Phonetic complement
Encyclopedia
A phonetic complement is a phonetic symbol used to disambiguate word characters (logogram
s) that have multiple readings, in mixed logographic-phonetic scripts such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Akkadian cuneiform
, Japanese
, and Mayan
. Often they reenforce the communication of the ideogram
by repeating the first or last syllable in the term.
Written English has few logograms, primarily numerals, and therefore few phonetic complements. An example is the nd of 2nd 'second', which avoids ambiguity with 2 standing for the word 'two'. Hypothetically, if English had a more developed system of phonetic complements parallel with the scripts mentioned above, there might be a convention of writing 2ble for 'double', 2ple for 'couple', 2uary for 'February' (the second month), 2ary for 'binary', 2r for 'pair', o2r for 'other' (which historically meant 'second'), 2in for 'twin', 2ni 'Gemini' ("the Twins"), etc. Use of logograms in English, and hence phonetic complements, is considered informal, and avoided in formal writing. In addition to numerals, other examples include Xmas
, Xianity, and Xing
for Christmas
, Christianity
, and Crossing – note the separate readings Christ and Cross.
Phonetic complements also indicated the Akkadian nominative and genitive cases.
Phonetic complements should not be confused with determinative
s (which were also used to disambiguate) since determinatives were used specifically to indicate the category of the word they preceded or followed. For example, the sign DINGIR
often precedes names of gods, as LUGAL does for kings. It is believed that determinatives were not pronounced.
, designed for a very different language. The Chinese phonetic components built into these kanji
do not work when they are pronounced in Japanese, and there is not a one-to-one relationship between them and the Japanese words they represent.
For example, the kanji 生, pronounced shō or sei in borrowed Chinese vocabulary, stands for several native Japanese words as well. When these words have inflectional endings (verbs/adjectives and adverbs), the end of the stem is written phonetically:
as well as the hybrid Chinese-Japanese word
Note that some of these verbs share a kanji reading (i, u, and ha), and okurigana are conventionally picked to maximize these sharings.
These phonetic characters are called okurigana
. They are used even when the inflection of the stem can be determined by a following inflectional suffix, so the primary function of okurigana for many kanji is that of a phonetic complement.
Generally it is the final syllable containing the inflectional ending is written phonetically. However, in adjectival verbs ending in -shii, and in those verbs ending in -ru in which this syllable drops in derived nouns, the final two syllables are written phonetically. There are also irregularities. For example, the word umareru 'be born' is derived from umu 'to bear, to produce'. As such, it may be written 生まれる [生mareru], reflecting its derivation, or 生れる [生reru], as with other verbs ending in elidable ru.
Occasionally okurigana coincide with the phonetic (rebus) component of phono-semantic Chinese characters, which reflects that they fill the same role of phonetic complement. For example, in the word 割り算 (warizan, division), the phonetic component of 割 is 刂, which is cognate to the okurigana り, which is derived from 利, which also uses 刂.
'), which may not exist independently, and a phonetic complement indicates the approximant pronunciation of the morpheme. However, the phonetic element is basic, and these might be better thought of as characters used for multiple near homonyms, the identity of which is constrained by the determiner. Due to sound changes over the last several millennia, the phonetic complements are not a reliable guide to pronunciation.
, the logosyllabic orthography of the Maya Civilization
, used phonetic complements extensively and phonetic complements could be used synharmonically or disharmonically. The former is exemplified by the placement of the syllabogram
for ma underneath the logogram
for "Jaguar" (in Classic Maya, BALAM): thus, though pronounced "BALAM", the word for "jaguar" was spelled "BALAM-m(a)". Disharmonic spellings also existed in the Maya Script.
Logogram
A logogram, or logograph, is a grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme . This stands in contrast to phonograms, which represent phonemes or combinations of phonemes, and determinatives, which mark semantic categories.Logograms are often commonly known also as "ideograms"...
s) that have multiple readings, in mixed logographic-phonetic scripts such as Egyptian hieroglyphs, Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform script
Cuneiform script )) is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BC, with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium , cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs...
, Japanese
Japanese writing system
The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts:*Kanji, adopted Chinese characters*Kana, a pair of syllabaries , consisting of:...
, and Mayan
Maya script
The Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs or Maya hieroglyphs, is the writing system of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered...
. Often they reenforce the communication of the ideogram
Ideogram
An ideogram or ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiarity with prior convention; others convey their meaning through pictorial resemblance to a physical object, and thus may also be referred to as pictograms.Examples of...
by repeating the first or last syllable in the term.
Written English has few logograms, primarily numerals, and therefore few phonetic complements. An example is the nd of 2nd 'second', which avoids ambiguity with 2 standing for the word 'two'. Hypothetically, if English had a more developed system of phonetic complements parallel with the scripts mentioned above, there might be a convention of writing 2ble for 'double', 2ple for 'couple', 2uary for 'February' (the second month), 2ary for 'binary', 2r for 'pair', o2r for 'other' (which historically meant 'second'), 2in for 'twin', 2ni 'Gemini' ("the Twins"), etc. Use of logograms in English, and hence phonetic complements, is considered informal, and avoided in formal writing. In addition to numerals, other examples include Xmas
Xmas
"Xmas" is a common abbreviation of the word "Christmas". It is sometimes pronounced , but it, and variants such as "Xtemass", originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation...
, Xianity, and Xing
Xing
Xing may refer to:* an abbreviation for crossing, primarily used in North America* Qiao Xing Universal Telephone Inc. * XING, a social network platform* Xing County, in Shanxi, China* Xing - A Korean boyband...
for Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
, Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, and Crossing – note the separate readings Christ and Cross.
In cuneiform
In Sumerian, the single word kur had two meanings: 'hill' and 'country'. Akkadian, however, had separate words for these two meanings: šadú 'hill' and mātu 'country'. When Sumerian cuneiform was adapted for writing Akkadian, this was ambiguous because both words were written with the same character (conventionally transcribed KUR, after its Sumerian pronunciation). To alert the reader as to which Akkadian word was intended, the phonetic complement -ú was written after KUR if hill was intended, so that the characters KUR-ú were pronounced šadú, whereas KUR without a phonetic complement was understood to mean mātu 'country'.Phonetic complements also indicated the Akkadian nominative and genitive cases.
Phonetic complements should not be confused with determinative
Determinative
A determinative, also known as a taxogram or semagram, is an ideogram used to mark semantic categories of words in logographic scripts which helps to disambiguate interpretation. They have no direct counterpart in spoken language, though they may derive historically from glyphs for real words, and...
s (which were also used to disambiguate) since determinatives were used specifically to indicate the category of the word they preceded or followed. For example, the sign DINGIR
Dingir
Dingir is a cuneiform sign, most commonly the determinative for "deity" although it has related meanings as well. As a determinative, it is not pronounced, and is conventionally transliterated as a superscript "D" as in e.g. DInanna...
often precedes names of gods, as LUGAL does for kings. It is believed that determinatives were not pronounced.
In Japanese
As in Akkadian, Japanese borrowed a logographic script, ChineseChinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
, designed for a very different language. The Chinese phonetic components built into these kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
do not work when they are pronounced in Japanese, and there is not a one-to-one relationship between them and the Japanese words they represent.
For example, the kanji 生, pronounced shō or sei in borrowed Chinese vocabulary, stands for several native Japanese words as well. When these words have inflectional endings (verbs/adjectives and adverbs), the end of the stem is written phonetically:
- 生 nama 'raw' or ki 'alive'
- 生う [生u] o-u 'expand'
- 生きる [生kiru] i-kiru 'live'
- 生かす [生kasu] i-kasu 'arrange'
- 生ける [生keru] i-keru 'live'
- 生む [生mu] u-mu 'produce'
- 生まれる or 生れる [生mareru or 生reru] u-mareru or uma-reru 'be born'
- 生える [生eru] ha-eru 'grow' (intransitive)
- 生やす [生yasu] ha-yasu 'grow' (transitive)
as well as the hybrid Chinese-Japanese word
- 生じる [生jiru] shō-jiru 'occur'
Note that some of these verbs share a kanji reading (i, u, and ha), and okurigana are conventionally picked to maximize these sharings.
These phonetic characters are called okurigana
Okurigana
are kana suffixes following kanji stems in Japanese written words. They serve two purposes: to inflect adjectives and verbs, and to disambiguate kanji with multiple readings...
. They are used even when the inflection of the stem can be determined by a following inflectional suffix, so the primary function of okurigana for many kanji is that of a phonetic complement.
Generally it is the final syllable containing the inflectional ending is written phonetically. However, in adjectival verbs ending in -shii, and in those verbs ending in -ru in which this syllable drops in derived nouns, the final two syllables are written phonetically. There are also irregularities. For example, the word umareru 'be born' is derived from umu 'to bear, to produce'. As such, it may be written 生まれる [生mareru], reflecting its derivation, or 生れる [生reru], as with other verbs ending in elidable ru.
Occasionally okurigana coincide with the phonetic (rebus) component of phono-semantic Chinese characters, which reflects that they fill the same role of phonetic complement. For example, in the word 割り算 (warizan, division), the phonetic component of 割 is 刂, which is cognate to the okurigana り, which is derived from 利, which also uses 刂.
In Chinese
Chinese never developed a system of purely phonetic characters. Instead, about 90% of Chinese characters are compounds of a determinative (called a 'radicalRadical (Chinese character)
A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...
'), which may not exist independently, and a phonetic complement indicates the approximant pronunciation of the morpheme. However, the phonetic element is basic, and these might be better thought of as characters used for multiple near homonyms, the identity of which is constrained by the determiner. Due to sound changes over the last several millennia, the phonetic complements are not a reliable guide to pronunciation.
In the Maya Script
The Maya ScriptMaya script
The Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs or Maya hieroglyphs, is the writing system of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, presently the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered...
, the logosyllabic orthography of the Maya Civilization
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
, used phonetic complements extensively and phonetic complements could be used synharmonically or disharmonically. The former is exemplified by the placement of the syllabogram
Syllabary
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent syllables, which make up words. In a syllabary, there is no systematic similarity between the symbols which represent syllables with the same consonant or vowel...
for ma underneath the logogram
Logogram
A logogram, or logograph, is a grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme . This stands in contrast to phonograms, which represent phonemes or combinations of phonemes, and determinatives, which mark semantic categories.Logograms are often commonly known also as "ideograms"...
for "Jaguar" (in Classic Maya, BALAM): thus, though pronounced "BALAM", the word for "jaguar" was spelled "BALAM-m(a)". Disharmonic spellings also existed in the Maya Script.