John Bentley | Northern Illinois University (original) (raw)
Papers by John Bentley
The Birth of Japanese Historiography, 2020
The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages, 2020
The Sakishima area in the southern Ryūkyūs consists of three main languages: Miyako (represented ... more The Sakishima area in the southern Ryūkyūs consists of three main languages: Miyako (represented by Hirara, but with some data also drawn from Irabu), Ishigaki, and Yonaguni. While these three languages are mutually unintelligible, even a cursory examination demonstrates that these languages are related. After a brief outline to the historical connections, the phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon are described, comparing and contrasting data from these three languages. These languages are critical to a better understanding of the language history of the languages throughout the Japanese archipelago.
A detailed analysis of the thorny issues about whether Sendai kuji hongi is derivative or not. If... more A detailed analysis of the thorny issues about whether Sendai kuji hongi is derivative or not. If it is, what does that tell us about early historiography in Japan. The book also includes a complete translation of the work.
by Mark Hudson, Martine Robbeets, Takamune Kawashima, Junzo Uchiyama, İlya Gruntov, Ilona R Bausch, Linda Gilaizeau, Olga Mazo, Alexander Savelyev, Sofia Oskolskaya, Matthew Conte, Joanna Dolińska, Noriko Seguchi, Geonyoung Kim, John Bentley, and Takehiro Sato
Nature, 2021
Recent breakthroughs in ancient DNA sequencing have made us rethink the connections between human... more Recent breakthroughs in ancient DNA sequencing have made us rethink the connections between human, linguistic and cultural expansions across Eurasia. Compared to western Eurasia 9-11 , however, eastern Eurasia remains poorly understood. Northeast Asia-the vast region encompassing Inner Mongolia, the Yellow, Liao and Amur River basins, the Russian Far East, the Korean peninsula and the Japanese Islandsremains especially under-represented in the recent literature. With a few exceptions that are heavily focused on genetics 12-14 or limited to reviewing existing datasets 4 , truly interdisciplinary approaches to Northeast Asia are scarce. The linguistic relatedness of the Transeurasian languages-also known as 'Altaic'-is among the most disputed issues in linguistic prehistory. Transeurasian denotes a large group of geographically adjacent languages stretching across Europe and northern Asia, and includes five uncontroversial linguistic families: Japonic, Koreanic, Tungusic, Mongolic, and Turkic (Fig. 1a). The question of whether
Making one's way through the dense jungle of Old Japanese poetry and prose can be a daunting ... more Making one's way through the dense jungle of Old Japanese poetry and prose can be a daunting and discouraging task because of the complex writing systems used during the Asuka (550-710 CE) and Nara (710-789 CE) eras. The intricate script is a bewildering mix of Chinese characters employed for their semantic or phonetic value or as hints to other words--or even for word games. For the first time in English, this dictionary lists all 1,215 Chinese characters used as phonograms (ongana) or vernacular characters (kungana) in Old Japanese texts. It brings together a vast amount of data in relation to Chinese phonology: Old Chinese, Later Han Chinese, Middle Chinese, Sino-Japanese (both Go-on and Kan-on), Sino-Korean, Sino-Vietnamese, and Chu Nom. The entries contain examples from more than twenty Old Japanese texts showing how each character was used and in what context. Data from excavated wooden tablets, or slips (mokkan), is included as well as a chart of all the graphs and where they appear in the cited material. Students and scholars of Old Japanese writing and language and those more widely interested in the culture and history of pre-Heian Japan now have important linguistic and textual data at their fingertips arranged by character to help them decipher material from the ancient past.
Oxford Scholarship Online, 2018
This chapter explains how early Japanese historiography seemed to burst suddenly on the historica... more This chapter explains how early Japanese historiography seemed to burst suddenly on the historical stage in the beginning decades of the eighth century. Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) was presented to Empress Genmei in the first month of 712, while Nihon shoki (Chronicle of Japan), Japan's first official historical chronicle, was presented to Empress Gensho in the fifth month of 720. The capital had been moved to a new site, in Nara, in the third month of 710, so the compilation of new histories is perhaps a natural outcome of this move to imitate China by building a permanent capital. However, neither this chronology nor its analysis should be taken at face value. Most scholars agree that the decree of Great King Tenmu issued in the third month of 681 was the impetus for the compilation of both Kojiki and Nihon shoki.
The Birth of Japanese Historiography, 2020
The Birth of Japanese Historiography, 2020
As the first book in English on the origins of Japanese historiography, using both archaeological... more As the first book in English on the origins of Japanese historiography, using both archaeological and textual data, this book examines the connection between ancient Japan and the Korean kingdom of Paekche and how tutors from the kingdom of Paekche helped to lay the foundation for a literate culture in Japan. Illustrating how tutors from the kingdom of Paekche taught Chinese writing to the Japanese court through the prism of this highly civilized culture, the book goes on to argue that Paekche tutors guided the early Japanese court through writing, recording family history, and ultimately an early history of the ruling family. As the Japanese began to create their own history, they relied on Paekche histories as a model. Triangulating textual data from Kojiki, Nihon shoki, and Sendai kuji hongi, the author here demonstrates that various aspects of early king genealogies and later events were manipulated. Offering new theories about the Japanese ruling family, it is posited that Emperor Jitō had her committee put Jingū in power, and Suiko on the throne in place of original male rulers to enhance images of strong, female rulers, as she envisioned herself. The Birth of Japanese Historiography will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Japanese history, historiography, and linguistics.
The object of research is a data model that characterizes the pumping units of main oil pipelines... more The object of research is a data model that characterizes the pumping units of main oil pipelines. The paper considers the creation of pumps database and their characteristics as a component of software systems designed to search for sources of energy saving in pipeline transportation of oil and oil products. An overview of existing programs for calculating the joint operation of an oil pumping station and a pipeline is given. It is shown that most programs are inaccessible for analyzing the applied data storage technologies, or involve manual input of entry data without using databases. Comparative analysis of spreadsheets and relational databases is performed. It is shown that relational databases better meet the requirements of data convenience, availability, scalability, and performance. A physical model of a relational database is presented. The parent and child entities have been established, which make it possible to fully reflect all information about the pumping unit, namely:-coefficients of hydraulic characteristics depending on the diameter of the impeller rotor;-characteristics depending only on the pump make;-classification of the pump by design or purpose. Relationship types and referential integrity rules are defined between entities when deleting or updating data. For data management, the SQLite system is proposed, which provides data manipulation in the SQL query language and does not require the development of additional software. The analysis of possible ways of organizing multilingualism using a database is carried out. The text of the SQL query is proposed, which allows to select the pump with its characteristics by the pump make and impeller diameter. A database structure is proposed that allows storing information about equipment for oil pipelines for various purposes, which makes it possible for automated calculations of complex technological processes. The pumping unit database is an open source project that is posted on the public web service GitHub.
Nature, 2021
The origin and early dispersal of speakers of Transeurasian languages—that is, Japanese, Korean, ... more The origin and early dispersal of speakers of Transeurasian languages—that is, Japanese, Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic—is among the most disputed issues of Eurasian population history1–3. A key problem is the relationship between linguistic dispersals, agricultural expansions and population movements4,5. Here we address this question by ‘triangulating’ genetics, archaeology and linguistics in a unified perspective. We report wide-ranging datasets from these disciplines, including a comprehensive Transeurasian agropastoral and basic vocabulary; an archaeological database of 255 Neolithic–Bronze Age sites from Northeast Asia; and a collection of ancient genomes from Korea, the Ryukyu islands and early cereal farmers in Japan, complementing previously published genomes from East Asia. Challenging the traditional ‘pastoralist hypothesis’6–8, we show that the common ancestry and primary dispersals of Transeurasian languages can be traced back to the first farmers moving across No...
The Journal of Japanese Studies, 2019
of Tokugawa Japan who want to investigate the degree to which political concepts used by the warr... more of Tokugawa Japan who want to investigate the degree to which political concepts used by the warrior regimes have changed over time. Treatise on the People of Wa in the Chronicle of the Kingdom of Wei: The World's Earliest Written Text on Japan.
Choice Reviews Online, 2003
This reassessment of historiography in Japan investigates the neglected smaller historiographical... more This reassessment of historiography in Japan investigates the neglected smaller historiographical works from 650 AD to 1100 AD, and connects the quasi-history genre of later eras with the "nikki" (diary) genre, originating from the earliest tradition in Japan. It also provides annotated translations of the entire texts from seven of these works.
The Journal of Japanese Studies, 2011
... John R. Bentley John R. Bentley is an associate professor of Japanese at Northern Illinois Un... more ... John R. Bentley John R. Bentley is an associate professor of Japanese at Northern Illinois University. ... 8. Samuel Elmo Martin, The Japanese Language through Time (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), p. 397. 9. Ibid., p. 505. 10. ...
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 2012
The Birth of Japanese Historiography, 2020
The Oxford Guide to the Transeurasian Languages, 2020
The Sakishima area in the southern Ryūkyūs consists of three main languages: Miyako (represented ... more The Sakishima area in the southern Ryūkyūs consists of three main languages: Miyako (represented by Hirara, but with some data also drawn from Irabu), Ishigaki, and Yonaguni. While these three languages are mutually unintelligible, even a cursory examination demonstrates that these languages are related. After a brief outline to the historical connections, the phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon are described, comparing and contrasting data from these three languages. These languages are critical to a better understanding of the language history of the languages throughout the Japanese archipelago.
A detailed analysis of the thorny issues about whether Sendai kuji hongi is derivative or not. If... more A detailed analysis of the thorny issues about whether Sendai kuji hongi is derivative or not. If it is, what does that tell us about early historiography in Japan. The book also includes a complete translation of the work.
by Mark Hudson, Martine Robbeets, Takamune Kawashima, Junzo Uchiyama, İlya Gruntov, Ilona R Bausch, Linda Gilaizeau, Olga Mazo, Alexander Savelyev, Sofia Oskolskaya, Matthew Conte, Joanna Dolińska, Noriko Seguchi, Geonyoung Kim, John Bentley, and Takehiro Sato
Nature, 2021
Recent breakthroughs in ancient DNA sequencing have made us rethink the connections between human... more Recent breakthroughs in ancient DNA sequencing have made us rethink the connections between human, linguistic and cultural expansions across Eurasia. Compared to western Eurasia 9-11 , however, eastern Eurasia remains poorly understood. Northeast Asia-the vast region encompassing Inner Mongolia, the Yellow, Liao and Amur River basins, the Russian Far East, the Korean peninsula and the Japanese Islandsremains especially under-represented in the recent literature. With a few exceptions that are heavily focused on genetics 12-14 or limited to reviewing existing datasets 4 , truly interdisciplinary approaches to Northeast Asia are scarce. The linguistic relatedness of the Transeurasian languages-also known as 'Altaic'-is among the most disputed issues in linguistic prehistory. Transeurasian denotes a large group of geographically adjacent languages stretching across Europe and northern Asia, and includes five uncontroversial linguistic families: Japonic, Koreanic, Tungusic, Mongolic, and Turkic (Fig. 1a). The question of whether
Making one's way through the dense jungle of Old Japanese poetry and prose can be a daunting ... more Making one's way through the dense jungle of Old Japanese poetry and prose can be a daunting and discouraging task because of the complex writing systems used during the Asuka (550-710 CE) and Nara (710-789 CE) eras. The intricate script is a bewildering mix of Chinese characters employed for their semantic or phonetic value or as hints to other words--or even for word games. For the first time in English, this dictionary lists all 1,215 Chinese characters used as phonograms (ongana) or vernacular characters (kungana) in Old Japanese texts. It brings together a vast amount of data in relation to Chinese phonology: Old Chinese, Later Han Chinese, Middle Chinese, Sino-Japanese (both Go-on and Kan-on), Sino-Korean, Sino-Vietnamese, and Chu Nom. The entries contain examples from more than twenty Old Japanese texts showing how each character was used and in what context. Data from excavated wooden tablets, or slips (mokkan), is included as well as a chart of all the graphs and where they appear in the cited material. Students and scholars of Old Japanese writing and language and those more widely interested in the culture and history of pre-Heian Japan now have important linguistic and textual data at their fingertips arranged by character to help them decipher material from the ancient past.
Oxford Scholarship Online, 2018
This chapter explains how early Japanese historiography seemed to burst suddenly on the historica... more This chapter explains how early Japanese historiography seemed to burst suddenly on the historical stage in the beginning decades of the eighth century. Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) was presented to Empress Genmei in the first month of 712, while Nihon shoki (Chronicle of Japan), Japan's first official historical chronicle, was presented to Empress Gensho in the fifth month of 720. The capital had been moved to a new site, in Nara, in the third month of 710, so the compilation of new histories is perhaps a natural outcome of this move to imitate China by building a permanent capital. However, neither this chronology nor its analysis should be taken at face value. Most scholars agree that the decree of Great King Tenmu issued in the third month of 681 was the impetus for the compilation of both Kojiki and Nihon shoki.
The Birth of Japanese Historiography, 2020
The Birth of Japanese Historiography, 2020
As the first book in English on the origins of Japanese historiography, using both archaeological... more As the first book in English on the origins of Japanese historiography, using both archaeological and textual data, this book examines the connection between ancient Japan and the Korean kingdom of Paekche and how tutors from the kingdom of Paekche helped to lay the foundation for a literate culture in Japan. Illustrating how tutors from the kingdom of Paekche taught Chinese writing to the Japanese court through the prism of this highly civilized culture, the book goes on to argue that Paekche tutors guided the early Japanese court through writing, recording family history, and ultimately an early history of the ruling family. As the Japanese began to create their own history, they relied on Paekche histories as a model. Triangulating textual data from Kojiki, Nihon shoki, and Sendai kuji hongi, the author here demonstrates that various aspects of early king genealogies and later events were manipulated. Offering new theories about the Japanese ruling family, it is posited that Emperor Jitō had her committee put Jingū in power, and Suiko on the throne in place of original male rulers to enhance images of strong, female rulers, as she envisioned herself. The Birth of Japanese Historiography will be a valuable resource for students and scholars of Japanese history, historiography, and linguistics.
The object of research is a data model that characterizes the pumping units of main oil pipelines... more The object of research is a data model that characterizes the pumping units of main oil pipelines. The paper considers the creation of pumps database and their characteristics as a component of software systems designed to search for sources of energy saving in pipeline transportation of oil and oil products. An overview of existing programs for calculating the joint operation of an oil pumping station and a pipeline is given. It is shown that most programs are inaccessible for analyzing the applied data storage technologies, or involve manual input of entry data without using databases. Comparative analysis of spreadsheets and relational databases is performed. It is shown that relational databases better meet the requirements of data convenience, availability, scalability, and performance. A physical model of a relational database is presented. The parent and child entities have been established, which make it possible to fully reflect all information about the pumping unit, namely:-coefficients of hydraulic characteristics depending on the diameter of the impeller rotor;-characteristics depending only on the pump make;-classification of the pump by design or purpose. Relationship types and referential integrity rules are defined between entities when deleting or updating data. For data management, the SQLite system is proposed, which provides data manipulation in the SQL query language and does not require the development of additional software. The analysis of possible ways of organizing multilingualism using a database is carried out. The text of the SQL query is proposed, which allows to select the pump with its characteristics by the pump make and impeller diameter. A database structure is proposed that allows storing information about equipment for oil pipelines for various purposes, which makes it possible for automated calculations of complex technological processes. The pumping unit database is an open source project that is posted on the public web service GitHub.
Nature, 2021
The origin and early dispersal of speakers of Transeurasian languages—that is, Japanese, Korean, ... more The origin and early dispersal of speakers of Transeurasian languages—that is, Japanese, Korean, Tungusic, Mongolic and Turkic—is among the most disputed issues of Eurasian population history1–3. A key problem is the relationship between linguistic dispersals, agricultural expansions and population movements4,5. Here we address this question by ‘triangulating’ genetics, archaeology and linguistics in a unified perspective. We report wide-ranging datasets from these disciplines, including a comprehensive Transeurasian agropastoral and basic vocabulary; an archaeological database of 255 Neolithic–Bronze Age sites from Northeast Asia; and a collection of ancient genomes from Korea, the Ryukyu islands and early cereal farmers in Japan, complementing previously published genomes from East Asia. Challenging the traditional ‘pastoralist hypothesis’6–8, we show that the common ancestry and primary dispersals of Transeurasian languages can be traced back to the first farmers moving across No...
The Journal of Japanese Studies, 2019
of Tokugawa Japan who want to investigate the degree to which political concepts used by the warr... more of Tokugawa Japan who want to investigate the degree to which political concepts used by the warrior regimes have changed over time. Treatise on the People of Wa in the Chronicle of the Kingdom of Wei: The World's Earliest Written Text on Japan.
Choice Reviews Online, 2003
This reassessment of historiography in Japan investigates the neglected smaller historiographical... more This reassessment of historiography in Japan investigates the neglected smaller historiographical works from 650 AD to 1100 AD, and connects the quasi-history genre of later eras with the "nikki" (diary) genre, originating from the earliest tradition in Japan. It also provides annotated translations of the entire texts from seven of these works.
The Journal of Japanese Studies, 2011
... John R. Bentley John R. Bentley is an associate professor of Japanese at Northern Illinois Un... more ... John R. Bentley John R. Bentley is an associate professor of Japanese at Northern Illinois University. ... 8. Samuel Elmo Martin, The Japanese Language through Time (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987), p. 397. 9. Ibid., p. 505. 10. ...
Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 2012