Page "Japanese language" Paragraph 11

Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period, respectively.

The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries ; and thus there is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms ( for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ).

Among other sound changes, the sequence merges to, in contrast with ; is reintroduced from Chinese ; and merges with.

Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending-te begins to reduce onto the verb ( e. g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the-k-in the final syllable of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form ( e. g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ, where modern Japanese just has hayaku, though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu " good morning "; this ending is also seen in o-medetō " congratulations ", from medetaku ).