2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Historical Study of the Direction of Writing in Japanese.
| Project/Area Number |
10610413
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
国語学
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Woman's Christian University |
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Principal Investigator |
YANAIKE Makoto Tokyo Woman's Christian University, College of Culture and Communication, Professor, 現代文化学部, 助教授 (00182361)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 2000
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| Keywords | direction of writing / direction of script / vertical writing / horizontal writing / left-to-right horizontal writing / right-to-left horizontal writing / vertical writing rotated 90 degrees / line shifting |
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| Research Abstract |
1. Japanese has a unique writing system, which allows you to write horizontally as well as vertically. It was not until late Edo Period or Early Meiji Period (around 1860-1870) that the horizontal writing was introduced. Before then there was only the vertical writing. Because of the contacts with western world, there was a need for the horizontal writing or the left-to-right direction as opposed to the right-to-left, which had been the only direction to be used before. Besides the horizontal writing, there was the vertical writing rotated 90 degrees or the one whose direction goes from left to right. However, these were soon replaced with the horizontal writing.
2. There appeared two different kinds of horizontal writings almost at the same time. One was the writing from left to right and the other was from right to left. These were used at first according to users, then to genre. However, since the function of the both writings is the same, by about 1950 the writing from left to right became unifonnly to be used, which was more efficient in tenns of the simultaneous use with Arabic numbers.
3. Horizontal writings are most suitable for a certain purpose, while vertical writings are better for another, For some purposes, however, it is quite acceptable to use either of the writings. In spite of this, vertical writings have been used. The use of vertical writing, however, is being gradually replaced with that of horizontal writings. In the near future, the direction of writing in Japanese will be expected to change from the present vertical (unmarked) and horizontal (marked) writing to horizontal (unmarked) and vertical (marked) writing system.
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Research Products
(13 results)
