46481
I'm trying to learn Japanese but I'm the kind of person who can't really learn
if they don't understand some of the mechanisms. I'm stuck when learning
vocabulary because I can't just be like "OK this one is strange but whatever,
it must be an exception, I'll learn it that way".

What slows me down are the many ways of pronouncing _kanji_. I don't want to
learn the whole story from the beginning but I just want to know the different
cases about why sometimes the main rules about _kanji_ aren't followed.

The point of my topic is to understand every case I can encounter when
learning Japanese words, so I won't be stuck trying to figure why a word has a
strange pronunciation.

So here is what I have gathered, I'd like you to correct me or to add some
things, please. I'm interested in knowing the appropriate terms for the
phenomenons, I've written them in **_italic and bold_** for the first use in
my message.

* * *

### BRIEF HISTORY

(helps understand some cases)

Japanese people had a language without writing system. They then discovered
Chinese writing and used the **_kanji_** with their own Japanese pronunciation
( ** _kun'yomi_** ) and the Chinese - simplified - pronunciation ( **
_on'yomi_** ).

They then used the _kanji_ for their phonetic value only ( ** _man'yôgana_**
), which leads to creating **_katakana_** (a part of a _man'yôgana_ to show
the pronunciation of a _kanji_ in a text, something like what **_furigana_**
are nowadays) and **_hiragana_** (a simplified _man'yôgana_ when written
fast).

* * *

### MAIN RULES

1) a _kanji_ alone uses _kun'yomi_ reading.

2) a combined word uses _on'yomi_ readings of each _kanji_ (with sometimes
little alterations).

Ex:

> 火 = ひ
>
> 山 = やま
>
> 火山 = カザン

**Question 1: why is that so? Is it because Japanese didn't really mix words
together before getting _kanji_? They didn't have a word for a volcano?**

* * *

### OTHER CASES

(breaking the main rules)

1) a _kanji_ alone has no _kun'yomi_ reading because the word didn't exist in
pure Japanese:

> 菊 = キク

**Question 2: does this phenomenon has a name?**

2) a combined word has a _kun'yomi_ reading for each _kanji_ because Japanese
had already orally created combined words. They've then combined the correct
_kanji_ of each _kun'yomi_ reading:

> 名前 = なまえ
>
> 小山 = こやま

**Question 3: does this phenomenon has a name?**

3) a _kanji_ alone has a combined _kun'yomi_ reading because a unique _kanji_
existed in Chinese for a word made up of two words in Japanese. It doesn't
break the main rules but we can see sort of a "orally combined word" on a
unique _kanji_ :

> 鶏 = にわとり

**Question 4: does this phenomenon has a name?**

Funny: the word たまご has two writings corresponding to point 2 (玉子) and 3 (卵).

4) a combined word with two _kanji_ , the first one in _on'yomi_ reading and
the second one in _kun'yomi_ reading ( ** _jûbakoyomi_** ):

> 曜日 = ヨウび

5) a combined word whose reading is neither the _kun'yomi_ readings or the
_on-yomi_ readings of the _kanji_ , because the word existed in Japanese and
the _kanji_ are used for their meaning only ( ** _jukujikun_** ):

> 山羊 = やぎ
>
> 大人 = おとな

**Question 5: was the combined writing of a _jukujikun_ only created by
Japanese to suit the meaning of the word, or could it have existed in
Chinese?**

6) a _katakana_ word combined with a _on'yomi_ reading of a _kanji_ to create
a new word:

> フランス人

7) a word using _kanji_ for their pronunciation only ( ** _ateji_** ). It can
be the _on'yomi_ reading ( ** _shakuon_** ) or the _kun'yomi_ reading ( **
_shakkun_** ). They tend to be written with kana only:

> 誤魔化す = ごまかす
>
> 合羽 = カッパ

8) a word using two purely Japanese readings because it's a repetition (often
written with the repetition sign 々):

> 時時 = ときどき

* * *

Apart from my questions, I'd be glad to read every information and correction
you can offer. Thank you.
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2017-04-09T16:59:10.293
46394
2017-04-11T19:52:55.010
2017-04-09T17:49:02.467
19507
19507
question
kanji readings orthography linguistics semantics
Rules and phenomena about reading/writing words with kanji
> Question 1: why is that so? Is it because Japanese didn't really mix words
> together before getting kanji? They didn't have a word for a volcano?

As you already wrote in the following part of your question, there are many
straightforward kun-kun compounds, including 竹箒, 緑色, 花火, 夜空 and 岩山.

The number of on'yomi compounds is larger because recently-coined terms, many
of which are technical terms, generally use on'yomi. Many yamatokotoba have
been replaced by on'yomi compounds or katakana loanwords. Pure yamatokoba will
not increase any longer, while many new sino-Japanese (kango) words and
katakana loanwords are still being introduced every day.

In addition, on'yomi noun-verb or verb-verb compounds are still two-kanji
compounds (e.g., 転職 (v+n), 飲酒 (v+n), 競争 (v+v)), but kun'yomi noun-verb
compounds are usually mixture of kana and kanji (e.g. 火遊び, 語り草, 飲み物) with a
few exceptions (e.g., 船出, 見境). Kun'yomi verb-verb compounds are merely called
[compound verbs](http://vvlexicon.ninjal.ac.jp/db/), which of course are
mixture of kana and kanji.

> Question 2～4: does this phenomenon has a name?

No I don't think so, at least in laypeople's vocabulary. There are so many
common kun-kun compounds that I had never thought we need a special name for
it. By the way I think most Japanese people cannot tell with confidence
whether 菊【きく】 is on'yomi or kun'yomi.

> Question 5: was the combined writing of a jukujikun only created by Japanese
> to suit the meaning of the word, or could it have existed in Chinese?

As the literal meaning of 熟字 **訓** ("character-combination(-based)-kun'yomi")
suggests, it's the word used to refer to certain _Japanese_ words. I don't
know if similar exceptional hanji readings exist in Chinese.
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2017-04-11T15:12:37.833
46481
2017-04-11T16:04:08.857
2017-04-11T16:04:08.857
5010
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46394
answer
### Overview

> _What slows me down are the many ways of pronouncing kanji. I don't want to
> learn the whole story from the beginning but I just want to know the
> different cases about why sometimes the main rules about kanji aren't
> followed._

When people say they don't know how to pronounce it, they actually don't know
what word the written form refers to. In most cases, they don't know the word.
So, if you find you don't know what the given characters read, try
dictionaries, ask Google.

That a kanji has multiple pronunciations are actually that the kanji
persistently represents multiple series of synonyms. If a kanji could be read
both _autumn_ or _fall_ , what decides which to read? The unpredictability of
kanji readings are, in fact, that of lexicon. Generally, synchronic (i.e. a
certain time-slice of) inventory of vocabulary has little rule in relation to
grammar. English demonyms are good examples: _English_ , _American_ ,
_Japanese_ , _Iraqi_ , _Argentine_ , _Cypriot_ , but not _Englese_ or
_Japanish_. Each suffix ( _-ish_ , _-an_ , _-ese_...) could have possibility
to attach to more words, but those words just don't exist in the actual
language.

* * *

> _1) a kanji alone uses kun'yomi reading._

This may be not a bad guess on a frequency basis, though not a rule. Try think
not in pronunciation way but word, as the standalone on'yomi and kun'yomi
words may have different meanings.

  * 金: キン (gold) ←→ かね (money; metal)
  * 文: ブン (sentence) ←→ ふみ (letter (mail))
  * 剣: ケン (sword, basic word) ←→ つるぎ (sword, poetic)

> _2) a combined word uses on'yomi readings of each kanji (with sometimes
> little alterations)._
>
> _**Question 1: why is that so? Is it because Japanese didn't really mix
> words together before getting kanji? They didn't have a word for a
> volcano?**_

There is a great number of multi-kanji words imported from China as is, or
created in Japan imitating the format (like neologisms in many European
languages that use Greek and Latin elements). They are of course read in
on'yomi, while words that made of two kun'yomi words are of course kun'yomi.
So the truth is that despite they share the same kanji, カザン is not made of ひ +
やま, no more than _helicopter_ is made of _whirl_ + _wing_ (even though that's
what it means!).

> _1) a kanji alone has no kun'yomi reading because the word didn't exist in
> pure Japanese:_
>
> _2) a combined word has a kun'yomi reading for each kanji because Japanese
> had already orally created combined words. They've then combined the correct
> kanji of each kun'yomi reading:_
>
> _8) a word using two purely Japanese readings because it's a repetition
> (often written with the repetition sign 々):_

Those statements are no more valid since what is said above, alongside the
questions.

> _3) a kanji alone has a combined kun'yomi reading because a unique kanji
> existed in Chinese for a word made up of two words in Japanese. It doesn't
> break the main rules but we can see sort of a "orally combined word" on a
> unique kanji:_

にわとり _is_ one word as much as _blackboard_ is. That's proven by the accent:
にわとり{LHHH} < にわ{LH} + とり{LH}. The true "a kanji alone has a combined kun'yomi
reading" examples only appear in documents of oldest times.

> 五に曰く、餮【あぢはひのむさぼり】を絶ち、欲【たからのほしみ】を棄て……（十七条憲法 (604)）

I'm not sure if they're kun'yomi in proper sense, though.

> _**Question 5: was the combined writing of a jukujikun only created by
> Japanese to suit the meaning of the word, or could it have existed in
> Chinese?**_

If it doesn't exist in Chinese, it's called _ateji_ by definition.

> _6) a katakana word combined with a on'yomi reading of a kanji to create a
> new word:_

Not true: 南【みなみ】アフリカ "South Africa", ノイマン型【がた】 "von Neumann type".
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2017-04-11T19:52:55.010
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2017-04-11T19:52:55.010
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer