일본에서 현대 중국의 인명과 지명을 표기하는 방식에 대한 고찰 ― 동아시아문명의 공통자산으로서 한자에 대한 인식을 중심으로

Abstract

In correlation with Japan’s recognition of Chinese character as a common asset of East Asian civilization, this study focuses on investigating how names of persons and places of modern China are written and read in Japan. First, it is confirmed that the phonetic language is mutually complementary to the written one based on Chinese character. Second, the research examines the status and function of Chinese character as signifiant within Japanese, ascertaining that they are directly related to the problem of determining how to write and read Chinese proper nouns. Finally, some historical paths through which human and geographical names of China have been marked and changed in Japan since modern times are searched for. What is also considered with such an exploration is the nature of the issue of whether to take Sino-Japanese sounds or Chinese local sounds when borrowing names of persons and places from different language spheres within East Asian Hanja(Chinese character) civilization. So the issue of whether to take Sino-Japanese sounds or Chinese local sounds in accepting a Chinese noun depends not on which one is right or wrong, but on whether to recognize the Chinese charactar as a medium as a signifiant.