| Research Abstract |
1, Kango (borrowed words from Chinese) have survived in Japanese by specialization of its meaning or modality. For example, the Japanese word 'sinkoku' only has the meaning of 'seriousness' while the same word is used in broader way in Chinese. Such a change of meaning causes grammatical discrepancy between the two languages. The object of the Japanese verb 'maibotu' is limited to an abstract, which decreases its transitivity. 'kokubetsu' means 'an eternal parting' in Japanese while the same word includes the meaning of 'a temporal parting' as well as an eternal one. In Japanese, the time length of an action or a state has an influence upon the meaning of a word. For instance, the meaning of the Japanese verb 'sumu' is limited to 'a long-term stay.' This idea of time causes the shift from adjectives to verbs such as 'kincho' , 'koofun' or 'yukai.' (*kincho da→kincho suru) These states are recognized as temporal ones, i. e., states with both ends, the beginning and the end. In other words, they are cognized as a "change."
2, From typological point of view, Japanese is a MH (Modifier-Head) language. Because of this, a Chinese word with a coordinate construction often shifts to a modifier construction when imported into Japanese as a Kango. For example, 'kinniku' in Chinese means 'nerve and flesh' while it means 'muscular flesh' in Japanese. In Chinese, which is a HM language, 'funka' 'funen' , ', funseki" are all interpreted as an activity. In Japanese, contrastively, only 'funka' is interpreted as an activity, and 'funen' , 'funseki' are both interpreted as concrete objects.
3, There are a lot of reversed words in Japanese. As, words can be divided into two different categories, concrete and abstract, by reversing the order. Japanese has a lot of sub-categorizations such as 'place or non-place' and 'whether it is something to listen to or not', but the sub categorization that 'whether it belongs to a concrete or an abstract ' is superior to other sub categorizations.
|
