Editing Spelling reform (section)

=== Japanese ===
{{Main|Japanese script reform}}

The original Japanese [[kana]] [[syllabary|syllabaries]] were a purely phonetic representation used for writing the [[Japanese language]] when they were invented around 800 AD as a simplification of Chinese-derived [[kanji]] characters. However, the syllabaries were not completely codified and alternate letterforms, or [[hentaigana]], existed for many sounds until standardization in 1900. In addition, due to [[Drift (linguistics)|linguistic drift]] the pronunciation of many Japanese words changed, mostly in a systematic way, from the [[classical Japanese language]] as spoken when the kana syllabaries were invented. Despite this, words continued to be spelled in kana as they were in classical Japanese, reflecting the classic rather than the modern pronunciation, until a Cabinet order in 1946 officially [[Japanese script reform#Modern kana usage|adopted spelling reform]], making the spelling of words purely phonetic (with only 3 sets of exceptions) and dropping characters that represented sounds no longer used in the language.