{"id":68972,"date":"2025-04-28T16:28:36","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T21:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=68972"},"modified":"2025-04-28T16:29:36","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T21:29:36","slug":"the-mathematics-of-kana-vs-kanji-usage-over-time-1879-1968","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=68972","title":{"rendered":"The mathematics of kana vs. kanji usage over time (1879-1968)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourth comment to \"Striving to revive the flagging sinographic cosmopolis<\/a>\" (4\/26\/25), I stated my observation of morphosyllabic kanji<\/a>\u00a0usage is that it has been declining over time at the expense of\u00a0kana<\/a>\u00a0and other phonetic elements of the writing system, and I expressed the wish that a quantitative study of the actual usage be carried out.\u00a0 It turns out that we already do have this information, and it is visually evident in these graphs which were called to my attention by Jim Unger.<\/p>\n

They are from:<\/p>\n

Zusetsu nihongo: Gurafu de miru kotoba no sugata kotoba o hakaru keiry\u014d kokugogaku (Kadokawa ko jiten 9),\u00a0Hayashi \u014cki.<\/p>\n

\u56f3\u8aac\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e: \u30b0\u30e9\u30d5\u3067\u898b\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3070\u306e\u59ff \u3053\u3068\u3070\u3092\u8a08\u308b\u8a08\u91cf\u56fd\u8a9e\u5b66 (\u89d2\u5ddd\u5c0f\u8f9e\u5178 9), \u6797\u5927.<\/p>\n

Illustrated Japanese: The appearance of words in graphs, Quantitative Japanese linguistics to measure words (Kadokawa Small Dictionaries),\u00a0<\/span>Hayashi \u014cki, ed. and comp. (1982), pp. 276-277.<\/p>\n

The graphs are derived from a 1969 book by Morioka Kenji on Meiji period language.\u00a0 Both graphs cover the years 1879-1968.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This graph shows the percentages of A words of Sinitic derivation written in kana, B\u00a0words of Sinitic derivation written with kanji, C words of Japanese derivation written with kanji, and D\u00a0words of Japanese derivation written in kana over the years 1879-1968.\u00a0 As you might expect, words in A increase very slightly.\u00a0 B shrinks linearly and a bit more rapidly.\u00a0 The ratio of C\/D shrinks quite a bit, and the curve of the line dividing C from D is roughly a shallow parabola.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This graph shows the percentage of words written with kanji out of the total.\u00a0 The dividing line represents a sharp decline in kanji usage.<\/p>\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\n