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Nigō-Kanji of God Names in Ancient Japanese

  • 日本硏究
  • 2013, (35), pp.87-109
  • Publisher : The Center for Japanese Studies
  • Research Area : Humanities > Japanese Language and Literature
  • Published : August 20, 2013

CHOI, KUN SIK 1

1부경대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This study discusses the meaning transcriptions of one Chinese character with two distinct sounds in Ancient Japanese, showing that there are two types--i.e. nigō-kanji of same morpheme (Type A) and that of different morpheme (Type B). Type B is more sophisticated than Type A: The use of 'nominal connective particle + god-name suffix' tend to be limited to //tuti(土․椎) tumi(積)// and //nagi(蕩) nami(並)// because such word formation rules were not fully developed at that time. This study also reveals that Type A and Type B are preferred in different genres of texts: Both Type A and Type B are found in Manyōshū while only Type A in Sekichō. The contrasting preferences of the two types reflect the different characteristics of the two texts. Manyōshū is an anthology so that it has sophisticated expressions like Type B while Sekichō is an official document that was made to help with personnel mobilization and imposition of tax so that it has never such expressions. Unlike the meaning transcriptions of one Chinese character with one sound, which are similar regardless of genres of texts as argued in Choi (2012), the meaning transcriptions of one Chinese character with two distinct sounds show different preferences of the two types depending on genres of texts. This difference of the meaning transcriptions of one character-one sound and one character-two sounds is claimed to result from the fact that the former was used for fixed everyday expressions while the latter was for tentative and provisional expressions.

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