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450
Proto-Japonic
It was brought to Japan by people from the Korean peninsula in the Yayoi period. There is no written evidence, so all the information we have of it is deduced from reconstructions from Old Japanese -
500
Chinese writing system (Kanji) is introduced
Alongside Buddhism, it was imported. The earliest texts are written in Classical Chinese, but some were meant to be read in Japanese or use the Japanese ordering of words. -
Period: 500 to 700
Old Japanese
They used two kinds of writing: Man’yogana and Kanbun.
Both writing systems relied on the use of Chinese characters, which was a lot of effort. The Japanese language needed its own writing system that could capture the essence of Japanese sounds. This was when Hiragana and Katakana were invented. -
Period: 794 to 1185
Early Middle Japanese
In this period the Early Middle Japanese was spoken, it is the Heian period. During this time, the Chinese language had its most significant influence on the Japanese language. -
Period: 1185 to
Late Middle Japanese
Middle Japanese developed better phonology. The first loanwords from other European languages were incorporated into Japanese. -
Period: to
Early Modern Japanese
In the Edo period. Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. -
Period: to
Modern Japanese
The Japanese language modernised quite considerably. Many borrowed words from English