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クラーク・グラッブ

Politeness

Verbs can be classified as plain or polite. Most verbs are plain. An honorific polite verb can be constructed the plain form using the o + PLAIN STEM + ni + nâru pattern. A humble polite verb can be constructed using the o + PLAIN STEM + suru pattern. Some verbs have irregular polite alternatives.

The symbols (↑), (↓), and (+) indicate honorific-polite, humble-polite, and neutral polite verbs. Honorific-polite forms honor the subject, who is normally a member of the out-group relative to the speaker. Humble-polite forms diminish the subject, who is normally a member of the in-group relative to the speaker and often the speaker himself or herself.

plain (↑) (↑) (↓)
iímàsu
iu
osśyarimàsu
osśyàru
moósimàsu
môosu
ikimâsu
iku
irássyaimàsu
irássyàru
oíde ni nàru maírimàsu
mâiru
imâsu
iru
irássyaimàsu
irássyàru
oíde ni nàru orímàsu
ôru
kimâsu
kûru
irássyaimàsu
irássyàru
oíde ni nàru maírmàsu
mâiru
nomímàsu mesíagarimàsu onómi ni nàru itádakimàsu
tabémàsu mesíagarimàsu otábe ni nàru itádakimàsu
sirímàsu gozônzi desu zońzimàsu
simâsu nasárimàsu itásimàsu
kureru kureru kudásàru
ageru yaru sasiageru
morau omórai ni nàru itadaku
dèsu (animate) de (i)rássyaimàsu
STEM + masu o + STEM + ni + nâru o + STEM + suru

kureru is used when the out-group gives

ageru is used when the in-group gives

morau is used when the in-group receives

plain (+)
arímàsu gozáimàsu
desu (inanimate) de gozáimàsu

Accent

verbs

The imperfect is the usual citation form for Japanese verbs. The conjugation pattern of a verb can be determined by looking at the imperfect and the perfect. If the imperfect does not end in ~eru or ~iru the conjugation pattern can be determined from the imperfect alone.

The imperfect is either unaccented or accented on the penultimate mora. If one knows the conjugation pattern of the verb and whether the imperfect is accented, one can predict the accent of the rest of the verb's forms.

Some verbs forms have a fixed accent regardless of the conjugation or whether the imperfect is accented. The distal forms all fall into this category. Verb forms with a fixed accent have accents in their endings below. The consultative form also has a fixed accent.

ending position when verb is...
form godan       itidan       accented unaccented
imperfect -u -ru penultimate none
perfect -ta
-da
-ta antepenult if ichidan, otherwise penult none
imperfect negative -anai -nai antepenult none
gerund -te
-de
-te antepenult if ichidan, otherwise penult none
consultative -òo -yòo penult
potential -eru -(ra)reru penult none
conditional -tara
-dara
-tara same mora as perfect penult
provisional -eba -reba antepenult (same mora as imperfect) penult
causative -aseru -saseru penult none
passive -areru -rareru penult none
distal imperfect -imàsu -màsu penult
distal perfect -imàsita -màsita antepenult
distal imperfect negative -imasèn -masèn penult
distal consultative -imasyòo -masyòo penult

adjectives

Citation Forms & Properties

  • how to indicate accent
  • should voicing be indicated
  • past or gerund
  • -katta, -ku
  • operative vs affective

Missing Subjects

Japanese sentences often lack explicit subjects or direct objects when the
corresponding English sentence requires them. As a rough rule, when English
would use a pronoun, often Japanese will use nothing at all. This is perhaps
another aspect of the fact that Japanese "pronouns" have properties that are
quite different from English pronouns: in Japanese there is typically a choice
of pronoun to use; in Japanese "pronouns" can be modified by adjectives
or relative clauses. Japanese "pronouns" are thus syntactically no different
from nouns. JSL calls Japanese "pronouns" "words of personal reference".

The absence of pronouns creates a headache when translating Japanese to
English because the English sentence must have them to be syntactically complete.
Of course to understand a Japanese sentence usually it is necessary to infer
what the pronoun would be from context, but in some cases it should be
accepted that the sentence is ambiguous.

There are some rules of thumb for deciding what the subject is when it it is omitted,
but not of these are valid all the time.

explicit subject (does it have a particle marker?)

A Japanese sentence can explicitly mark the subject and the direct object with the trailing
particles "ga" が and "o" を, respectively. However either of these can be omitted
or replaced by the particles "wa" は or "mo" も. Thus the subject can be ambigous
even if there is a noun phrase for it in the sentence.

Also note that affective verbs use "ga" が for both the subject and
direct object. 田中さんが英語がわかります。 "Tanaka understands
English". Thus the subject is ambigous even with a "ga" marker, though
English is not something that can understand, so it must be the direct
object in this case.

Japanese sentences typically have SOV word order, so this fact should be used when
the markers are absent or ambiguous.

last topic (is topic always last thing introduced into conversation with は?)

answer to

statements without subject refer to speaker (or in group?) [JSL1 p. 32]

questions without subject refer to addressee [JSL1 p. 32]

kureru or morau

-tai forms (what speaker wants)

-tagaru forms (what someone other than speaker wants)

o- and go- nominals

uti vs otaku

Female Speech

  • watashi (slightly feminine)
  • watakushi (slightly feminine)
  • atashi (definitely feminine) [boku or ore]
  • anata (often used by wives for their husbands, but can also be used with someone of equal or lower status)
  • sentence particle wa [omit it]
  • kasira [ka naa]

Technology

old

  • タイプライター typewriter
  • ワープロ waapuro
  • コンピュータ
  • ファクス

new

  • パソコン
  • ノートパソコン
  • けいたい 携帯
  • スマホ
  • ネット

Archaic Forms