480531170

these provisos, it is thought that the designations NJK and CO will still be of some
value to the reader as a general indication.
Phonetic with associated sense: refers to the phonetic element in a compound
graph, with the phonetic element also having a semantic function, but one which
typically is different from its usual dictionary meaning; this different meaning is due
in a particular case to a connection to a word-family in Chinese. For instance,
1012 ‘handle, treat as’ consists of 34 ‘hand’ and 1202 ‘reach’; functions here
as phonetic with the associated sense ‘take in, gather’, and not in its usual dictionary
sense ‘handle, treat as’. Another example is , consisting of 78 ‘strength’ and
63 ‘rice-field, paddy field’, but here involving as phonetic with the associated
sense ‘endure’. If further details and examples are needed, see ‘Word-Families and
the Chinese Script’ (Section 3 above).
Traditional form: in the case of modern Japanese, refers to older character shapes
based on those in printed versions of Kangxi zidian which were adopted in early
official Japanese government lists such as the first Jōyō kanji list of 1923 (1,962 characters)
and then abbreviated in the Tōyō kanji list of 1946 (1,850 characters) and
later official lists including the Kaitei Jōyō kanji list of 2010 (2,136 characters). In
some cases, there are differences in the shape of a graph between Kangxi zidian and
the first Jōyō kanji List of 1923. There is, in other words, a degree of looseness in the
term ‘traditional form’. See also ‘Printed Texts and the Calligraphic Tradition’ (Section
6 above).
Variant (or variant form) is used primarily to refer to an alternative shape for a
particular character, e.g. is an alternative shape for 132 ‘tall, high’. Such variants
are described in relation to a norm such as the Kangxi zidian or the Jōyō kanji list of
2010. What constitutes a variant can differ according to the period and the country
or jurisdiction, and so what is presented as the norm in terms of character shape in
Kangxi zidian often differs from the norm in the 2010 Jōyō kanji list. ‘Variant’ is also
sometimes used in this book to refer to the alternative shape(s) of a determinative
when occurring as an element in a compound graph, e.g. 8 ‘fire’ changes in shape
to in 1431 ‘boil, cook’.
Introduction 25