Crescent Pulsar S wrote:I was wondering how well a modern speaker of Japanese would be able to understand someone speaking the language from a thousand or more years ago.
If Japanese has had a drift similar to Western languages they might not be able to understand at all.
As Moviebob pointed out in his review of
Tim Burton's A Christmas Carol Victorian English has a vastly different grammar, syntax, and rhythm from what is spoken today but the movie follows much of Dicken's dialogue. Also there is the culture understanding underneath the language. The exchange between Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present regarding Sabbatarianism is so out of place in our modern world that most people will not have any idea just what those two are on about.
That is difference of just over 150 years and the longer the time the worse it gets.
Here is some of Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales (14th century) as it actual appears:
Ye seken lond and see for your wynnynges,
As wise folk ye knowen all th'estaat
Of regnes; ye been fadres of tydynges
And tales, bothe of pees and of debaat. (The Man of Law's Tale)
Now here is how that reads in modern English:
You seek land and sea for your winnings,
As wise folk you know all the estate
Of kingdoms; you be fathers of tidings,
And tales, both of peace and of debate.
Note that some of the very words used have changed. Japanese has likely had a similar drift.