A Meiji-kori japán nyelv forrásai

While the stenographic records of the Meiji era have been analyzed in thecontext of linguistic research into the unification of the spoken and writtenlanguage (gembun icchi 言文一致), vocabulary and grammar, there is somedebate as to the value of these records. This paper aims to clarify what kinds of difference occurred in the process of translating and typing the shorthand symbols into magazines andnewspapers. It has become clear that the stenographed speeches published in newspapers and magazines were not faithful reproductions of the original texts. Tomake it easier for the reader to understand, mistakes were rectified in the transcribing process, words and word forms were corrected by the stenographer and/or the editor. It seems that- as linguistic material - the value of a stenographic record ishigher than that of a shorthand book. However, very few shorthand manuscripts have so far been confirmed and in genre they are closer to stenographed speeches. We can assume that if a shorthand manuscript such as rakugo落語 or the Imperial Congressional Record were to be discovered, our understanding of the Meiji period Japanese language would be further enhanced.