Proto-Japonic *e and *o in Eastern Old Japanese (original) (raw)

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01 Jan 2008

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In this article I examine the correspondences found between Western Old Japanese high vowels and Eastern Old Japanese midvowels in light of the recent hypotheses concerning the Proto-Japonic vowel system. Correspondences in both the morphology and the lexicon are established and then comparative evidence from several modem Japanese and Ryukyuan dialects is adduced to show that these are instances of retention of Proto-Japonic *e and *o.

Cet article examine les correspondances existant entre les voyelles hautes du japonais ancien de l'Ouest et les voyelles moyennes du japonais ancien de l'Est, à la lumière des récentes hypothèses sur le vocalisme du proto-japonique. Des correspondances à la fois dans le lexique et dans la morphologie sont établies, puis des données comparatives de plusieurs dialectes japonais modernes et de langues ryukyu sont fournies pour confirmer qu'il s'agit de cas de rétention des voyelles *e et *o du proto-japonique

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• 1 Notable exceptions are Hojo (1966), Thorpe (1983), Haggers (2000), and Hino (2003). 2 Japonic is now a fairly common term including both Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages. 3 I have modified transcriptions of data from Japanese and Ryukyuan dialects to a more phonetic notation, but without any accentual or tonal marks. 4Eastern Old Japanese will be transcribed as Western Old Japanese, with A-type (ko-rui) syllables marked with a 1 subscripted after the vowel (i,, el, ol), and B- type (otsu-rui) ones with a 2 (i2, e2, o2), those without distinctions remaining unmarked (i, e, o), without discussing here the problem of whether EOJ had this distinction (it seems that EOJ did not distinguish between il and i2 or el and e2, but distinguish ol and o2; see Fukuda 1965, Mizushima 1984, Mizushima 2005). 5 Hattori (1978-1979) and Frellesvig & Whitman (2004) both reconstruct a seventh vowel, respectively *u and *i, but for different reasons. Their hypotheses are supported by very few examples and have not received general acceptance.
• 6 The exceptions are for some irregular verbs which have a special conclusive form in -i and an adnominal ending -u. We should also note that in Middle Japanese the adnominal and conclusive forms were accentually distinct even when segmentally identical (Martin 1987:191-198).
• 7 Abbreviations in glosses: ACC: accusative; ADN: adnominal; AMBIG: ambiguity, CCL: conclusive; CONJ: conjectural; COP: copula; DUR: durative; EMPH: emphasis; EXCL: exclamative; GEN: genitive; HS: hearsay, IMP: imperative; INCL: inclusive; LOC: locative; NOM: nominative; SEQ: sequential; TOP: topic.
• 8 Formal nouns are nouns which are used as function words in some grammatical constructions.
• 9 The /t/ in the last syllable of "person" has undergone regular progressive palatalization in many of dialects. 10 Nakama (1992), Hattori et al. (1959). " Nakasone (1987), Hattori et al. (1959). 12 For more details on this problem, see Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyujo (1963), Nohara (1976).
• 1 3 See Thorpe (1983), Uchima ( 1984), Nakama ( 1992), Karimata ( 1999) on this matter.
• �° An anonymous reviewer has informed me that such a reconstruction has already been suggested by Leon Serafim, but his hypothesis unfortunately still remains unpublished.
• �5 Nakamatsu (1999), Nakama (1992). 16 OGKS (1999-2003). 17 Miyagi et al. (2002). 18 Hirayama & Nakamato (1964), HDOBK (1986). �9 In most Southern Ryukyuan dialects, the expected initial /u-/ in "sea" has fronted to /i-/ (ex: Miyako /im/). Thorpe (1983:45) states that this development is regular: initial *u or *o is fronted to *i before a "syllabic" consonant.
• 20 See Bentley (2002) for a discussion of the moilmo2 distinction in the Man'yoshu.
• 21 1 would like to thank Bjarke Frellesvig for having pointed this out to me. ZZ it is even attested in most dialects of Miyako Ryukyuan: -kaz - -ka: (data from my own fieldwork).
• z3 This reconstruction is for consonant-base verbs only and makes use of only the comparative method.
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Online Publication Date:

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• Abstract
• Metadata

In this article I examine the correspondences found between Western Old Japanese high vowels and Eastern Old Japanese midvowels in light of the recent hypotheses concerning the Proto-Japonic vowel system. Correspondences in both the morphology and the lexicon are established and then comparative evidence from several modem Japanese and Ryukyuan dialects is adduced to show that these are instances of retention of Proto-Japonic *e and *o.

Cet article examine les correspondances existant entre les voyelles hautes du japonais ancien de l'Ouest et les voyelles moyennes du japonais ancien de l'Est, à la lumière des récentes hypothèses sur le vocalisme du proto-japonique. Des correspondances à la fois dans le lexique et dans la morphologie sont établies, puis des données comparatives de plusieurs dialectes japonais modernes et de langues ryukyu sont fournies pour confirmer qu'il s'agit de cas de rétention des voyelles *e et *o du proto-japonique

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