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2 Language Lecture Notes ?/span>2001 by Mineharu Nakayama

Key words: writing system - Kanji and Kana (when do they use them, different readings of Kanji, men's or women's characters) SOV, Case markers and postpositions, scrambling, agglutinative, No agreement, empty pronouns, WH in situ, Topic, politeness, 5 vowels, pitch accent, Calligraphy

[note: this page includes Japanese written characters; not all you may not be able to see everything on you computer]

vagueness - literary preference

politeness - importance of social and age differences

kotodama - Language = a property for Japanese, not a means of communication

Japanese language as a "Theory of Japanese Culture"

Very polular in 1960s-80s (supercedes or incorporates "climate" theory)

e.g., left vs. right brain theory

time devoted to acquisition of complex system of writing

visual and aesthetic effect of language: calligraphy

eminently prepared for the "information society"

emphasis on non-verbal communication; cultivation of ambiguity

importance of context, interpersonal relations: the business card

a "wet" language: environment or mood is heightened

Japanese is a member of the Altaic family of languages (Central Asian origin)

as opposed to Indo-European family (largest spread) and Sino-Tibetan family (largest number of speakers)

Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Turkish, Hungarian. Finnish

Common historical characteristics of Altaic languages

Strength of oral tradition and literature

Did not develop own system of writing

Borrowed a non-Altaic system of writing; but had to modify it

Common grammatical characterisitcs

S O V

(S) (O) V: high degree of ellipsis; but there is always a verb

verbs are highly inflected, carry more information (tense, aspect, status of speaker)

Japanese - levels of politeness, formality; in-group vs out-group

Kojiki 'Record of Ancient Matters' (712 AD)-written in Chinese

Manyooshuu 'Collection of Myriad Leaves' (759AD) - manyoogana

karina vs. mana

Writing system

Kanji and Kana (hiragana, katakana), Romaji

?/span>?/span> ?/span>†ÇÒ ÉAÉì an

vertical (right to left) or horizontal writing

?/span>† ÉA

ÇÒ Éì

stem or content words (more abstract) - kanji

postpositions and inflection - hiragana

ÉIÉnÉCÉI?#63743;?#402;?/span>‡?#8721;ÇÈÅ^?#402;?/span>‡Çµ?#8486;ÅB

Ohio-o annai-suru/annai-shita

Ohio-Acc guide/guided 'Show/showed someone Ohio / guide/guided Ohio'

Uraniwaniwa niwa, niwaniwa niwa, niwatori ga iru.

ÉEÉâÉjÉèÉjÉnÉjÉèÅAÉjÉèÉjÉnÉjÉèÅAÉjÉèÉgÉäÉKÉCÉã

?/span>?/span>ÇÁ?/span>…ÇÌ?/span>…ÇÕ?/span>…ÇÌÅA?/span>…ÇÌ?/span>…ÇÕ?/span>…ÇÌÅA?/span>…ÇÌ?#8710;ÇË?/span>™Ç¢ÇÈ

?/span>†íÎ?/span>…ÇÕìÒâHÅAíÎ?/span>…ÇÕìÒâHÅAå{?/span>™Ç¢ÇÈ

back yard at-Top two CL front yard at Top two CL chickens be

'There are two chickens in the back yard and two chickens in the front yard.'

Kanji ÅiäøéöÅj

Go on (Wu area), Kan on (Tang Dynasty), Toosoo on

çs gyoo koo an

On yomi vs. Kun yomi

çs?/span>≠ i (ku)

1850 Kanjis - 1945 Jooyoo kanji

Words

Japanese native word (Yamato Kotoba/Wago), Chinese word (Kango), and Loan word (Gairaigo)

Western loan words - Katakana (16c - Portuguese and Dutch; 20c - American occupation; Greek & Latin - science; German - medicine; French - arts; American - pop culture)

Gion-go (phonomimes), Gitai-go (phenomimes), Gijoo-go (psychomimes)

voiced - heavier/louder/stronger/bigger/rougher actions or states...baby talk

ÉOÅ[ÉOÅ[Å^ÉOÉEÉOÉEÅ^ÇÆ?/span>?/span>ÇÆ?/span>?/span>

Morphology

agglutinative - tense, mood, politeness plus passive, causative, desiderative, negative, interrogative, etc.

mi-ru (present) mi-ta (past/perfect) mi-masu (polite) mi-rareru (passive)

mi-se-ru (causative) mi-tai (desiderative) mi-nai (negative) mi-ru-ka (interrogative)

No marking of gender, number, and person on nouns and verbs

Hanako/Ken/Hanako-to Ken-ga kuru.

hanako/ken/hanako and ken-Nom come 'Hanako/Ken/Hanako and Ken comes/come.'

Phonology

V, CV, or C - karaoke, anime, pokemon

5 vowels /a/, /e/, /i/, /u/, /o/

long vs. short vowels "aa", "ii", "uu", "ee", "oo" (should be pronounced as one continuous sound, e.g., juudoo, Kobe=koobe

geminate consonants "pp", "tt", "kk", "ss", "ssh", "cch" (long stop/no sound), e.g., Nippon

/r/ vs. /l/, /b/ vs. /v/, /di/ vs. /zi/, (English - for entrance exams)

/hu/ as in Fuji - pronounced by blowing air out between the unrounded lips

Stress vs. pitch accent (mora and syllable are important)

1) Assign high pitch to all morae

2) Assign low pitch to all morae following the accent

3) Assign low pitch to the first mora if the second is high pitched

Stress vs mora rhythm

hon 'book' - 1 syllable, but 2 mora

Loan Words: 1) /o/ after /t/&/d/, 2) /i/ after /ch/&/j/, 3) /u/ elsewhere

e.g., cat -> kyatto, watch-> uocchi, Smith-> sumisu

Syntax

SOV word order - related to Korean, Mongolian, Turkish (Ryuukyuuan - a dialect)

Hanako-ga hon-o kaimashita

hanako-Nom book-Acc bought 'Hanako bought a book.'

Scrambling

hon-o Hanao-ga kaimashita (OSV)

book-Acc hanako-Nom bought 'Hanako bought a book.'

No WH-movement

Hanako-ga nani-o kaimashita-ka

hanako-Nom what-Acc bought Q 'What did Hanako buy?'

Empty pronouns

Hanako-ga kaimashita

hanako-Nom bought 'Hanako bought it.'

hon-o kaimashita

book-Acc bought 'She bought a book.'

kaimashita

bought 'She bought it.'

Pragmatics/Sociolinguistics

Politeness (Keigo)

iku 'come' (plain), ikimasu (polite), irasshaimasu (honorific), mairimasu (humble)

ikimasen-ka (negative question) ' Do you not go?','Would you like to go?'

Formal vs. informal Hai vs. un for 'yes, ok, etc.'

Sentence final particles

ikimasu-ne (confirmation, agreement, polite)

Men's and Women's languages