earticle

영어

This study examines the transition of nasal consonants in Japanese language textbooks during the Chosun Dynasty based on a review of Japanese, Chinese and Christian literature. In order to indicate Japanese nasal consonants, in Japanese language textbooks in Chosun Dynasty, Korean nasal consonants such as “ㄴ” and “ㅁ”, or a vowel “ㅇ” is placed as a last syllable in front of consonants, “ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅿ․ㅈ, ㅂ,” which was evidence for the existence of nasal consonants in the Chosun Dynasty. The content analysis of the nasal consonants in the Japanese language textbooks between 15 and 18 century also shows that Japanese nasal consonants, ザ and バ among ガ․ザ․ダ․バ group had become weak in the middle of 17th century and disappeared at the end of 18th century. ガ and ダ group, however, still existed by the end of 18th century even though their sounds became weak, which proved that nasal sound existed. This study contributes to improve understanding evolutionary change of nasal consonants based on empirical evidence from Japanese language textbooks.