Japanese is the primary language of Japan and the sole well-established member of the Japonic family alongside the Ryukyuan languages. It is written with a mixture of three scripts used together in ordinary text: kanji, Chinese-derived logographic characters, and two native syllabaries, hiragana and katakana, developed in the ninth century from cursive and abbreviated forms of kanji respectively.
Facts
ISO 639-3 Code Speaker Count Attested From (Year)Early 8th century; the Kojiki, the earliest substantial Old Japanese text, dates to this period. RegionJapan, the only country where it is the national language; Japanese diaspora communities including Brazil, Hawaii, and the United States 1 Classification
Official StatusNational Language (Symbolic, Not Sole Official) 1 Connections
Ancestor Of
Source Wikipedia: Kansai Dialect
In Family
Source The Cambridge Encyclopedia of LanguageDavid Crystal (editor)
Written In
Han Script, Scripts Japanese is written with kanji (Han-derived characters) alongside two native syllabaries, hiragana and katakana, neither of which is yet modeled as its own script entity in this atlas.
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
Source Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Divinity Atlas: Japan, cases where used there.
- Also in Divinity Atlas: Ryukyu Islands, cases where used there.
- Also in Divinity Atlas: The Nikujiku Saitai Decree of 1872, cases where used there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: A City of Sadness, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Akira, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Bâan: The Boundary of Adulthood, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Barefoot Gen, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Bushido, Samurai Saga, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Castle in the Sky, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Departures (2008 film), original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Drive My Car (2021 film), original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Gate of Hell, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Ghost in the Shell, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Godzilla 1985, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Grave of the Fireflies, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Hana-bi, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: High and Low, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Howl's Moving Castle, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Ikiru, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: In the Realm of the Senses, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Isle of Dogs, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Jiro Dreams of Sushi, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Kagemusha, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Kiki's Delivery Service, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Late Spring, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: My Neighbor Totoro, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Paprika (2006 film), original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Perfect Blue, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Princess Mononoke, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Ran, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Rashomon, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Sansho the Bailiff, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Second Life, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Senna (film), original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Seven Samurai, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Shoplifters (2018 film), original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Silent Hill (1999 video game), original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Spirited Away, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Tetris, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: The Ballad of Narayama (1983 film), original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: The Cove, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: The Hidden Fortress, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: The Last Emperor, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: The Wind Rises, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: The Yellow Kid, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Throne of Blood, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Tokyo Story, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Ugetsu, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Ultraman, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Wolf Children, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Woman in the Dunes, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Yi Yi, original language of there.
- Also in Film and Media Atlas: Yojimbo, original language of there.
- Also in Geography Atlas: Asia, found in there.
- Also in Geography Atlas: North America, found in there.
- Also in Geography Atlas: South America, found in there.
- Also in History Atlas: Anglo-Japanese Alliance, cases where used there.
- Also in History Atlas: Convention of Kanagawa, cases where used there.
- Also in History Atlas: Treaty of Shimoda, cases where used there.
- Also in History Atlas: Treaty of Shimonoseki, cases where used there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: 1Q84, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Confessions of a Mask, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Convenience Store Woman, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Essays in Idleness, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Haruki Murakami, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: In a Grove, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: In Praise of Shadows, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Kafka on the Shore, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Kanadehon Chushingura, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Kenzaburo Oe, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Kojiki, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Lu Xun, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Malice, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Man'yōshū, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Matsuo Basho, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Murasaki Shikibu, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Musashi (novel), original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Natsume Soseki, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Norwegian Wood, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Oku no Hosomichi, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Out (novel), original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Rashomon, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Roseanna, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Sei Shonagon, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: The Devotion of Suspect X, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: The Life of an Amorous Woman, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: The Pillow Book, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: The Tale of Genji, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: The Tale of the Heike, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Yasunari Kawabata, original language of there.
- Also in Literature Atlas: Yukio Mishima, original language of there.
- Also in Society and Culture Atlas: Samurai, cases where used there.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Japanese Language
Wikipediainfobox
Native to Japan
Earliest text, Kojiki dating
The earliest text, the Kojiki, dates to the early eighth century
Official status, Japanese entity page
It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide.
View the Source 2. Ethnologue: Languages of the World
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language
David Crystal (editor), Cambridge University Press, 2010
Omniglot: The Online Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
- Written In: Han Script
- Written In: Hiragana
- Written In: Katakana
View the SourceWikipedia: Kansai Dialect
Wikimedia FoundationAncestor Of: Kansai Dialect, Background sectionQuote, Ancestor Of: Kansai Dialect, Background section
The Kansai dialect is typified by the speech of Osaka, the major city of Kansai, referred to as Osaka-ben.
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