The origins and changes over time of the features and characteristics of Japanese in its spoken and written forms.
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Why do days of the week use on-yomi kanji readings?
I would like to know if there is detailed information as to why days of the week use on-yomi readings, for example
月 in 月曜日 【げつようび】
Were these readings (as spoken) imported from the ...
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149 views
What is the etymology of 〜ません（でした）?
I have always been interested in the negative polite (〜ません) and negative past-polite (〜ませんでした) inflections of verbs.
My understanding is that ます is an inflectable function word (助動詞), so I'm ...
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Did the Japanese have a word for surrender before WWII?
I had always thought that the Japanese didn't have a word for surrender before WWII. It seemed to be plausible given their culture. However, I can't seem to find any solid evidence of this. Is it just ...
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153 views
Why are 今日は and 今晩は used for greetings?
If they are translated literally it gives "today is" and "tonight is".
Is it some sentence that got shortened ?
(Also not sure how to classify this question so forgive me if I used the wrong ...
