JAPANESE SURNAMES AS A SUBJECT OF LINGUISTIC STUDIES

Abstract

Background. Clarifying the ways of forming, structure and usage of anthroponyms is an important key to understanding the functioning of certain ethnocultural communities. Generally in the countries of the Far East a surname plays an important role in personal (self) identity, but on the contrary of China and Korea, the set of Japanese surnames, their nearest geographical neighbors, is extremely rich and diverse. Thus, the comprehensive study of Japanese proper names is actual task of Japanese studies.

Objectives. Basing on the works of Japanese researchers and on the databases of Japanese surnames, this article aims to present characteristics of linguistic features of Japanese surnames and draws perspectives on their further investigation.

Methods. The main method applied in this study is a descriptive method. Furthermore we used procedures of critical analysis and the contrastive method.

Results. It was found that the answer on the discussible issue concerning the amount of Japanese surnames depends on the counting criteria. The amount can vary from thereabout 100 thousand units when considering only the present times and using strict criteria concerning the Kanji records and their spellings, to almost 300 thousand units when adding surnames no longer used and counting different phonetic and graphical Kanji variants as separate surnames. This article also deals with the issue of regional characteristics of surnames. The 30 most popular Japanese surnames were classified from a regional point of view and this classification has much in common with the division of Japanese dialects. Phonetically, Japanese surnames are part of wago. Morphologically, most of them consist of two components and semanticize the features of the terrain and cultivated nature, reflecting the values of the Japanese language’s worldview. The analysis of component frequency revealed that last components denote the objects or aspects of their orientation in the space, and first components specify their different attributes.

Conclusions. Surnames are an important source of information about the regional characteristic of the country, linguistic features of Japanese and the values of its worldview. The question of regional characteristics of Japanese surnames and developing their consistent semantic and ideographical classification demands further investigation.