Japanese

The national language of Japan, and many of her dependencies, and the language of trade within the TAR. Japanese was romanized following the development of trade with sailors from Montrei.

Japanese in IB is very similar to *here*, but there are some significant differences.

Romanization

The standard romanization *there* is different than either of the major systems *here*. Y and W are written with i and u when between a consonant and a vowel (a slight difference in the language allows syllables wi, we, and wo, plus the occurance of those syllables with a consonant), and y and w otherwies. To indicate an actual /i/ or /u/ before another vowel, í and ú are used. Thus *here*'s pya -> pia, pia -> pía, piya -> piya. The k and g rows are written ca, qui, cu, que, co and ga, gi, gu, ge, go (qui and que are sometimes written ki and ke). Moraic n (ん) is written ñ before k or g, or before a vowel, y, or w. Note that this means kya kyu kyo are written quia, quiu, quio (some write kia, kiu, kio). Sh is written x, Ts as ç, Ch as tx and J as dj. There is a contrast between r and l. The r-row is ra li ru re ro; its compound cana (i.e., kana in *here*'s romanization) being la lu lo, rui, rue, ruo. Long vowels are marked with a grave (`).

Table of Cana

あ	い	う	え	お
a	i	u	e	o
か	き	く	け	こ	きゃ	きゅ	きょ	くぃ	くぇ	くぉ
ca	qui	cu	que	co	quia	quiu	quio	cui	cue	cuo
が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご	ぎゃ	ぎゅ	ぎょ	ぐぃ	ぐぇ	ぐぉ
ga	gi	gu	ge	go	gia	giu	gio	gui	gue	guo
さ	し	す	せ	そ	しゃ	しゅ	しょ	すぃ	すぇ	すぉ
sa	xi	su	se	so	xa	xu	xo	sui	sue	suo
ざ	じ	ず	ぜ	ぞ	じゃ	じゅ	じょ	ずぃ	ずぇ	ずぉ
za	dji	zu	ze	zo	dja	dju	djo	zui	zue	zuo
た	ち	つ	て	と	ちゃ	ちゅ	ちょ	つぃ	つぇ	つぉ
ta	txi	çu	te	to	txa	txu	txu	çi	çe	ço
だ	ぢ	づ	で	ど	ぢゃ	ぢゅ	ぢょ	づぃ	づぇ	づぉ
da	(dji)	(zu)	de	do	(dja)	(dju)	(djo)	(zui)	(zue)	(zuo)
な	に	ぬ	ね	の	にゃ	にゅ	にょ	ぬぃ	ぬぇ	ぬぉ
na	ni	nu	ne	no	nia	niu	nio	nui	nue	nuo
は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ	ひゃ	ひゅ	ひょ	ふぃ	ふぇ	ふぉ
ha	hi	fu	he	ho	hia	hiu	hio	fi	fe	fo
ぱ	ぴ	ぷ	ぺ	ぽ	ぴゃ	ぴゅ	ぴょ
pa	pi	pu	pe	po	pia	piu	pio
ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ	びゃ	びゅ	びょ
ba	bi	bu	be	bo	bia	biu	bio
ま	み	む	め	も	みゃ	みゅ	みょ
ma	mi	mu	me	mo	mia	miu	mio
や		ゆ		よ
ya		yu		yo
ら	り	る	れ	ろ	りゃ	りゅ	りょ	るぃ	るぇ	るぉ
ra	li	ru	re	ro	la	lu	lo	rui	rue	ruo
わ	ゐ		ゑ	を
wa	wi		we	wo
ん
n/m/ñ

Some examples

• かたかな catacana
• にほんご nihoñgo
• おにいちゃん onìtxan
• いこお icò (notice that in *here*'s Japanese, that would be spelled いこう)
• おみあい omíai (omiai would represent おみゃい)
• しよ xiyo
• りゅうきゅう lùquiù
• つぃいたち Çìtatxi (ついたち tsuitachi in *here*'s Japanese)

Linguistic differences

The standard dialect *there* is based on the dialects of quiñqui-xù, particularly Quiòto, with significant influences from the Edo dialect. During the late Tocugawa era, monomorphemic ui, ue, and uo became [wi:], [we:], and [wo:]. A far more recent change (began in the Taixò era) changed r to l before /i/ and /j/ (thus, l is to r as tx is to t). Voiceless vowels are far less common *there* than *here*. Currently, [N] is in the process of replacing [g] for /g/ in medial position ([g] is still the only allophone word-initially). Japanese *there* has far fewer loan words than Japanese *here*. And those loan words that do exist tend to be from a far broader range of languages than *here*, with Montreiano and Corean being popular sources (Corean loans are often written in hangul, or kanji with fuli-hangul). Thus, a number of words that are *here* borrowed from English were *there* borrowed from Montreiano or other languages, such as anima < animaçón instead of *here*'s anime from animation. While many others are simply based on wago or cañgo.

Writing

As *here*, there was a writing reform. *There*, it occured in several steps:
Gomeidji 3 (1924) - Cana reform. Similar to the 1946 reforms *here*, except with long o written oo instead of ou (except when u represents a morpheme, as in the volitional verb form), also no elimination of furigana (fuligana).

• Xiñwa 3 (Xòwa 20, AD 1944) - Initially only in Xiñwa territories, kanji simplification, similar to the Jouyou kanji *here*, but less drastic (around 2500-3000 kanji or so).
• Saisei Gannen (1952) - Xiñwa's kanji simplification accepted everywhere
• Saisei 17-24 (1968-1975) - Experiment in more radical simplification of kanji, failed.
• Saisei 20 (1971) - wi, we, wo re-introduced in katakana
• Saisei 23 (1974) - wi, we, wo re-introduced in hiragana

Ròmadji is much less common *there* than *here*. However, hangul is well-known, as Corean is the co-official language of the Empire