Class Session 1a Introduction to Class/Chapter 1

Textbook: Japanese Demystified, Dr. Eriko Sato (McGraw Hill, ISBN: 978-0-07-147726—0)

Syllabus: On-line; Angel site at my.sinclair.edu

Attendance: Attendance in class is essential for learning; 30 class sessions x 10 points each

Homework: 10 homework assignments (10 points each)

Lab assignments: 5 assignments (20 points each)

Tests: 4 grammar tests (25 points each)

Quizes: 10 vocabulary quizzes (10 points each)

Exams: Mid-term exam - 100 points; final exam - 100 points.

Grading: 900 total possible points: 90% = A, 80% = B, 70% = C, 60% = D; less than 60% = F

Make-up work: Missed work cannot be made up without valid excuse for absence.

Extra credit work: Extra credit cannot be earned if regular assignments are incomplete

Language laboratory/Aya conversation practice site

On-line Japanese dictionary: www.jisho.org

If you do not intend to complete the class you should formally withdraw.

Focus on the spoken (conversational) language; some discussion of the written language.

Priority objectives: (1) pronunciation (2) vocabulary (3) grammar

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The Japanese-Speaking World

•Japanese – the official language of Japan

•One of top 10 most influential languages in the world: number of primary and secondary speakers and socioeconomic/sociocultural factors

•Population of Japan is 128 million people

•Total area of Japan is 377,835 km2 (145,882 m2) 1/25 of the total area of the United States

•More than 2/3 of the total area is mountainous

•128 million people live in ~125,819 km2 (48,579 miles2) - population is dense:

– ~1,017 people/ km2

– ~2,635 people/m2

• Smaller than the state of California; about same size as the state of Montana

•Four main islands are (from north to south):– Hokkaidō 北海道 (northern sea route)

– Honshū 本州 (main state)

– Shikoku 四国 (four countries)

– Kyūshū 九州 (nine countries)

•About 3,000 miles from north (about same latitude as Montreal, Canada) to south (about same latitude as southern part of Florida)

•Closest neighbors are Korea, Russia and China

•Greatest cultural impact on Japan has been from China (initially through Korea, then later directly from China)

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A Note on Romanization

In this class we will use rōmaji (Romanized Japanese) (even though the textbook shows all three kinds of Japanese writing:

•Kanji - characters originally borrowed from China

•Katakana - a syllabary used mostly for foreign words

•Hiragana – a syllabary used for particles, verb/adjective endings, and words not written in kanji today

Dr. Sato uses the Hepburn system of rōmaji, with some modifications

•A vowel with a macron (i.e., ō) indicates a long vowel (o and ō are pronounced differently)

•An n with an apostrophe (i.e., n’) shows the consonant n separated from the following vowel or y (xxn’ya is not the same as nya)

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Japanese Cities

Tōkyō 東京 (eastern capital) (the capital of Japan)

Ōsaka 大阪 (large slope)

Kyōto 京都 (capital)

Nagoya 名古屋 (distinguished old shop)

Kōbe 神戸 (gods door)

Yokohama 横浜 (side beach)

Fukushima 福島 (lucky island)

Sendai 仙台 (hermit stand)

Naha (Okinawa) 那覇 ( 沖縄 ) (what champion) (offshore rope)

Vowels

•There are five vowels in Japanese . They are pronounced more crisply and with more rounding than English vowels:

• a as in English aha

• i as in the vowel in English eat

• u as in the initial part of the vowel in English boot

• e as in the initial part of the vowel in English eight

• o as in the initial part of the vowel in oats

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Long Vowels

•In Dr. Sato’s book, indicated with a macron over the letter (a and ā) (except for ii)

•Sometimes represented by doubling the vowel (aa, ee (or ei) ii, uu, oo (or ou))– obasan – aunt obāsan - grandmother

– ojisan – uncle ojiisan – grandfather

– shujin – one’s husband shūjin – prisoner

– e – painting ē – yes

– tori – bird tōri - street

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Devoiced Vowels

•i and u tend to be dropped (whispered or devoiced) when they occur between two voiceless

consonants (i.e., p, t, k, s, sh, ch, ts, and h) or at the end of a word preceded by a voiceless

consonant.

•You may not hear the i and u in the following words spoken by a native speaker:

kushi sukiyaki

hito desu

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Consonants

•Consonants: B, CH, D, F, G, H, J, K, M, N, P, R, S, T, TS, W, Y, Z

•All consonants, except n, are followed by a vowel (ka, ki, ku, ke, ko; na, ni, nu, ne, no, etc.)

•Most consonants are read as in English

•r and f are different (covered shortly)

•w, sh, and ch are pronounced without lip rounding

•n changes to m when it is followed by consonant formed with the lips (p, b, or m):

enpitsu is pronounced empitsu (and may sometimes be written that way)

kenbutsu is pronounced kembutsu

•h becomes f when followed by u (ha, hi, FU, he, ho)

•t becomes ch when followed by i and ts when followed by u (ta, CHI, TSU, te, to)

•ts is pronounced like the ts in cats

•ch is pronounced like the ch in church

•Some consonants can be doubled (p, t, k, s) – tappuri

– kitte

– gakki

– kesshite

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The Japanese Consonant f

In English the consonant f is formed by touching the upper teeth to the lower lip and forcing air out through the mouth (a labio-dental fricative).

In Japanese the consonant f is formed by bringing the upper and lower lips close to each other and gently forcing air out through the mouth (no teeth used)

ha hi fu he ho

fusuma futatsu fushigi fuku fue

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The Japanese Consonant r

•Japanese r is formed by tapping the tip of the tongue behind the upper teeth

•Resembles the brief tt sound in the English words lettuce and letter

•Similar, but not the same as, the English consonant d

– ranbō

– ringo

– rusu

– rentai– roku

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Japanese Pitch Accent•Japanese is an unaccented language

•Japanese is unaccented—each syllable is spoken with the same level of accent

•Japanese does have some pitch patterns:

ame (rain) has high pitch on the first syllable and a low pitch on the second syllable:

A-me

ame (candy) has low pitch on the first syllable and high pitch on the second syllable:

a-ME

hana (flower) has low pitch on the first syllable and high pitch on the second syllable:

ha-NA

hana (nose) has no pitch accent

ha-na

shita (tongue) has low pitch on the first syllable and high pitch on the second syllable

shi-TA

shita (bottom) has no pitch accent

shi-ta

For all practical purposes we can ignore this in our study of Japanese; sentence context will normally make the distinction between similar words clear.

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Pronunciation PracticeUnvoiced Sounds (Seion)

あ A い I う U え E お O

か KA き KI く KU け KE こ KO

さ SA し SHI す SU せ SE そ SO

た TA ち CHI つ TSU て TE と TO

な NA に NI ぬ NU ね NE の NO

は HA ひ HI ふ FU へ HE ほ HO

ま MA み MI む MU め ME も MO

や YA - ゆ YU - よ YO

ら RA り RI る RU れ RE ろ RO

わ WA ゐ* (W)I - ゑ* (W)E を WO

ん N

* These characters are no longer used in modern Japanese, but may be seen in older written material.

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Pronunciation PracticeVoiced Sounds (Dakuon)

が GA ぎ GI ぐ GU げ GE ご GO

ざ ZA じ JI ず ZU ぜ ZE ぞ ZO

だ DA **ぢ DJI **づ DZU で DE ど DO

ば BA び BI ぶ BU べ BE ぼ BO

ぱ PA ぴ PI ぷ PU ぺ PE ぽ PO

** By official decree of the Ministry of Education, these characters are not to be used in modern writing; they have been replaced by じ JI and ず ZU.

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Pronunciation PracticePalatized Sounds (Yō’on)

ゃ YA ゅ YU ょ YO

きゃ KYA きゅ KYU きょ KYO

しゃ SHA しゅ SHU しょ SHO

ちゃ CHA ちゅ CHU ちょ CHO

にゃ NYA にゅ NYU にょ NYO

ひゃ HYA ひゅ HYU ひょ HYO

みゃ MYA みゅ MYU みょ MYO

りゃ RYA りゅ RYU りょ RYO

ぎゃ GYA ぎゅ GYU ぎょ GYO

じゃ JA じゅ JU じょ JO

**ぢゃ DJA **ぢゅ DJU ぢょ DJO

びゃ BYA びゅ BYU びょ BYO

ぴゃ PYA ぴゅ PYU ぴょ PYO

** By official decree of the Ministry of Education, these characters are not to be used in modern writing; they have been replaced by じゃ JA and じゅ JU.