō-on (
唐音 , "Tang sound") readings are based on the pronunciations of later dynasties of China, such as the Song and Ming. They cover all readings adopted from the Heian era to the Edo period. This is also known as Tōsō-on (唐 宋音 , Tang and Song sound). - Kan'yō-on (
慣用音 , "customary sound") readings, which are mistaken or changed readings of the kanji that have become accepted into the Japanese language. In some cases, they are the actual readings that accompanied the character's introduction to Japan but do not match how the character "should" (is prescribed to) be read according to the rules of character construction and pronunciation.
The most common form of readings is the kan-on one, and use of a non-kan-on reading in a word where the kan-on reading is well known is a common cause of reading mistakes or difficulty, such as in ge-doku (
Examples
Kanji | Meaning | Go-on | Kan-on | Tō-on | Kan'yō-on | Middle Chinese[3] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
bright | myō | mei | (min) | — | mjang | |
go | gyō gō |
kō kō |
(an) | — | haengH | |
extreme | goku | kyoku | — | — | gik | |
pearl | shu | shu | ju | (zu) | tsyu | |
degree | do | (to) | — | — | duH, dak | |
輸 | transport | (shu) | (shu) | — | yu | syu |
masculine | — | — | — | yū | hjuwng | |
bear | — | — | — | yū | hjuwng | |
child | shi | shi | su | — | tsiX | |
clear | shō | sei | (shin) | — | tshjeng | |
capital | kyō | kei | (kin) | — | kjaeng | |
soldier | hyō | hei | — | — | pjaeng | |
strong | gō | kyō | — | — | gjangX |
See also
References
- ^ a b Coulmas, Florian (1991). Writing Systems of the World. p. 125. ISBN 978-0631180289.
- ^ Shibatani, Masayoshi (2008). The Languages of Japan. Cambridge University Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-0521369183.
- ^ Baxter, William H. (1992), A Handbook of Old Chinese Phonology, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-012324-1
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