World History

An Overview of the History of the Japanese Language Draft 4.0Daniel J. Vogler 20 March 1998 Linguistics 450 Cynthia Hallen An Overview of the History of The Japanese Language Theories have sprung up to explain the origin of the Japanese language until they have become as varied as the seasons. In fact, Roy Miller, a profuse writer and well-respected authority on this language, says with respect to unraveling its ancestry, "Only one [predominant] language of one major nation remains today without clarification of its origins — Japanese" (Miller 1980, 26). In this paper I will explore the major theories attempting to connect Japanese to other known languages, after first presenting some of the changes from Old Japanese to Modern Japanese, including both the written and spoken forms. The Point of Reference: Japanese Today In order to track this journey through the history of the Japanese language, I'll start with the end result: Modern Japanese. Although the spoken lan

What is the story of the Hindu faith? The history of Hinduism is unique among the world religions in that it has no founder or date of origin. While most major religions derive from new ideas taught by a charismatic leader, Hinduism is simply the religion of the people of India, which has gradually developed over four thousand years. The origins and authors of its sacred texts are largely unknown. Although today's Hinduism differs significantly from earlier forms of Indian religion, its roots date back as far as 2000 BC, making it one of the oldest surviving religions. Because of its age, the early history of Hinduism is unclear. The most ancient writings have yet to be deciphered, so for the earliest periods scholars must rely on educated guesses based on archaeology and contemporary texts. In the last few decades, the history of India's religion has also become a matter of political controversy. The history of any nation (or individual) is an important part of its self