Old Japanese

Facts

  • Language: Old Japanese
  • Alternate names: 上古日本語 ,jōko nihongo
  • Language code: ojp
  • Language family: Japonic, Japanesic
  • Dialects: Late Old Japanese.
  • Number of speakers: Extinct
  • Script: Chinese, Man'yōgana

More information:

    Introduction

    Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. Spoken around 712-794 AD.

    The verb

    The 8 verbal conjugations in Old Japanese

    Verb Class Irrealis
    未然形     		Adverbial
    連用形     		Conclusive
    終止形     		Attributive
    連体形     		Realis
    已然形     		Imperative
    命令形
    Quadrigrade (四段) -a -i1 -u -u -e2 -e1
    Upper Monograde(上一段) - - -ru -ru -re -(yo2)
    Upper Bigrade (上二段) -i2 -i2 -u -uru -ure -i2(yo2)
    Lower Bigrade (下二段) -e2 -e2 -u -uru -ure -e2(yo2)
    K-irregular (カ変) -o2 -i1 -u -uru -ure -o2
    S-irregular (サ変) -e -i -u -uru -ure -e(yo2)
    N-irregular (ナ変) -a -i -u -uru -ure -e
    R-irregular (ラ変) -a -i -i -u -e -e

    Lower Monograde (下一段) was introduced in Late Old Japanese

    Consonant / vowel stem

    Verbs having a base that ends in a consonant are known as consonant-stem. These are exhibited by the Quadrigrade, the R-irregular and N-irregular verb classes.

    There are only three N-irregular verbs, which were originally verbs in the Adverbial conjugation combined with the negative auxiliary -nu, but which were later reinterpreted as verbs in their own right.

    Verbs having a base that ends in a vowel are known as vowel-stem. Upper Monograde represents monosyllabic vowel stems ending in -i.

    Upper Bigrade is made up of polysyllabic roots ending in the vowel -i, while Lower Bigrade represents polysyllabic roots ending in -e. This ending vowel was elided in the conclusive, attributive, and realis conjugations.

    K-irregular and S-irregular represent verbs whose stems appear to be comprised of only one consonant each. These verbs behave as verbs with consonant stems, but they are originally vowel stems whose irregular conjugations are the result of vowel mutation and elision.

    Irregular verbs

    There are several verbs with irregular conjugations.

    The conjugation class for each is named after the final stem consonant.

    Verblist