Context and etymology may simplify the study of Japanese ideograms
An approach based on studying the origins of and relationships among the characters that make up kanji offers an alternative way to simplify the literacy process
Ideograms emerged as a means of documenting divination rituals and remain an important part of the writing systems used in Japan and China – Photo: Ari Arapoğ lu/Pexels
The goal was to establish a theoretical basis for a methodology that supports memorization by placing kanji in a broader context rather than presenting them as isolated elements. “A sequence of 20 random words, for example, may be harder to memorize. But when those 20 words form a sentence, they make sense and become easier to remember”, said Augusto Mendes Duarte, author of the study.
By analyzing 11 dictionaries in Japanese, Chinese and English, the researcher grouped and compared ideas from different theorists regarding the origin of each character. In addition to critically analyzing the research traditions and approaches found in leading contemporary works on the subject, Mendes gathered information for the first Portuguese-language dictionary of characters, scheduled for publication in 2027.
The origins of East Asian ideograms
The characters used in kanji are derived from hanzi, the Chinese writing system that emerged around 3,500 years ago as a means of documenting religious rituals associated with divination. Because of China’s influence over East Asia for millennia, elements of this writing system were later adopted in other parts of the region, including Japan, Vietnam and Korea. The terms kanji, hanzi and hanja — the Japanese, Chinese and Korean names for the writing system, respectively — all derive from the same written term, 漢字, usually translated as “ideograms” or “Chinese characters.”
“Because these countries adopted this writing system to represent their own languages, many things naturally did not line up, since the languages are different”, stated Rodrygo Tanaka, the study’s advisor. The need to adapt the system to local languages led Chinese characters to undergo changes and, in some cases, to be used alongside complementary writing systems. Today, the frequency with which these characters are used varies across the countries that adopted them.
In South Korea, they are used only to resolve cases of ambiguity because the language contains a large number of homophones — words with different meanings but the same pronunciation. “In some Chinese words, the syllables are the same but are pronounced with different tones. Japanese and Korean borrowed many words from Chinese but did not adopt these tonal distinctions, so the words ended up sounding the same”, Mendes explained. In Japan, although kanji also help distinguish ambiguous words, their role extends beyond this function and they are used in most sentences.
The evolution of the character for fish illustrates the simplifications made over the centuries to make ideograms easier to write – Photo: YouTube/Oráculo Oriental
Unlike the Latin alphabet used in languages such as Portuguese, English and Spanish, character-based writing was not originally based on a phonetic model. Rather than associating symbols with phonemes, characters were initially created to represent ideas, objects and concepts through images. These graphic symbols are known as ideograms.
However, creating new images to represent every existing object and concept became impractical, and some characters began to be formed by combining existing ideograms. According to Mendes, these combinations are based on logical relationships that convey context: characters for verbs such as “to step” or “to kick”, for example, contain a component representing the foot combined with other elements related to the action.
Other elements added to distinguish ideograms are phonetic components. While semantic components convey a character’s meaning through the ideas represented by its graphic elements, phonetic components indicate the pronunciation of the word represented. According to Mendes, more than 70% of characters are traditionally classified as phono-semantic, meaning they are composed of both types of components.
Historical contradictions
Because of their ancient origins and the adaptations and simplifications they have undergone over time, many contemporary theorists hold conflicting interpretations of the characters’ meanings. “One of the best-known scholars, Shizuka Shirakawa, tends toward religious interpretations, which leads him to differ from other authors in his analysis of many characters”, the researcher clarified.
Phonetic components have also become a subject of debate. While some theorists argue that their sole function is to indicate pronunciation, others believe that this part of a character may also carry semantic content and therefore help interpret the ideogram’s meaning. In his dissertation, which received funding from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) during its final stage, Mendes examined both kanji etymology and the semantic effects of phonetic components, seeking to draw deeper connections among characters and make them easier to learn through contextualization.
Kanjigen is one of the largest and most comprehensive printed kanji dictionaries in Japan – Courtesy of Augusto Mendes
Now a doctoral candidate at Hiroshima University in Japan, Mendes continues to collect information for the first Portuguese-language dictionary of characters. In addition to a comparative compilation of existing research, the dictionary will include the author’s own conclusions and cross-linguistic insights intended to make the content easier to understand. Although the research initially focused on kanji, the dictionary also aims to support the teaching of Korean and Mandarin Chinese by including character adaptations and pronunciations in those languages.
“I saw an opportunity to bring the characters together — which had previously been treated as separate, made up of components that seemed unrelated — and connect their different families to help future students remember them more easily”, he said. In addition to developing the dictionary, Mendes also extends his research into public outreach by producing educational content on the subject for social media. The posts are available free of charge on Instagram and YouTube.
The dissertation Interpretações dos Kanji is available in the USP Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
More information: augusto-md@hotmail.com (Augusto Mendes Duarte).
*Intern under the supervision of Fabiana Mariz
English version: Nexus Traduções, edited by Denis Pacheco
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