Japanese Morphography

In Japanese Morphography, Gordian Schreiber takes an in-depth look at texts from pre-modern Japan written exclusively in Chinese characters as morphograms and demonstrates why the language behind the script is, in fact, to be identified as Japanese rather than Chinese.

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How is it possible to write down the Japanese language exclusively in Chinese characters? And how are we then able to determine the language behind the veil of the Chinese script as Japanese? The history of writing in Japan presents us with a fascinating variety of writing styles ranging from phonography to morphography and all shades in between.

In Japanese Morphography: Deconstructing hentai kanbun, Gordian Schreiber shows that texts traditionally labelled as “hentai kanbun” or “variant Chinese” are, in fact, morphographically written Japanese texts instead and not just the result of an underdeveloped skill in Chinese. The study fosters our understanding of writing system typology beyond phonographic writing.