Diachronic Variation in Orthography of Two-Character Sino-Japanese Words in Modern Japanese

Mabuchi Yoko

doi:10.24701/mathling.30.5_257

This study reveals the varieties of Sino-Japanese orthography as well as the elimination and consolidation of certain orthographies in contemporary usage of Japanese. Using morphologically annotated corpora of modern and contemporary Japanese, I conducted a survey and analysis of different orthographies of Sino-Japanese words. By examining the number of different orthographies and the usage rates of individual ones, the following three points became clear regarding 2,000 words used in the modern and contemporary eras: 1) There are fewer orthographies used to write a word in the contemporary era than the modern era; 2) Orthographies that disappeared in the contemporary era were used frequently in the modern era. This not only means that the general orthographies used in the modern era were eliminated, but also that the orthographic standards have changed; and 3) The elimination and alteration of orthographies occurred with certain words and not others in the modern era because of an emphasis placed upon practicality and reasonability of language in the wake of modern school system and the rise of typography in publishing. In addition, the eliminations and shifts that occurred after the Showa era were greatly influenced by national language policies.

Diachronic Variation in Orthography of Two-Character Sino-Japanese Words in Modern Japanese

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