I just happened across an Asahi Shinbun article with a headline that reads:
日本{にほん}の子{こ}どもの幸福度{こうふくど}は６位{い} 豊{ゆた}かさの一方{いっぽう}、深刻{しんこく}な貧困{ひんこん}
(-) Compacting articles as much as possible is a standard practice in every newspaper in the world. Yet, the 3 character long "子ども" was written instead of the 2 character long "子供".
(-) My understanding is that "ども" in "子供" is not 送{おく}り仮名{がな}。 If somehow it is, I hope someone can elaborate? "送り仮名" does not happen after tangible nouns, right?
The writer of that headline absolutely has a reason for writing "子ども", but I cannot imagine what it is. Conserving space in a newspaper is paramount, and "子供" looks good to me.
thank you.
Answer
The reason is the negativity associated with the plural suffix 「供」, which tends to be used in a derogatory way as in 「[野郎供]{やろうども}」, 「[雑魚供]{ざこども}」, etc. "Mouths to feed" is what 「子供」 could sound/look like and unfortunately that is what the word used to often imply because Japan has not always been a wealthy nation like it is now.
In schools (Japanese schools. of course), I myself never officially learned to write 「こども」 or 「子ども」 entirely in kanji -- never. I had, for that reason, long been wondering why Japanese-learners write it in kanji. However, in June of 2013, our Ministry of Education changed its mind and announced that it would use 「子供」 in all of its official documents.
http://www.j-cast.com/2013/09/01182664.html?p=all
I myself will probably keep writing it as 「こども」 or 「子ども」 because old habits die hard, but since last June, we suddenly have every reason to write it as 「子供」. Newspapers can go either way because they are not official documents issued by the government.
No comments:
Post a Comment