yudantaiteki Wrote:Aijin Wrote:by not using kanji forms, they're threatened by extinction
This is supposed to be a bad thing? 
It won't affect the vast majority people, but since I have a great love of language, it is rather depressing to me.
Quote:I've seen this claim a lot, but I've never seen it supported by actual quotations from literature that show kanji presenting extra nuance that would not be conveyed if kana were used instead. I think the claim is especially suspect because when you look at authors like Soseki and Akutagawa, modern editions make many changes in their kanji usage to conform to contemporary style.
I believe I've given a few simple examples in the path, but unfortunately I don't really have access to my mini-library of books in California, so I can't provide you with specific quotations, book titles, authors, etc. However, I can explain to you the gist of it, especially in regards to novels written in the point-of-view style, which I find it to be most effective:
When a character's point-of-view is taken, the prose itself should reflect the character, and many Japanese authors use the variations of writing to establish this characterization. In a novel that I read, the story chronicled a man's entire life, starting from his childhood. In the earlier chapters, as it took the young boy's point of view, it used very simple language, mostly hiragana, etc, to examplify his youth and lack of knowledge. As the story progresses and the protagonist gains both age and education, more complicated grammatical structures, and kanji begin to be used in the prose. During the time the character is a scholar, rarer kanji forms gradually replace the mundane aspects of his vocabulary, to reflect his own mental evolution.
In stories with multiple points-of-view, authors also have the ability to give more distinction between the various characters by using different writing styles in their characterization. For example, if a character was from the older generation, traditional kanji forms would be used in the prose for their chapters, as well as more traditional speech. In the chapters of the younger characters, 全然 would be used in positive sentences, since that has become much more common lately, in comparison to the older character's chapters, where 全然 would only be used in negative constructions. Though that's more an example of grammar rather than kanji forms to reflect characterization. But in the older character's prose, 何處 would be used rather than どこ, to use my earlier example. Etc.
The reason this is important, is that it's a characteristic that is quite unique to Japanese. In English if you want to create differences in the prose written for different points-of-view, you're limited to the vocabulary and grammar itself, whereas Japanese presents the extra dimension of expression through its use of multiple ways of writing a single thing.
Many modern authors obviously don't use these techniques, since accessibility is necessary for profit. But when reading works of truly talented writers, keep an eye out for how they use different forms for different characters and situations.
Quote:掛詞 is a device in poetry, which was often spoken (in addition to written, though written in kana) -- the dual meanings those words have are present in the spoken language, not added through written symbols.
I'm not sure what you're talking about here...掛詞 when written, use 平仮名 and 片仮名 so that it is vague and can establish dual meanings within a single word. If there were not multiple writing systems in Japanese, this simply wouldn't be possibly. In Mandarin, there are an insane amount of homonyms, yet one cannot use this technique because the language is limited to 汉字.
Quote:何處 is not even listed in any of my dictionaries. Beautiful literature can be written, and has been written using only kana. Please, no more kanji! There is also value in making a language more accessible.
I suppose I didn't really consider it from a foreigner's perspective. 處 is simply the traditional character for 処, and even if a Japanese person isn't familiar with it, they'll recognize that 何處 is 何処 simply because 処 is a component to the original character, and most Japanese don't have much trouble realizing the traditional characters when they have a context. Modern dictionaries won't have entries for all the variations of the original characters (they'll have 中国 but not 中國; 奨学金 but not 奬學金, for example) but if you look at a dictionary from the 50s or prior, or any literature published back then, those variations are the norm rather than the exception. It's important to be able to read these things, because not everything has been republished for the more simplified language that has come into use recently.
Quote:So while it's a matter of preference, I think a good writing style is simple and succinct, and saves obscure kanjification/words for when they're definitely necessary to carry your idea. Sometimes you may have to expect a reader to use a dictionary to understand your writing, but I think unnecessarily difficult text is as ambiguous as overly simplified writing.
Oh, I agree 100%. Using too much rare vocabulary, kanji forms, etc, just makes it very difficult to grasp for others. And since conveying ideas, etc, is the purpose of language in the first place, what use is it when nobody can understand you because it's so arcane? But at the same time, sometimes one can't settle for simpler vocabulary, because it doesn't express the nuances of meaning that the more common words can use. And in those cases, it's best to just simply use it and make people use a dictionary, as that way you'll get your meaning across, rather than settling for conveying something less precise.
And at the very least, it's important to recognize things. The average Japanese person now adays can't even write 薔薇, since they are never going to handwrite it often enough to bother learning the kanji, but at least everyone can read it.
Balance is the key to everything in life I guess
