Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar

Stefan Kaiser, Yasuko Ichikawa, Noriko Kobayashi, Hilofumi Yamamoto

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415687393
• eBook ISBN: 9781136196447
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar is a thorough reference guide to modern Japanese grammar. With its detailed treatment of all grammatical structures, it explores the complexities of the language fully, concentrating on the real patterns of use in contemporary Japanese as spoken and written by native speakers.

This edition has been fully updated throughout, incorporating a new structure now organised by topic and providing specific attention to areas of particular difficulty. Examples have been updated throughout to reflect current usage and a glossary of linguistic terms has been added.

Features include:

• Clear grammar points put into context using examples from a range of Japanese media
• Inclusive coverage of both colloquial and standard Japanese
• Extensive cross-referencing in all parts of the book
• A detailed index of Japanese and English terms

Written by experts in this field, Japanese: A Comprehensive Grammar will be an essential reference source for the learner and user of Japanese at all levels.

Chapter 1

Nouns

Nouns in Japanese do not inflect for case, gender or number (but see 1.2.2 and 1.3). Their grammatical function is indicated by case particles (see 2). In Japanese writing, most nouns are written in kanji. For predicative use, nouns require the copula (see 7.5).

1.1 Types of noun

Generally, subgroups of nouns such as common nouns, abstract nouns, and proper nouns are often distinguished; in Japanese, however, this is a matter of meaning only. On the other hand, there are different strata of vocabulary in Japanese, which, though not exclusive to nouns, most typically exhibit the distinction between the four strata of vocabulary typical of Japanese – Native, Sino-Japanese, Western-Japanese and Mixed formations. Some of these distinctions are also reflected in the way nouns are written, i.e. Western-Japanese nouns and parts of Mixed-Japanese nouns are written using katakana, while the remainder is usually written in kanji.

Although the distinction is not reflected in the form of the noun, animate nouns and inanimate nouns are distinguished in that they select different existential verbs. Another type of nouns that can be distinguished are relational nouns, which are used where English uses prepositions such as above, behind etc. to indicate a location. We can also distinguish time nouns, verbal nouns, honorific/humble nouns, and personal nouns.

1.1.1

Native-Japanese (NJ) nouns

Native-Japanese nouns (in length, single-morpheme words can range from one to five or six syllables/kana letters) are either written in kanji, kanji + kana, or kana alone (the hyphens show the boundaries between morphemes):

鵜	u	‘cormorant’
目	me	‘eye(s)’
川	kawa	‘river(s)’
山	yama	‘mountain(s)’
命	inochi	‘life’
山登り	yama-nobori	‘mountaineering’

1.1.2

Sino-Japanese (SJ) nouns

Sino-Japanese words have entered the language at various stages, beginning from about the eighth century. They also played a major part in the modernization of the language in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when new terminology entering from Europe was coined in Japan using Chinese character (kanji) roots. Almost all Sino-Japanese words are written in kanji, with one kanji being the equivalent of one morpheme or unit of meaning. One morpheme corresponds to a (short or long) syllable, (in some cases two syllables: aku ‘evil’, ichi ‘one’, etc). Some SJ words consist of one kanji only, but the vast majority are made up of two or more.

胃	i	‘stomach’
悪	aku	‘evil’
点	ten	‘dot’, ‘point’
線	sen	‘line’
計	kei	‘total’
研究	ken-kyū	‘research’
発見	hak-ken	‘discovery’
料理	ryō-ri	‘cooking’
河川	ka-sen	‘rivers’
山岳	san-gaku	‘mountains’
山岳地帯	san-gaku-chi-tai	‘mountainous area’
天文学	ten-mon-gaku	‘astronomy’
経済成長	kei-zai-sei-chō	‘economic growth’

Note the use of (usually) two-kanji SJ terms in written or formal (including scientific) context...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of tables
• Symbols and abbreviations used in the text
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 Nouns
• 2 Case particles
• 3 Phrasal particles
• 4 Numbers and counters
• 5 Demonstrative/interrogative words and pronouns
• 6 Adjectives
• 7 Verbs, valency, copula and sentence types
• 8 Tense and aspect endings
• 9 Modal endings
• 10 Adverbs
• 11 Adverbial particles
• 12 Passive sentences
• 13 Causative and causative passive sentences
• 14 Potential and spontaneous sentences
• 15 Performative sentences
• 16 Honorific and humble forms (subject- and object-honorifics)
• 17 Negation and negative sentences
• 18 Questions
• 19 Sentence-final particles
• 20 Imperative sentences, commands and requests
• 21 Quotation: to, to iu, tte and ni yoru to
• 22 Nominalizations
• 23 Conjoining
• 24 Conjunctions
• 25 Conjunctive forms
• 26 Conjunctive particles
• 27 Abbreviations: truncations and ellipsis
• 28 Stylistic effects and point of view
• Index