JP1000 Lecture 2

Structures:

1. X is N            :     X wa N desu       Watashi wa Kanada-jin desu.



2. X is not N :X wa N de wa arimasen         Kore wa daigaku de wa arimasen.

                       ja                                     ja



3. X is A            :     X wa A (desu)     Nihongo wa omoshiroi (desu).



4. X is not A :X wa Ast-ku arimasen          Kyoo wa samuku arimasen.



5. A + N             :     A N               takai kamera

Adjectives:

Dictionary [ or citation] Form:  -i [-ai/-ii/-ui/-oi]

                                takai, ookii, atsui, koi



KU [or adverbial] Form        :  -ku                  

                                chiisaku, muzukashiku, yasuku, tanoshiku



         [N.B.]

         ii ---> yoku   *iku



         As Japanese adjectives contain the meaning of BE, they can be predicates

         by themselves, that is, without DESU, but nouns cannot.

                  Compare:  Kyoo wa atatakai.  *Are wa daigaku.

         Thus,

         N + DESU : copula + politeness

         A + DESU : politeness [of MASU : polite form for verbs]

         Adjectives have their own conjugation.

Nouns:

Singular/Plural distinctions are rarely marked.

         Plural Markers: kare-ra 'they', kore-ra 'these', sensee-gata 'teachers',

         kodomo-tachi 'children', hito-bito 'people'



Definite/Indefinite distinctions are sometimes marked by demonstratives, WA,

...

         Topic  :  definite



         [N.B.]  soo 'so', onaji 'same', dame 'no good', ... are nouns.

                 Chigaimasu 'is different' is a verb.



Demonstratives: kore 'this' sore 'that' are 'that over there' dore 'which'

Sentence particles:

 Modality:  speaker's attitude toward proposition



KA  :  interrogative               Wakarimasu ka?

YO  :  assertive                   Chigaimasu yo.

NE  :  confirmative                Suzuki-san desu ne.

NEE :  agreement-seeking/giving    Atsui desu nee./ Soo desu nee.

Introduction to Japanese writing:

Two Kana syllabaries:  katakana  

                       hiragana



 history and origin

 uses

 punctuation and wakachigaki

 typeface: katsuji

                           minchoo-tai   'Ming Dynasty style'

			   goshikku-tai  'Gothic style'

                           kyookasho-tai 'Textbook style'

                           handwriting

 Romanization: Roomaji             

			   Hebon-shiki   'Hepburn system'

			   Nippon-shiki  'Japan system' 

                           Kunree-shiki  'Kunrei system'

      ref. Some Notes on Rômaji by M. Unger 

Introduction to Japanese writing: KATAKANA

use

rules

learn to write names

identify each katakana

read and write loan words

innovative writing