# Japanese leid

| Japanese |
| --- |
| 日本語 *Nihongo* |
| "*Nihongo*" ("Japanese") in Japanese script |
| Pronunciation | /nihoɴɡo/: [ɲ̟ihõŋɡo] |
| Native tae | Japan |
| Ethnicity | Japanese (Yamato) |
| Native speakers | ~128 mulȝeon (2020) |
| Leid faimily | Japonic
* **Japanese**
 |
| Early forms | Old Japanese
* Early Middle Japanese
	+ Late Middle Japanese
		- Early Modern Japanese
 |
| Writin seestem | * Mixed scripts of Kanji (Chinese character) and Kana (Hiragana, Katakana)
* Japanese Braille
 |
| Signed forms | Signed Japanese |
| Offeecial status |
| Offeecial leid in |  Japan (de facto)

 Palau
* **∟**Template:Kintra data Angaur
 |
| Recognised minority leid in |
 Palau
* **∟**Template:Kintra data Angaur
 |
| Leid codes |
| ISO 639-1 | `ja` |
| ISO 639-2 | `jpn` |
| ISO 639-3 | `jpn` |
| Glottolog | `nucl1643`  leain oot Hachijo |
| Linguasphere | `45-CAA-a` |
|

**Japanese** (**日本語** "Nihon-go" or "Nippon-go" in Japanese) is the leid spak on the island kintra o Japan, in Eastren Asie. The leid is uised by up aboot 128 million fowk. Japanese belangs tae the Japonic ilk, sic an sae wi Ryukyuan. In maugre o ettle, thaurs no definitive airtin wi ony ither leid ilks. Thae proponit include Ainu, Austroasiatic, Koreanic, an the noo believt discreditit Altaic. No ane o thir theories hiv gained traction.

Japanese is an Agglutinative leid, wae five monophthong vouel soonds. It kythes Gemination an a wird can be changefu by the accentit syllable (Pitch-accent)

Wird order in Japanese is for ordinar Subject-Object-Verb, hou-an-ither particles can be uised tae tirl sentences orders, an add heartit virr tae a thocht as weel. Benon that, Japanese kythes a pernicketie system o honorifics an siclike mensie gab.

In Japanese, Japan is cried *Nihon* (日本), an the Japanese leid is cried *Nihongo* (日本語) (whaur -go means *leid*). Whiles the wirds *Nippon* an *Nippongo* is uised an aw; these wirds is thocht o as mair nationalist the nou, while *Nihon* is a mair neutral wird.

## Writin seestem

The Japanese leid uises three writin seestems, *kanji* (漢字), *katakana* (カタカナ) an *hiragana* (ひらがな). *Katakana* is maistly for writin soond effecs an wirds fae ootwi o Japan. *Hiragana* is for maistly writin wirds fae inside Japan an verb conjugations. Baith writin systems haes symbols that means a seelable, wi the exception o ん that constitutes a nasal mora. *Katakana* haes strauchter lips an shairper neuks nor *hiragana*. *Hiragana* haes mair bowes nor *katakana*.

The third wey tae write, cried *kanji* (漢字), whaur ilka wird or idea haes a pictur chairacter taen fae Cheenese. For tae can read Japanese newspapers, students maun learn 2,136 *kanji*. Mony *kanji* is made fae mair smaw, sempler *kanji*, whaur this happens thir smaller ‘’kanji’’ are cried ‘’radicals’’ . *Kanji* haes unalike soonds whan uised in unalike weys, but ilka *kanji* still haes anerly certaint weys it can be read.

Written Japanese disna hae spaces atween wirds, sae *kanji* helps sinder wirds in a sentence.

Japanese can be wrat in twa weys:

1. Fae left tae richt, muivin fae the tap tae the dowp o the page (same as in Scots).
2. Fae tap tae dowp, muivin fae the richt tae the left o the page.

## Phonology

### Vowels

|  | Front | Central | Back |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Close | i |  | u |
| Mid | e |  | o |
| Open |  | a |  |

Japan haes juist the five vouel soonds. They are /a/, /i/, /u/, /e/, /o/. Forby thon, vouels can be baith short or lang. For example, *benkyousuru* （勉強する）(tae study) haes a lang "o".

### Consonants

|  | Bilabial | Alveolar | Alveolo- palatal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Nasal | m | n | (ɲ) |  | (ŋ) | (ɴ) |  |
| Stop | p  b | t  d |  |  | k  ɡ |  |  |
| Affricate |  | (t͡s)  (d͡z) | (t͡ɕ)  (d͡ʑ) |  |  |  |  |
| Fricative | (ɸ) | s  z | (ɕ)  (ʑ) | (ç) |  |  | h |
| Liquid |  | r |  |  |  |  |  |
| Semivowel |  |  |  | j | w |  |  |
| Special moras | /N/, /Q/ |

Japanese consonants cannae endure on thir ain (wi the exception o the Moraic nasal (ん), as sic it’s classified as a mora-timed leid.

## Examples

Here's some examples o Japanese wirds :

* 人 (*hito*) : body
* 女 (*onna*) : wifie or wumman
* 男 (*otoko*) : man
* 子 (*ko*) : bairn
* 水 (*mizu*) : watter
* こんにちは (*konnichiwa*) : hello (in the mids o the day or efternuin), sic as “guid day”
* さようなら (*sayounara*) : fareweel/guidbye
* はい (*hai*) : aye
* いいえ (*iie*) : no

## Example Screed

Article 1 o the Universal Declaration o Human Richts in Japanese:

すべて
の
人間
は、
生まれながら
に
して
自由
で
あり、
かつ、
尊厳
と
権利
と
に
ついて
平等
で
ある。
人間
は、
理性
と
良心
と
を
授けられて
おり、
互い
に
同胞
の
精神
を
もって
行動
しなければ
ならない。

Aw human beins are born lowse and equal in deegnity an richts. They are endowed wi raison and conscience and shoud act thewarts ilka ither in a speerit o britherheid.

## Fremmit airtins

* Japanese dictionar
* List o Japanese Kanji chairacters Archived 2007-02-13 at the Wayback Machine
* Kana Copybeuk (PDF)
* Japanese Coorse