The Joys of Japanese: Part II

Probably the first thing that comes to any one's mind when you mention Chinese as a whole is the tonal accent. I do not know about many of the dialects, but Mandarin Chinese, from which the examples are used here, makes use of four tones (1st tone, high and level; 2nd tone, rising; 3rd tone, falling and rising; 4th tone, falling) plus a neutral tone. Cantonese, the second largest dialect, has nine tones. Japanese, conversely, follows a pitch accent. Standard Japanese has two pitches: High [H] and Low [L]. Pitch is far more subtle than tone, and although 80% of Japanese words are classified as flat, or without a pitch, it is the only reason that non-native Japanese speakers stand out. English, to bring it into perspective, has a stress accent. I know nothing of the stress rules in English, but I would imagine that there is no way to classify them since English seems to be one of the most arbitrarily structured languages as a whole that I have ever encountered. Yet I am writing in it. Bizarre.

Verbs. O, verbs. Thou givest us thy power to declare our actions. If you've ever studied Spanish, French, Italian, or some other Indo-European language, you will find Chinese and Japanese simultaneously a blessing and a curse. With European languages you have to memorize not only the tenses but separate suffixes for the different numbers (first person singular, second person singular, third person singular, first person plural, second person plural, and third person plural) and possibly even different forms of address (tú vs. usted), Chinese and Japanese use the exact same form of the verb for every person. That's about as far as my Chinese knowledge goes, but in regards to Japanese, the only thing you have to worry about is recognizing the non-past and past affixes. The rest of the inflections on the verb are merely moods, describing states or conditions.

Let's compare the English verb to speak with the Japanese counterpart 話す hanasu.

English
I speak
You speak
He, She, It speaks
We speak
You (plural) speak
They speak

Japanese
話す hanasu

The Japanese counterpart uses the same form of the verb for the infinitive (or at least, when you look up a verb in a Japanese dictionary [for this reason, they are referred to as the dictionary form], this is the form that you get because infinitives, in reality, do not exist) as well as the conjugations for all persons in neutral Japanese speech. Pronouns are optional, usually for clarification of who is talking, and varying pronouns may be chosen depending on the speaker's sex: i.e., a male speaker may say (in more relaxed situations) 僕が話す boku ga hanasu, while a female may say (again, in more relaxed situations) あたしが話す atashi ga hanasu, and both sexes (in more polite speech, however) わたくしが話す watakushi ga hanasu.. though the verb would require a change in the verbal affix to reflect a more formal tone. It should also be noted that Japanese verbs in this tense are called non-past because these are used to discuss not only present, but also future actions. Thus, the above sentences may be roughly translated either as "I [do] speak" or "I will speak." Context will generally tell you which is correct.

The regular English verb generally ends with -ed (such as talked, walked, etc), though unfortunately, the English equivalent of this verb has an irregular past tense (spoke). Most Japanese verbs in the past are regular except for two (来る kuru, to come and する suru, to do/make) and end with た -ta, with, of course, an exception to three verb types. The past tense of 話す hanasu is 話した hanashita.

These verbs in Japanese also have neutral polite forms. The neutral polite non-past form is 話します hanashimasu and the past form is 話しました hanashimashita. I am not certain on the origin of the suffixes ます -masu and ました -mashita, but I did read somewhere once that it was speculated to have come from the humble verb 参る mairu, meaning 'to go' or 'to come.' I will not discuss honorific and humble verbs herein, at least for now.

Another point of Japanese grammar which may or may not come as to a surprise to those who have never been a student of the Japanese language is that a class of 'true' Japanese adjectives can conjugate just like verbs. This is because originally they are stative verbs in Japanese, or in other words, they automatically have the idea of 'to be' built into them. Thus, the adjective 激しい hageshii, which means violent or intense, can also take the place of a verb and describe a characteristic or condition of someone or something, and may be inflected according to the non-past and past.

激しい雨 hageshii ame "intense rain" or "violent rain"
雨が激しい ame ga hageshii "the rain is [will be] intense" or "the rain is [will be] violent"
雨が激しかった ame ga hageshikatta "the rain was intense" or "the rain was violent"

Adjectives of this type end in -ai (若い wakai, young), -ii (美しい utsukushii, beautiful), -ui (醜い minikui, ugly), and -oi (多い ooi, many, lots), and may be made polite with the addition of desu regardless of tense. Please note that adjectives ending in -ei belong to a different set of adjectives that do not inflect without the help of the copula です desu (or だ da, in its impolite form). This second set of adjectives are originally quantitative compound nouns from Chinese, called quasi-adjectives or "na"-adjectives, though I prefer calling them Sino-Japanese adjectives. This is because in their modifier state (before a noun), they are usually (though not always) followed by な na. A few adjectives of this type may also take の no, and an even rarer few customarily are left without a particle. The reason for the な na, as I speculate, and as you should keep in mind that I am still a student, is because according to my teacher in old Japanese, they used to say なり nari, which is the positive basic stem of the verb なる naru, to become/be, and is probably placed there to make up for the lack of a built in "be" as seen in 'true' Japanese adjectives.

The Joys of Japanese: Part I

I have to clear up some things that have come to my attention recently. Although I'm only at a Community College and will only graduate with an Associate of Arts degree without having to trouble myself to declare a major until I enter an actual University, as far as I am concerned, I will more than likely major in Japanese and possibly file for a concurrent major in Spanish. My beef doesn't concern Spanish, though, because no one seems to have any trouble discerning Spanish from any other language. It seems, however, that a majority of Westerners seem to think that all Asian languages are the same. Often, when I am asked in what I am majoring, I say Japanese. Later, when it's brought up again in another conversation, it goes, without fail, like this:

Person: "Aren't you majoring in Chinese?"
Me: "No, Japanese."
Person: "Oh, but aren't those the same thing?"
Me: (Rolls eyes) "No."

Let's clarify a few things.

Japanese's linguistic ancestry is widely debated. If classification is necessary, you can be sure to find it either as a Japonic or Altaic language. I'm not that researched since, mind you, I am still a student and do not have enough reliable resources into the scientific writings and theories behind all of this, but as far as my own personal research has gone, it seems that Japanese would more than likely be classified as a Japonic language because its only certain roots are linked to Ryukyuan languages, and those dialects spoken in and around Okinawa. These Ryukyuan languages hold keys to Old Japanese because they have preserved much of its original phonology. The Altaic classification, alternatively, is because grammatical similarities have been identified between Japanese and Korean (Korean's classification here is likewise doubted), but they are not substantial enough to confidently claim a link. However, those in support of such a theory support the argument that Japanese may have originally been a dialect of Ancient Korean.

Mandarin Chinese, in comparison, is said to be a part of the Sino-Tibetan family tree, which includes all major dialects of Chinese.

Grammatically speaking, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese are by no means alike. Japanese follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word-order, while Mandarin Chinese follows a Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) word-order, much like English. These, obviously, aren't set in stone. English allows for an Object-Subject-Verb structure, and due to its use of enclitics, Japanese may allow for other orders as well, but the general rule is that the main verb of the clause must remain at the end of the sentence for coherency. Compare:

English: I am Chase.
Japanese: Cheisu to moushimasu.
Mandarin Chinese: Wŏ jiào Chase.

I will do my best to avoid an indepth lecture on the grammatical structures of the three languages, but a fairly detailed explanation is required for greater comprehension of the above statements.

The Japanese and Mandarin Chinese both literally mean, "I call myself Chase" as opposed to the English, "I am Chase." You may, however, use the same expression in both languages. Japanese uses the polite copula 'desu' in place of 'to moushimasu' to yield "Cheisu desu." The said expression above uses a verb that belongs to the honorific vocabulary (dubbed keigo) used in Japanese, and literally can be thought of as meaning, "I humbly call myself Chase." Mandarin Chinese calls for the replacement of "jiào" with "shì" (to be), giving "Wŏ shì Chase." Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, in accordance with tradition, however, usually prefer the use of a surname in place of a given name. Given names are generally reserved for family and very close friends. It is only kept herein for the example's sake.

Mandarin Chinese and English also keep the pronoun in the sentence. Though, I'm not studied enough to say that Mandarin Chinese always keeps it. Japanese favors dropping pronouns, or at least if the subject or topic of discussion is understood or you are referring to yourself. This doesn't mean that Japanese doesn't have pronouns; in fact, it has been said that there are thousands of pronouns. The general guideline is to use the surname of the person to or about whom you are talking, plus the suffix -san (roughly equivalent to Mr., Mrs., Ms.), -sama (same as -san but far more polite and even honorific), and a plethora of others.

The Origin of Catastrophe

If I were to write on my premier post that I'm not one for fads, I would be verbally spanked by my peers. I was once something of a fad whore myself in high school, but as time has passed and pushed those memories farther into the abyss of my mind, I have learned to develop my own identity. It's hard to break habits, however, and I have succumbed to yet another one. I have registered for a blog. What this blog is about and when it will be published, I do not know yet. Putting out this first entry has been quite a mental chore as it is, but I would recommend for now that you either buy a handy Spanish-English and Japanese-English dictionary. You should probably also find a translator, preferably human.

With that, I welcome to you my personal hell! Mwahahahahaha!