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Gidney & Cloyd
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Katakana - A Jump-Start on the Way to Learning Japanese
Steven A. Jones
Linguistics
• Study of languages– Syntax– Semantics– Phonetics
• Not just someone who speaks many languages
• My (noncontiguous) Undergraduate Minor
My Experience with Japanese
• Term paper in my “Introduction to Syntax” course.
• Kyoto Conference ~ 1 week (bought book on Japanese).
• Research experience ~ 2 weeks at Kawasaki Medical Center.
• Studied from Hamako Ito Chapman’s books & tapes.
Foreign Travel
• Strategies for travel to foreign countries1. Idealistic: Take 2 years to learn a language
and then go to that country.
2. Realistic: 2 weeks before departure, try to learn how to say “good morning.”
3. Fatalistic: Face it. It’s hopeless.
4. Nihilistic: Travel to England
Unique Elements of Japanese
• Indirect– Wakatusi, Anata– No verb conjugations– “Perhaps you like to take train?”
• Stress is by tone, not loudness– Sometimes semantic– Several levels of tone
• Particles:– Are wa ginkoo no mae ni ooki tatemono desu.– Sake o nomu– Sake o nomu ka?
Unique Elements of Japanese
• Verb tenses– present & future generally the same– Adjectives can have a past tense (ano
ookikatta tatemono [that “used to be big” building]
• Colors (as modifiers) can be nouns or adjectives
Unique Elements of Japanese
Politeness levels• Kudasai (sake o kudasai)
– Literally “give [in polite form] sake”– Translated as “I would like some sake please.”
• Desu, imasu, irasiamasu (“to be,” sort of)• Your house (otaku), vs. my house (uchi)
– Otaku wa shiroi. ([your] mansion is white)– Uchi wa shiroi. ([my] shack is white)– Otaku wa doo desu ka? (How are things at your
beautiful home?)– Uchi ni i’i desu. (Things are fine at my crappy little
shack)
Japanese Writing
• Borrowed Kanji from China• No Kanji characters for particles• Use phonetic “alphabet” for particles and
other uses (Hiragana).• Also use Katakana
– Same sounds as Hiragana– Used for brand names and foreign words– Guess what: English is foreign to Japanese– Sort of like italic is to us
Katakana Characters a i u e o
vowel ア a イ i ウ u エ e オ ok カ ka キ ki ク ku ケ ke コ kos サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ sot タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト to
n ナ na ニ ni ヌ nu ネ ne ノ no ン n
h ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ hom マ ma ミ mi ム mu メ me モ moy ヤ ya ユ yu ヨ yor ラ ra リ ri ル ru レ re ロ row ワ wa ヲ wo
Katakana Characters a i u e o
vowel ア a イ i ウ u エ e オ ok カ ka キ ki ク ku ケ ke コ kos サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ sot タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト to
n ナ na ニ ni ヌ nu ネ ne ノ no ン n
h ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ hom マ ma ミ mi ム mu メ me モ moy ヤ ya ユ yu ヨ yor ラ ra リ ri ル ru レ re ロ row ワ wa ヲ wo
Katakana Characters a i u e o
vowel ア a イ i ウ u エ e オ ok カ ka キ ki ク ku ケ ke コ kos サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ sot タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト to
n ナ na ニ ni ヌ nu ネ ne ノ no ン n
h ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ hom マ ma ミ mi ム mu メ me モ moy ヤ ya ユ yu ヨ yor ラ ra リ ri ル ru レ re ロ row ワ wa ヲ wo
The Katakana Symbols
• 46 “consonnant-vowel” combinations
• 5 “vowels” a, i, u, e, o
• “consonants” beginning with “k”, “t”, “s”, “h”, “n”, “m”, “r”
• “ya,” “yu,” “yo,” “wa,” “wo”
• Also have an “explosive h” (°) ( パ =pa), and voiced versions (``) of k (=g), t (=d), s (=z or j), and p ( バ =ba)
The Katakana Symbols (Continued)
• Generally, if you have a consonant you need to have a vowel.
• “n” can stand alone.
• Can have long vowels (literally long, in time)– E.g. Carter Ka-a-ta ( カータ )
• The “r” in “ra” is halfway between “r” and “”.
Modified Katakana Characters a i u e o
k カ ka キ ki ク ku ケ ke コ kog ガ ga ギ gi グ gu ゲ ge ゴ go
s サ sa シ shi ス su セ se ソ soz ザ za ジ ji ズ zu ゼ ze ゾ zo
t タ ta チ chi ツ tsu テ te ト tod ダ da ヂ di ヅ du デ de ド do
h ハ ha ヒ hi フ fu ヘ he ホ hob バ ba ビ bi ブ bu ベ be ボ bop パ pa ピ pi プ pu ペ pe ポ po
Japanese vs English Sounds
• Roughly 19 letters rather than 26, so we win, right?
• But we do not really need “c,” “q” or “w.”– Selery– Uimin– Kuik
• And face it, “y” is a bit iffy as well.
• Leaves 22 vs 19
Japanese vs English Sounds
What’s Missing?
• No distinction between “r” and “”
• “h” and “f” are mixed together– Fa and hu are not natural for Japanese– Fu and ha are natural for them
• “z” and “j” are mixed together
• No “v” sound (brŭd bursty)
Japanese vs English Sounds
Where we win out is with the vowel sounds, which are (let’s face it) messed up anyway in English
• Water/otter/daughter• Dumb/kingdom• He, tee, tea, ski, mystery• Woman/Women
Odd Japanese Syllables
• In standard tables of Hiragana/Katakana:– Ta chi tsu te to (not ti or tu)– Sa shi su se so (not si)– Ha hi fu he ho (not hu)
• Possible Explanations– They knew westerners would try to speak the
language and wanted to trip us up.– There is a physiological explanation (yeah,
right).
Odd Syllables (continued)
• Clue: Hito (man) often sounds more like “shi-to” rather than “hi-to.”
• Thought: Maybe Japanese people do not think of syllables as consonant-vowel pairs.
• Experiment: Place your mouth in the “vowel” position and then try to pronounce the consonant.
Syllables as Units
• Try:– a…ka; i…ki; u…ku; e…ke; o…ko. (control)– a…ha; i…hi; u…hu; e…he; o…ho
• Hi is not exactly “shi”, but it’s not exactly “hi” either.• Hu definitely sounds more like “fu.”
– a…sa; i…si; u…su; e…se; o…so.– a…ta; i…ti; u…tu; e…te; o…to.
Katakana Examples
• ガソリン Ga so ri n• ロタリ クラブ Ro ta ri ku ra bu• コンクリト Ko n ku ri to• ライス Ra i su (or gohan)• ツパゲッチ Tsu pa getsu chi• カワサキ Ka wa sa ki• ニーサン Ni–sa n• コンピ ユユ co n piyu ta
Hiragana Characters a i u e o
vowel ア あ イ い ウ う エ え オ おk カ か キ き ク く ケ け コ こs サ さ シ し ス す セ せ ソ そt タ た チ ち ツ つ テ て ト と
n ナ な ニ に ヌ ぬ ネ ね ノ の ン んh ハ は ヒ ひ フ ふ ヘ へ ホ ほm マ ま ミ み ム む メ め モ もy ヤ や ユ ゆ ヨ よr ラ ら リ り ル る レ れ ロ ろw ワ わ ヲ を
Why Learn Hiragana?
• In Kyoto can read:– Street Names– Subway station names– Particles and other odd words you might pick up– Karaoke ( カラオケ )
• Can at least sound out a Japanese word, even if you do not know what it means
• May help you if you go to a karaoke bar• Trust me, it will really impress your Japanese
host
Verb Tense
• Japanese does not generally distinguish between present and future tense. – Sake o nomu
(I, you, somebody) (drinks, is drinking, will drink) sake.
– Sake o nomu ka?
(Are you drinking, will you drink) sake?
“Passive” Tense
• Japanese does have a special verb tense, called the “passive” tense.
• This tense loosely translates to “such-and-such happened, and it annoyed me.”
• A better name for this tense might be the “passive aggressive tense.”
Passive Tense
Say you are in a restaurant and the waiter spills mizu soup on your jacket
• American Response:You idiot! You spilled mizu soup all over my
jacket!• Japanese Response:
Ah. The jacket has become dampend by some mizu soup.
Consider that to a Japanese speaker, the Japanese wording is equally as strong.
Questions?