NihongoThe Japanese

Language

Prepared by: Labordo, Kate Lyka M.

Introduction to Stylistics

The Differences between English and Nihongo

Writing Styles

• Kanji

• Hiragana

• Katakana

Kanji

• Chinese letter or character. The script was invented by the Chinese and adopted by the Japanese around the middle of the 6th century AD. Kanji are ideographs meaning that the whole character conveys a meaning rather than just a sound (as in the case of hiragana and katakana letters). Kanji were originally drawn as pictures from nature but gradually transformed to more generalized representations.

Hiragana

• ordinary syllabic script.

• used to write native words for which there are no kanji, including grammatical particles such as から kara "from", and suffixes such as さん~san "Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms." Likewise, hiragana is used to write words whose kanji form is obscure, not known to the writer or readers, or too formal for the writing purpose.

• It also clarifies the pronunciation of difficult kanjis.

Katakana• characterized by short, straight

strokes and sharp corners, and are the simplest of the Japanese scripts.

• used for transcription of foreign language words into Japanese and the writing of loan words (collectively gairaigo); for emphasis; to represent onomatopoeia; for technical and scientific terms; and for names of plants, animals, minerals, and often Japanese companies.

Phonology:

• Complex consonant sound combinations.

• Diphthong in words.

• Different vowel sound in minimal pairs.

• (/θ/ /ð/)

• /l/ /r/

• /b/ /v/

Grammar - Verb/Tense

• No auxiliary verbs

• Struggle to choose the correct tense to convey the intended meaning.

• SUBJECT →PREDICATE →OBJECT “English”(SUBJECT →OBJECT →PREDICATE

Examples

• {I} will go to Japan.

• {I am} going to Japan.

• Watashi wa Nihon ni ikimasu

• 私は日本に行きます

Examples• Johnny did the homework.

• Johnny the homework did.

• Jonī wa shukudai o yarimashita

• ジョニーは宿題をやりました

• “Jimbo eats an apple.”

• “Jimbo an apple eats.”

• Jinbō wa ringo o tabemasu

• 神保はリンゴを食べます

• Desu– Nan desu ka? “What’s that?”

– Genki desu ka? “How are you?”

– Ureshii desu “I’m happy”

• Arimasu– Midori ha arimasu ka?

• I like the color green.

– Ippai chizu ga arimasu.• There is plenty of cheese.

– Soko ni neko ga arimasu• There is a cat over there.

• Imasu

Itadakimasu

• No exact meaning in English.

• “I humbly receive,”

• “Let’s eat,” “Bon appétit,” or “Thanks for the food.” Some even compare it to the Christian tradition of

References

• http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/japanese.htm

• http://nihongo-benkyo.com/lesson-1/sentence-structure/

• http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/japanese-sentence-structure-patterns/

• https://www.google.com.ph/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDYQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rocketlanguages.com%2Fyour-community%2Fjapanese-grammar%2Fwhen-to-use-arimasu-imasu-or-desu&ei=jLigVbCWKcv9oQSRmp6ICw&usg=AFQjCNFyeIRHnM3JWQ9f4TBdFdRyYJ_cdw&bvm=bv.97653015,d.aWw

• http://www.tofugu.com/2012/08/06