There are more than 6.500 languages in the world in forms of written and spoken, all of which aid in the expression of thoughts and feelings (Crystal, 2018). Over time, due to interactions we hold with different people, language can evolve. This is not an exception in the Japanese language, which has more than 130 million speakers worldwide and the Chinese language which has more than 1.3 billion worldwide as due to the interactions between the two and the habit of Japanese importing culture, various similarities and differences are noticeable between the two languages (Crystal, 2018).
Morphology refers to the study of formation and relationship between words from different languages through analysis of the word structure. There are various similarities between the morphology in Chinese and Japanese language. First and foremost, similarity can be noticed in the nouns. In both languages, they lack feminine and masculine nouns. High correspondence can be seen between different words such as 猫 (neko) in Japanese corresponds with 猫 (mao) in Chinese. Also, in terms of numbers, both languages use the same characters to represent the numbers. In terms of differences, the Chinese language solely uses the Chinese characters, while the Japanese language uses both Japanese and Chinese spelling katakana (カタカナ) and hiragana (ひらがな) (Amaro et.al, 2018). Also, in terms of names and titles, Chinese names go up to 3 characters while in Japanese, names can go up to four characters. Overall, word borrowing is evident between the Chinese and Japanese language with Kanji characters in the Chinese language possessing attributes of Japanese writings.
In terms of syntax, which refers to the combination of different words to form sentences, similarities between Japanese and Chinese language can also be noted. To start with, in the formation of phrases used in titles, both the languages have the title followed by the surname of the holder. For example, Wang xiangsheng meaning “Mister Wang” in Chinese, follows the same structure as (Kobayashi sensei) which in Japanese means “Professor Kobayashi” (Myers, 2019). However, differences can be seen as information of phrases used to classify things. In the Chinese language, classifiers follow the format of Number+ Classifier+ Noun while in the Japanese, the composition of Noun+ Particle+ Number + Classifier is supported (Myers, 2019). Also, questions are formed differently in Japanese and Chinese languages. At the end of an affirmative phrase, the particles are usually 吗 (ma) for the Chinese and か (ka) for the Japanese language. In terms of phrase structure, the Chinese use SVO (Subject-Verb-Object) format, while the Japanese use the (Subject-Object-Verb) format. In terms of the phrases and sentences used in verbal communication, unlike the Chinese language, the Japanese have an honorific system of language. In this system, communication in the Japanese language is judged by the relationship between the individuals. This means that sentences structured in communication are different regarding the superiority of an individual to the communicator. Thus, the sentence structure in the Japanese language is different when one is talking to their siblings and when one is talking to their boss, for example.
Phonology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization of sounds in spoken languages and signs in sign languages. Phonology also determines the combination and modification of specific sounds to fit in different contexts. Both Chinese and Japanese language makes use of the same characters that are; hanzi for Chinese and Kanji for Japanese (Amaro et.al, 2018). Also, the Chinese language makes use of five primary vowel phonemes the same as the Japanese language. However, significant differences can be noted in the arrangement of the vowel systems with the Chinese language having an arrangement of /I, u, y, ə, a/ and the Japanese language having an arrangement of /a, i, u, e, o/. Pronunciation of the same characters is also different from a character such as 山 which exists in both Chinese and Japanese languages been pronounces as Shan in Yomi (Chinese) and san in Kun Yomi (Japanese) (Amaro et.al, 2018). To be able to know if a character is Yomi or Kun Yomi, it is good to note that if the character is existing alone, that is Yomi, and if other composite words follow the character, that is Kun Yomi.
In examining the differences and similarities between the Chinese and Japanese languages, phonetics is also considered. Phonetics refers to the description of human sound, thus incorporates the study of what humans do when they speak and what one listens to in a speech. In both Chinese and Japanese languages, there exists both pitch and intonation in pronunciation. However, the Chinese language makes use of a transcription system named Pinyin, which judges how words are pronounced while the Japanese language makes use of furigana or hiragana characters placed above a specific character to show the pronunciation (Maekawa et.al, 2017). The Chinese usually have distinct tones for the articulation of characters, unlike the Japanese, who only lack rules for pronunciation.
Tone demonstration is done in Chinese where mā indicates high tone, má shows a medium tone, mǎ is rising intonation, mà is falling intonation and ma is flat intonation. This means that, unlike Japanese, where different meanings cannot be derived from the same wording depending on the tone, in the Chinese language, this happens (Maekawa et.al, 2017). Besides, the phonetic characteristics of Hiragana and Katakana used by the Japanese are an alteration of the Chinese language pronunciation. Compared to Japanese, the Chinese language can be termed as challenging to learn since as there many complicated language rules attached.
In conclusion, there are significant differences and similarities between the Chinese and Japanese languages. These similarities and variations had been achieved through the day-to-day evolution of language as well as the diplomatic relations between the citizens of both Japan and China. In terms of morphology, significant similarities arise in the use of the same characters and numbering while the difference is in terms of the Number of characters existing in a word. A comparison in syntax shows similarity in the formulation of title phrases; disputes arise in question formation and sentence structure. In phonology, similarities can be picked in terms of the number of vowels, while differences can be picked in different sound patterns in the same character. Lastly, in phonetic comparison, both intonation and pitch are present in both languages, while differences can be seen in tone arrangement.