中日語言文字與語音發展過程之對比分析

A Contrast and Comparison Study on the Evolution Process of Characters and Pronunciation in Chinese and Japanese Language

曹瑞泰(Ruey-Tai Tsao)

《通識研究集刊》 11期 (2007/06) Pp. 1-23

https://doi.org/10.6488/JCGE.200706.0001

摘要

本文乃針對漢語與日語的文字與語音的發展流程進行比較分析，從兩方各自的文字源流、發展路徑，以及標音系統的建構等，檢視雙方的共同點與各自發展出來的特色。
中國的漢字根據六書原理與實用性原則，逐步發展成為一套完整的文字體系；即使為表意文字，千餘年來仍然以反切法有效的紀錄漢語及其語音的發展，直到進入20世紀後才以注音符號與漢語拼音代替了其為漢語標音的功能。日本最初係以從中國傳入的漢字來為日語標音與紀錄，但由於所屬語系不同，語法結構相異，使得具有阿爾泰語系中膠著語特性的日語，搭配具有濃厚孤立語性格與表意文字內涵的漢字，在實際需求面上兩者難以完全契合。所以日本人乃在漢字的基礎上創造出符合其語言需求的表音文字「平假名與片假名」，配合漢字一起使用。
近代受到西洋文化的影響，日中兩國先後興起文字改革運動，日本以羅馬字創造出兩套大同小異的「日語羅馬字」，加上原有的平假名、片假名與漢字，日語的文體表現成為多文字混用的系統；而中國的注音符號與漢語拼音卻只仍單純地用於標音，雖然漢字字體上有了繁體字與簡化字之分，但仍是同一套漢字，故中日兩國的文字體系，雖然同源卻有迥然不同的發展過程與結果。

關鍵字

表意文字 ； 表音文字 ； 膠著語 ； 孤立語 ； 反切法

並列摘要

This study contrasted and compared Chinese and Japanese language in term of characters and pronunciation. The two languages' the historical development of characters and their phonetic symbols were examined. The Chinese characters have been developed to a sound writing system based upon the six principles (Liushu) and the practicability. For thousand years, the use of reserve-cutting method had successfully kept a track of the development of characters and pronunciation in spite of Chinese featuring ideographic writing. Until the 20th century, the reserve-cutting method was replaced by Mandarin Phonetic Symbols and Pinyin. The earliest Japanese writing system and phonetic symbols adopted the systems of the Chinese language spread to Japan. This mixed use of Chinese and Japanese had caused a problem of being in agreement in practice due to their different language families and structures resulted from the fact that Chinese, an ideographic writing, is isolating language while Japanese is agglutinating language. As a result, to meet language needs, Japanese invented their alphabetic writing including 'Hiragana' and Katakana' as a partial use plus Chinese characters (Kanji). Influenced by Western cultures, Japan and China respectively initiated writing revolutions in modern times. Japanese invented two similar sets of Japanese Roman alphabet. This invention plus the use of Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji indicated a multi-writing system. On the contrary, Mandarin Phonetic Symbols (MPS) and Pinyin are still marked as phonetic symbols in Chinese; and Chinese characters have traditional form and simplified form. In spite of this, this development in China never changes its wiring system. This study concluded that Japanese and Chinese characters have reached at different destinations after experiencing various evolution processes although they are homologous.

並列關鍵字

ideographic writing ； alphabetic writing ； agglutinating language ； isolating language ； reverse-cutting