文語形

Japanese

Kanji in this term
文	語	形
ぶん Grade: 1	ご Grade: 2	けい Grade: 2
on’yomi

Etymology

Compound of 文語 (“written language”) +‎ 形 (“form”)

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ぶんごけー [bùńgókéé] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [bɯ̟̃ᵝŋɡo̞ke̞ː]

Noun

文(ぶん)語(ご)形(けい) • (bungokei) 

1. (linguistics) word form used in literary language

   Antonym: 口語形

Usage notes

In Japanese literary language, these word forms are used.

• Verbs, 有(あ)り (ari) (compare to colloquial ある (aru)), す (su) (する (suru)).
• i-adjectives, using し (shi) or き (ki) in place of modern い (i). For example, 良(よ)し (yoshi) (良(よ)い (yoi)), 無(な)し (nashi) (無(な)い (nai)), 古(ふる)き良(よ)き (furukiyoki) (combination of 古(ふる)い (furui) and 良(よ)い (yoi))
• nari-adjectives (na-adjective in modern Japanese) 静(しず)かなり (shizukanari) (静(しず)かな (shizukana))